GameWorks Inc. has unveiled the evolution of its foodservice offerings with the opening of The Works Kitchen restaurant concept in its seven locations, the company said Tuesday.
The San Francisco-based company, which has seven big-box GameWorks locations and one Table Top Tap House, in September announced that ExWorks Capital, which first invested in the company in 2017, had assumed full ownership.
Philip Kaplan, who was named GameWorks chairman and CEO with the ownership change, said the company would expand on its food offerings.
Under the new brand-within-a-brand Works Kitchen, GameWorks is adding items such as the Frozen Brunch milkshake, left. Created by corporate chef Tony Leitera, the Frozen Brunch is a vanilla milkshake topped with bacon, a Belgian waffle, maple syrup, powdered sugar and whipped cream.
“The launch of The Works Kitchen at GameWorks is an exciting development for our entertainment brand,” said Leitera in a statement. “We are placing a strong emphasis on the food we offer our guests, and with our exciting restaurant concept, we are completing elevating their dining experience.”
Leitera, left, who joined GameWorks in January and most recently worked with celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s restaurant operations, said the new Works Kitchen menu features a broad selection “with a modern twist that makes our offering different and incomparable to the typical, traditional food and bar fare found at most entertainment concepts today.”
In addition to the Frozen Brunch, The Works Kitchen also offers a chocolate Movie Theater milkshake with red-rope licorice, caramel popcorn, chocolate candy and whipped cream and a Unicorn rainbow sherbet milkshake with rock candy, cotton candy and a sugar cone.
The new milkshakes expand what GameWorks calls its “Modern American spin on bar classics,” such as burgers, pizzas and sandwiches.
In addition, The Works Kitchen offers snacks, such as buffalo-fried cauliflower, spiced and seared yellow fin tuna sashimi and dry-rubbed wings. The menu also features the plant-based Impossible Burger as a vegetarian option.
Kaplan said The Works Kitchen is part of the new ownership’s focus for the GameWorks brand.
“We want our guests to enjoy a complete entertainment experience when they come to any of our GameWorks locations, which includes indulging in our restaurant, participating or watching eSports in our eSports Lounges, playing our wide variety of arcade games and enjoying some of our specialty entertainment options, such as laser tag or bowling,” Kaplan said.
GameWorks locations offer e-sports and arcade options directed at families, teens and Millennials. The company has locations in: Chesapeake, Va.; Denver; Las Vegas; Minneapolis; Newport, Ky.; Schaumburg, Ill.; and Seattle. Locations range from 20,000 to 30,000 square feet.
The concept was found in 1997 in Seattle, and the first location is still operating near the original Nordstrom department store.
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