In 1982, David "Dave" Corriveau (1951–2015) and James "Buster" Corley (1951–2023) opened the first Dave & Buster’s in Dallas. Corley had previously operated a bar called "Buster's" in Little Rock, Arkansas, next door to a saloon and game parlor called first "Cash McCool's" & then "Slick Willy’s World of Entertainment", owned by Corriveau. After opening Dave & Buster's, the two operated as co-CEOs. In 1989,
Edison Brothers Stores purchased a majority of the ownership in the restaurant to finance further expansion into other cities. By 1997, the chain could be found in ten locations across the country. D&B acquired nine
Jillian's locations after Jillian's filed for
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in 2004. Seven of these Jillian's locations were rebranded with the Dave & Buster's name, while two were closed following the acquisition. The company announced on December 8, 2005, that it would be acquired by
private equity firm Wellspring Capital Management. On July 16, 2008, Dave & Buster's Holdings Inc, filed with the
SEC to again become a publicly traded company. The company had set a date for the
Initial public offering IPO of October 5, 2012. However, it pulled out right before it opened. In June 2010,
Oak Hill Capital Partners, in partnership with the company's management team, completed its acquisition of Dave & Buster's from Wellspring Capital Management. In October 2014, Dave & Buster's launched a second IPO, selling its 5.88 million shares at an offering price range of $16–18. The offering raised $94 million, to be used for debt repayments. Dave & Buster's, as with all other entertainment and restaurant businesses, was affected by the
COVID-19 pandemic due to restrictions on non-essential businesses. The company's same-store sales fell by 70% during
fiscal year 2020. As restrictions eased, the company began to recover in fiscal year 2021, being down by 10% only. The case of
Omicron variant spread still affected the business resulting in a sales decrease in the fourth quarter of 2021. Dave & Buster's CEO Brian Jenkins retired in September 2021, with chairman Kevin Sheehan named interim CEO. On April 6, 2022, Dave & Buster's announced that it would acquire the
Plano, Texas-based
family entertainment center chain
Main Event Entertainment from
Ardent Leisure and RedBird Capital Partners for $835 million, with its CEO Chris Morris becoming the new CEO of Dave & Buster's upon the completion of the sale in June 2022. On January 2, 2023, co-founder James "Buster" Corley died of
suicide that was caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound sustained in his home near
White Rock Lake. His daughter Kate Corley said that her father had suffered a
stroke four months earlier that "caused severe damage to the communication and personality part of his brain". In 2023, the chain began to pilot a new location format known as the "store of the future", which began to expand to other locations in 2024. It focuses on new types of interactive social gaming spaces (such as electronic darts and shuffleboard tables) and updates to the bar experience (including a new self-serve beer wall in the arcade area, viewing areas with larger televisions, a video wall, and a "VIP watch room"). ==Operations==