Ron Shaich raises Level99 commitment to $100 million

Ron Shaich’s Act III Holdings is increasing its investment commitment to Level99 to $100 million, Fortune reported, giving the interactive entertainment company more capital as it starts opening venues faster. The bet extends Shaich’s restaurant-industry strategy into a business built around group games, food and repeat visits.

Act III, Shaich’s investment vehicle, is adding $50 million to a previous $50 million commitment, according to Fortune. The decision follows Level99’s June opening at Disney Springs in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, its fifth site.

Matt DuPlessie, Level99’s founder and chief executive, told Fortune the Disney Springs location was ahead of company expectations three weeks after opening. He said Act III sees room for Level99 to grow beyond a slow, one-location-at-a-time rollout.

Shaich founded Panera and built it into a chain with more than 2,500 locations, according to Fortune. He also served as chairman and lead investor at Cava, where he helped lead the investment tied to converting Zoe’s Kitchen locations into Cava restaurants and taking Cava public.

Shaich told Fortune he has backed DuPlessie since Level99 was still only an idea and views the company as potentially the strongest business he has joined. He said Act III wants Level99 to have resources in place before growth accelerates.

Expansion plan speeds up

Level99 opened its first venue in Natick, Massachusetts, in 2021, then added Providence in 2024 and Tysons, Virginia, in 2025, Fortune reported. The company opened Disney Springs this year and plans another site in West Hartford, Connecticut, in the fourth quarter.

DuPlessie told Fortune the company expects to open four locations next year. He said Level99 spent its early years testing what customers wanted while building systems and a corporate staff ahead of a faster expansion schedule.

That staff now exceeds 100 people, which DuPlessie acknowledged is unusual for a company that until recently had only three locations. He said about half of the corporate team works on creative, engineering and software development.

Level99 venues span about 35,000 to 50,000 square feet, according to Fortune. Each site centers on Challenge Rooms, where groups of two to six people spend one to four minutes on physical or logic-based tasks, with roughly 50 rooms in a venue.

The company also offers Duels, open-arena competitions designed for spectators, and Hunt Art, a scavenger hunt built around murals and sculpture from local and international artists, Fortune reported. DuPlessie identified Axe Run, a balance-beam challenge, as the company’s signature game.

Restaurant lessons meet entertainment

Shaich told Fortune Act III looks for categories with long-term demand and then backs companies that can become category leaders. He compared the approach to Act III’s investment in Cava and said he sees social, challenge-based entertainment with real food as a strong category.

DuPlessie distinguished Level99 from operators such as Dave & Buster’s and Chuck E. Cheese, telling Fortune those businesses are built around video games. He said Level99 develops its own entertainment, giving guests games they cannot play at home.

Shaich said the appeal also comes from giving adults a place to gather. He linked that view to lessons from restaurants during the pandemic, when he said demand for delivery grew but people still wanted hospitality and community.

Food remains central to the model, though DuPlessie told Fortune entertainment drives Level99’s economics. Shaich described the menu as scratch-made and farm-to-table, while DuPlessie said the company makes items such as shaved sweet potatoes and house dough in its locations.

Shaich told Fortune the business has volumes and margins unlike those he typically sees in restaurants. For him, the central question is whether Level99 can drive repeat visits and comparable-store sales as it expands.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.