You are going to brainstorm the industry of children's birthday party venues. You may seek opinions of friends and family. The past two decades have seen a rise in competitive businesses that are out to get their piece of the birthday pie $($or cake$).$ Birthday parties for children are becoming more luxurious and more expensive. One early leader in satisfying this customer need was Chuck$-$E$-$Cheese, which became known for being a lower$-$cost all$-$inclusive option for parents.

The concept company founded in $1977$ now has a net worth of over $$950$ million dollars. Chuck$-$E$-$Cheese continues to profit largely from birthday celebrations that are low cost and low maintenance for parents. During this group exercise, you'll want to delve deeper into the strategic planning involved with making Chuck$-$E$-$Cheese a stand$-$out competitor among a growing field of businesses targeted to this group. You will design a company to compete against Chuck$-$E$-$Cheese that satisfies parents' needs for low$-$maintenance child birthday celebrations. Step $1$: You will begin researching and identifying the businesses in your area that serve the child birthday party crowd.

Step $2$: Review Chuck$-$E$-$Cheese's business$-$level strategy. How has it created more value than rivals in this industry of child birthday parties? How secure do you believe Chuck$-$E$-$Cheese's competitive advantage is in the market? Explain your reasoning.

Step $3$: Determine what business$-$level strategy your competing business would utilize to challenge Chuck$-$E$-$Cheese and your other local competitors.