Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. (PLAY)
Entertainment and dining venues, 23,610, 89% hourly. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending February 3, 2026, filed March 31, 2026. Ranked 66 of the 85 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
16%
End of 2028
20%
Employees, annual report
23,610
Leading staffing pattern
Restaurants and Other Eating Places
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now16%
- End of 202719%
- End of 202820%
- End of 203020%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 79%
- Becomes checking a model's work 14%
- Handed over with lighter checks 6%
An entertainment and dining chain whose filing counts its people by role at the venues, so the venue staff are split between restaurants and amusement by revenue and the support staff are counted.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 16% now, 19% at the end of 2027, 20% at the end of 2028, 20% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 20% desk work, 25% people work and 55% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 79% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 14% becomes checking a model's work and 6% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
23,610 employees as of February 3, 2026 (stated). The filing states no count by country; its venues are in the United States and Canada.
The filing: “Our Team As of February 3, 2026, we employed approximately 23,610 team members across both of our brands, consisting of 88.8% store hourly team members, 9.4% store management, 1.5% store support, and 0.3% dedicated special events sales force. 6 Our values unite us in a shared commitment to attract, retain, and engage qualified personnel to develop a team that reflects the characteristics of our...”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and Other Eating Places | 59% | Counted (a) and by description (c): 88.8% of the 23,610 team members are store hourly staff and 9.4% store management at venues the filing describes as entertainment and dining; food and beverage is 37% of revenue, and the servers, bartenders and kitchen staff are read at restaurants, which NAICS counts the venues under, at 59%. |
| Other Amusement and Recreation Industries | 40% | By description (c): entertainment, the games and attractions, is 63% of revenue, and the team members who run the game floors are read at amusement and recreation at about 40%; the filing counts store staff, not the two kinds of work. |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 2% | Counted (a): 1.5% of team members are store support, the stated support count, which takes management of companies under rule 6; the 0.3% special events sales force folds into the venue patterns under rule 5. |
What the filing says about the workforce: About 23,610 team members as of February 3, 2026 across the Dave & Buster's and Main Event brands: 88.8% store hourly, 9.4% store management, 1.5% store support, 0.3% a dedicated special events sales force.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Restaurants and Other Eating Places, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Starbucks (SBUX, 381,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC, 290,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Darden (DRI, 209,931 employees)11% now, 13% by 2028
- McDonald's Corporation (MCD, 150,000 employees)11% now, 13% by 2028
- Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG, 130,301 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (TXRH, 101,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Brinker International, Inc. (EAT, 85,003 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL, 74,500 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
2 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI 2 times, as a technology that could change consumer behavior and as a factor in cybersecurity threats.
- “Advances in technologies, including those that use artificial intelligence, or certain changes in consumer behavior driven by such technologies could have a negative effect on our business.”
- “As these threats continue to evolve and increase, including due to the use of artificial intelligence by us and third parties, we continue to invest significant resources, and may be required to invest significant additional resources, to modify and enhance our cybersecurity controls and to investigate and remediate any security vulnerabilities.”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20230median 1
- Fiscal 20240median 4
- Fiscal 20252median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-02-03 | 23,610 | 2026-03-31 | 10-K |
| 2025-02-04 | 23,420 | 2025-04-07 | 10-K |
| 2024-02-04 | 23,258 | 2024-04-02 | 10-K |
| 2023-01-29 | 22,748 | 2023-03-28 | 10-K |
| 2022-01-30 | 13,783 | 2022-03-29 | 10-K |
| 2021-01-31 | 8,547 | 2021-03-31 | 10-K |
| 2020-02-02 | 15,908 | 2020-04-03 | 10-K |
| 2019-02-03 | 16,098 | 2019-04-02 | 10-K |
| 2018-02-04 | 14,840 | 2018-04-03 | 10-K |
| 2017-01-29 | 13,983 | 2017-03-28 | 10-K |
| 2016-01-31 | 12,495 | 2016-03-29 | 10-K |
| 2015-02-01 | 10,930 | 2015-04-07 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The split of the venue staff between dining and entertainment is by revenue (c); the filing counts store staff as one group.
- No U.S. share is stated.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001525769-26-000008, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc., $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc.'s working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 16% now and 20% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc.'s own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. employ?
- 23,610 as of February 3, 2026, as its annual report for the period ending February 3, 2026 states.
- What kinds of work make up Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc.'s workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 3 industry staffing patterns, the largest Restaurants and Other Eating Places; by those patterns the work is about 20% desk work, 25% people work and 55% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc.'s annual report say about AI?
- 2 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 0, 0 and 2 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 19, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.