BJ's Restaurants

Last updated

BJ's Restaurants, Inc.
  • BJ's Grill
  • BJ's Pizza & Grill
  • BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery
  • BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse
FormerlyBJ's Chicago Pizzeria
Company type Public
Nasdaq:  BJRI
S&P 600 component
Industry
Genre Casual dining
Founded1978(46 years ago) (1978), in Santa Ana, California, US
Founders
  • Mike Phillips
  • Bill Cunningham
Headquarters,
US
Number of locations
215 (2022)
Area served
United States
Key people
Greg Levin (CEO and president)
ProductsAmerican food
Services Catering
RevenueIncrease2.svgUS$1.195 billion (2021) [1]
Increase2.svgUS$79.452 million (2021) [1]
Increase2.svgUS$52.882 million (2021) [1]
Total assets Increase2.svg US$1.059 billion (FY 2021) [1]
Total equity Increase2.svg US$353.788 million (FY 2021) [1]
Number of employees
23,000 (2021)
Website www.bjsrestaurants.com

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. is an American restaurant chain, headquartered in Huntington Beach, California. [2] [3] The chain operates under the names BJ's Restaurant & Brewery, BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, BJ's Grill, and BJ's Pizza & Grill.

Contents

History

A BJ's in Hillsboro, Oregon BJs front close - Hillsboro, Oregon.JPG
A BJ's in Hillsboro, Oregon
A BJ's Brewhouse Location at Southern Park Mall, Boardman Ohio BJ's Brewhouse; Southern Park Mall; Boardman OH.jpg
A BJ’s Brewhouse Location at Southern Park Mall, Boardman Ohio

BJ's was founded in 1978 and first opened in Santa Ana, California, as BJ's Chicago Pizzeria [4] by Jim Kozen and Leonard Allenstein. [5] The original name was BJ Grunts, but due to a Federal Trademark conflict with RJ Grunts, a Chicago-based hamburger shop, the name was changed. [6] Shortly after the opening of the first restaurant, Mike Phillips and Bill Cunningham bought 50% of the company for $14,000.[ citation needed ] Kozen and Allenstein left the group after the opening of the 7th store. [7] [8] Phillips and Cunningham sold the company to their accountants Paul Motenko and Jerry Hennessy in 1991. [9] [8]

By 1996, seven restaurants had opened between San Diego and Los Angeles.[ citation needed ] Originally known as Chicago Pizza, the company went public in 1996, raising $9.4 million. [10] The company then bought 26 Pietro's Pizza restaurants in March 1996 in a $2.8 million deal in cash and assumed debt, but then sold off seven of the locations with plans to convert the remaining Pietro's to what was then BJ's Pizza. [10] During the same year, the company opened a microbrewery at its Brea restaurant. [11]

Between 2010 and 2011, the National Retail Federation named it one of the 10 fastest-growing restaurants in the U.S. based on year-over-year sales. [12]

In 2013, BJ's produced a combined total of 60,000 barrels annually at their 11 brewery restaurants to serve their chain of 136 restaurants in 15 states. [13] In 2010, the company's BJ's Hefelightzen was awarded a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival. [14] In 2021, Greg Levin was appointed to CEO. [15] As of December 2022, BJ's operated 215 restaurants in 29 states. [16]

Offerings

BJ's menu features pizza, beers, appetizers, entrees, pastas, sandwiches, salads, and desserts (including the signature Pizookie). [17] Some locations feature microbreweries that supply beer to other locations in the chain. [3]

Awards and recognition

At the 2006 Great American Beer Festival, BJ's Big Fish IPA achieved a gold medal within the American-style Strong Pale Ale classification. Its design draws inspiration from the Piranha Pale Ale, which secured a silver medal in 2002. In a similar vein, BJ's Jeremiah Red earned a silver medal in the strong ales category during the same festival in 1996. The Belgian-style wheat beer from BJ's has been honored with a Gold Medal by the North American Beer Awards. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craft beer</span> Brewery that produces small amounts of beer

Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer, than larger "macro" breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, new flavours, and varied brewing techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Full Sail Brewing Company</span> Craft brewery in Oregon, US

Full Sail Brewing Company is a craft brewery in Hood River, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1987, Full Sail was the first commercially successful craft brewery to bottle beer in the Pacific Northwest for retail sale, and one of Oregon's early microbreweries. The first beer packaged was Full Sail Golden Ale, followed in 1988 by Full Sail Imperial Porter, Full Sail Amber Ale, and Wassail Winter Ale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arcadia Brewing Company</span> Defunct brewery in Michigan, U.S.

The Arcadia Brewing Company was a brewery with facilities in Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States, in operation from 1996 to 2019. At the time it ceased operations due to financing problems, it was one of Michigan's 25 largest craft breweries and distributed to eight states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malt Shovel Brewery</span> Australian brewery

The Malt Shovel Brewery is an Australian brewery owned by Lion, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Kirin. It is located in Camperdown, New South Wales. Malt Shovel is best known for its James Squire range of beers. The beer is named after the convict turned Australia's first brewer James Squire, who also went on to grow Australia's first hops and is said to have created Australia's first commercial brewery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Cow Casino and Brewery</span> Locals casino and brewery in Nevada, US

Holy Cow! Casino and Brewery was a locals casino and microbrewery on South Las Vegas Boulevard, north of the Las Vegas Strip, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The property began in 1955 as Foxy's Deli, which operated until its closure in 1975. A year later, the building was reopened as a casino named Foxy's Firehouse, which later closed in 1988. Tom "Big Dog" Wiesner purchased the building and reopened it as the Holy Cow casino in 1992. Wiesner added a microbrewery the following year, making the Holy Cow the first brewery to open in Las Vegas. Wiesner persuaded the state to change its laws that had prohibited breweries from operating in Las Vegas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Bruery</span> Brewery in California

The Bruery is an American brewing company based in Placentia, California, founded by Patrick Rue and named as a portmanteau of his family name and the word "brewery". It opened in 2008 and has produced an average of 2,500 barrels of beer annually in their 15-barrel brewhouse.

SPB Hospitality is a multi-brand restaurant operator headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company owns several casual dining restaurant chain brands, including Logan's Roadhouse, Old Chicago Pizza + Taproom, J. Alexander's, Stoney River Steak House, Krystal Restaurants, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants, and Rock Bottom Restaurants Breweries. As of November 2019, CraftWorks owned and operated over 390 restaurants in the United States, but all of its owned-and-operated locations closed by March 2020, after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy followed immediately by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, and CraftWorks and terminated its 18,000 employees, leaving fewer than 25 employed. On June 12, 2020, SPB Hospitality purchased Craftworks businesses out of bankruptcy for $93 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Top of the Hill Restaurant & Brewery</span> Restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC

Top of the Hill (TOPO) is a brewpub, restaurant, event space and distillery located in downtown Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The restaurant and brewery opened in 1994 at the intersection of Franklin and Columbia Streets adjacent to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was one of the first microbreweries in the state. TOPO expanded in 2010, adding the Great Room event space and the Back Bar, which is home to North Carolina's first on-premise cask ale program.

Pietro's Pizza is a small pizza chain in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1957, the chain grew to about 80 restaurants and changed owners several times before shrinking to only three restaurants. The company is based in Milwaukie, Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer in San Diego County, California</span> Beer in San Diego, California

San Diego County, California, has been called "the Craft Beer Capital of America". As of 2018, the county was home to 155 licensed craft breweries – the most of any county in the United States. Based on 2016 sales volume, three San Diego County breweries – Stone, Green Flash, and Karl Strauss – rank among the 50 largest craft brewers in the United States. San Diego County brewers pioneered the specialty beer style known as Double India Pale Ale, sometimes called San Diego Pale Ale. Its beer culture is a draw for tourism, particularly during major festivals such as San Diego Beer Week and the San Diego International Beer Competition. San Diego County breweries including Stone Brewing Co., AleSmith Brewing Company and Ballast Point Brewing Company are consistently rated among the top breweries in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marble Brewery (Albuquerque, New Mexico)</span>

Marble Brewery is a brewery in Albuquerque, New Mexico, founded in 2008. Its main brewhouse is located in downtown Albuquerque on Marble Avenue, which gave the brewery its name. The 30 barrel brewhouse is responsible for brewing all classic and seasonal styles, including Marble's most popular brew, Double White. As of 2018, it was the second largest brewery in New Mexico with an annual production volume of 23,000 US barrels. In 2016, the brewery completed a major expansion which increased the production capacity to 30,000 barrels. Its beers have won several awards and it was named Small Brewery and Brewmaster of the Year at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No-Li Brewhouse</span>

No-Li Brewhouse is a brewery and restaurant in Spokane, Washington, United States, co-founded by brewmaster Mark Irvin and beer industry executive John Bryant, expanding on Irvin's Northern Lights Brewery. The brewery is known for its emphasis on local sourcing and local production; in 2013 it was designated a "Spokane Style Beer" producer. Formerly known as Northern Lights Brewing, the company markets such beers as Born & Raised IPA and Big Juicy IPA.

Canteen Brewhouse is an American craft brewery founded in 1994 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dragonmead</span>

Dragonmead is a U.S. microbrewery, meadery and brewpub founded by Earl Scherbarth, Larry Channell, and Bill Wrobel in January 1997. The small brewery produces many varieties of beer, wine, and mead, and has received awards including gold medals at the World Beer Cup.

The Blackstone Brewing Company is a craft brewery in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded by Kent Taylor and Stephanie Weins in 1994, it claims to be Nashville's oldest craft brewery. The original brewpub, called Blackstone Restaurant and Brewery, opened on New Year's Eve 1994 and operated until 2016. In 2011, the company built a production brewery nearby and opened a tap house for the public in 2016. Blackstone also brews traditional European lagers for the Nashville Brewing Company. Blackstone Brewing Company has received more awards than any other brewery in Nashville, winning multiple medals at the World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer Festival.

Carol Stoudt is an American brewmaster who founded Stoudts Brewing Company in Adamstown, Pennsylvania in 1987. In addition to owning the company, she was the brewmaster, salesperson, and mentor. She was one of the first female brewmasters since Prohibition in the United States and the nation's first female sole proprietor of a brewery in 1987. 

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "BJRI Financials". Nasdaq. January 30, 2021.
  2. "Company Overview of BJ's Restaurants, Inc". Bloomberg. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Hampson, Tim (2008). The Beer Book. London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 23. ISBN   978-1405333016.
  4. Alvarado, Jocelyn (September 23, 2012). "Best of Orange County: BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse". Orange County Register .
  5. Alvarado, Jocelyn (September 23, 2012). "Best of Orange County: BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse". Orange County Register .
  6. "Casual Dining And Drinks At BJ's Brewery – SanctuaryBrewCo" . Retrieved October 5, 2022.
  7. Jacobson, Max (September 29, 1994). "Restaurants : BJ's Dishes Pizza That Pans Out". Los Angeles Times .
  8. 1 2 Chang, Andrea (May 5, 2010). "BJ's takes a bigger slice of casual-dining market: The Huntington Beach-based chain's vast menu and modest prices are helping it thrive after a tough few years for the restaurant industry". Los Angeles Times .
  9. Luna, Nancy (December 22, 2008). "BJ's Restaurants co-founders leave pizza chain". Orange County Register .
  10. 1 2 Rose, Michael (November 17, 1996). "BJ's Pizza to revamp Pietro's with breweries, remodeling". Portland Business Journal . Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  11. 1 2 Bloom, Earl (January 21, 2013). "BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse". Orange County Register .
  12. Luna, Nancy (August 2, 2012). "BJ's pizza among 10 fastest-growing chains". The Orange County Register .
  13. Morgan, Jason (August 16, 2013). "Brewpub Files: BJ's Restaurants crafts brand quality across its restaurants". Craft Brewing Business.
  14. "BJ's Restaurants Wins Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival". NBC News . September 28, 2010.
  15. "BJ's names Greg Levin to succeed Gregory Trojan as CEO". Nation's Restaurant News. July 6, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  16. "BJ'S Restaurants, Inc. news release". BJ's Restaurants, Inc. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  17. "BJ's Restaurants". Forbes. Retrieved April 8, 2020.

Official website OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

33°44′05″N117°59′42″W / 33.734774°N 117.995082°W / 33.734774; -117.995082