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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.
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 Headquarters in Huntington Beach, California | |
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| Formerly | BJ's Chicago Pizzeria |
| Company type | Public |
| Nasdaq: BJRI S&P 600 component | |
| Industry | |
| Genre | Casual dining |
| Founded | 1978, in Santa Ana, California, US |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | , US |
Number of locations | 215 (2022) |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Greg Levin (CEO and president) |
| Products | American food |
| Services | Catering |
| Revenue |  US$1.283 billion (2023)[1] |
| US$13.759 million (2023)[1] | |
| US$19.660 million (2023)[1] | |
| Total assets | US$1.058 billion (FY 2023)[1] |
| Total equity | US$365.761 million (FY 2023)[1] |
Number of employees | 21,200 (2021) |
| Website | www |
BJ's was founded in 1978 by Jim Kozen and Leonard Allenstein.[4] It first opened in Santa Ana, California, as BJ's Chicago Pizzeria.[5] The original name was BJ Grunts, but due to a federal trademark conflict with RJ Grunts, a Chicago-based hamburger restaurant, 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 seventh 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 US 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[update], BJ's operated 215 restaurants in 29 states.[16]
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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]
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]
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