BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ: BJRI) today announced the opening of its
newest restaurant in Culver City, California, a Los Angeles suburb, on
October 5, 2009. The new BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse is located at 6000
Sepulveda Blvd, at the intersection of I-405 and Sepulveda Blvd. in the
newly renovated Fox Hills Mall. The restaurant is part of the new
350,000 square feet of additional retail space anchored by Target, Best
Buy, Forever XXI, and H & M. The restaurant is approximately 8,500
square feet and contains seating for approximately 280 guests and
features BJ’s extensive menu, including BJ's signature deep-dish pizza,
award-winning handcrafted beer and famous Pizookie® dessert. BJ’s highly
detailed, contemporary décor and unique video statement, including
several high definition flat panel televisions, creates a high energy,
fun and family-friendly dining environment for everyone to enjoy. Hours
of operation are from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight Sunday through
Thursday and 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
"We are very excited to open BJ’s 88th restaurant in our
‘home court’ of Southern California at the newly renovated Fox Hills
Mall in Culver City,” commented Jerry Deitchle, Chairman and CEO. "Sales
for our first day of operations were very strong. Our new Culver City
restaurant exemplifies our planned restaurant expansion for the next few
years which will be primarily focused on locations in mature, densely
populated trade areas in existing BJ's markets. This will facilitate the
achievement of increased leverage in every aspect of our business model.
Our new Culver City restaurant represents our sixth new restaurant this
year, and we remain on track to open four more restaurants before the
end of the year. By doing so, we will achieve our stated goal to
increase our total restaurant operating weeks by approximately 15% for
the full year.” Investors are reminded that the actual number and timing
of new restaurant openings for any given period is subject to a number
of factors outside of the Company's control, including weather
conditions and factors under the control of landlords, contractors and
regulatory/licensing authorities.
BJ's Restaurants, Inc. currently owns and operates 88 casual dining
restaurants under the BJ's Restaurant & Brewery, BJ's Restaurant &
Brewhouse or BJ's Pizza & Grill brand names. BJ's restaurants offer an
innovative and broad menu featuring award-winning, signature deep-dish
pizza complemented with generously portioned salads, appetizers,
sandwiches, soups, pastas, entrées and desserts. Quality, flavor, value,
moderate prices and sincere service remain distinct attributes of the
BJ's experience. The Company operates several microbreweries which
produce and distribute BJ's critically acclaimed handcrafted beers
throughout the chain. The Company's restaurants are located in
California (46), Texas (15), Arizona (5), Colorado (3), Oregon (2),
Nevada (3), Florida (5), Ohio (2), Oklahoma (2), Kentucky (1), Indiana
(1), Louisiana (1) and Washington (2). The Company also has a licensing
interest in a BJ's restaurant in Lahaina, Maui. Visit BJ's Restaurants,
Inc. on the Web at http://www.bjsrestaurants.com.
Certain statements in the preceding paragraphs and all other statements
that are not purely historical constitute "forward-looking” statements
for purposes of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities and
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are intended to be covered by the
safe harbors created thereby. Such statements include, but are not
limited to, those regarding expected comparable restaurant sales growth
in future periods, those regarding the effect of new sales-building
initiatives, as well as those regarding the number of restaurants
expected to be opened in future periods and the timing and location of
such openings. These "forward-looking” statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual
results to be materially different from those projected or anticipated.
Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited
to: (i) the effect of recent credit and equity market disruptions on our
ability to finance our continued expansion on acceptable terms, (ii) our
ability to manage an increasing number of new restaurant openings, (iii)
construction delays, (iv) labor shortages, (v) minimum wage increases,
(vi) food quality and health concerns, (vii) factors that impact
California, where 46 of our current 88 restaurants are located, (viii)
restaurant and brewery industry competition, (ix) impact of certain
brewery business considerations, including without limitation,
dependence upon suppliers and related hazards, (x) consumer spending
trends in general for casual dining occasions, (xi) potential uninsured
losses and liabilities, (xii) fluctuating commodity costs and
availability of food in general and certain raw materials related to the
brewing of our handcrafted beers and energy, (xiii) trademark and
servicemark risks, (xiv) government regulations, (xv) licensing costs,
(xvi) beer and liquor regulations, (xvii) loss of key personnel, (xviii)
inability to secure acceptable sites, (xix) limitations on insurance
coverage, (xx) legal proceedings, (xxi) other general economic and
regulatory conditions and requirements, (xxii) the success of our key
sales-building and related operational initiatives and (xxiii) numerous
other matters discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. undertakes no obligation to
update or alter its "forward-looking” statements whether as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise.
