BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) held its annual meeting of
shareholders on Wednesday, June 3, 2009. Shareholders re-elected Gerald
W. Deitchle, Peter A. Bassi, Larry D. Bouts, Shann M. Brassfield, James
A. Dal Pozzo, J. Roger King and John F. Grundhofer to the Board of
Directors to serve for one-year terms until the next annual meeting.
Additionally, shareholders also ratified the selection of Ernst & Young
LLP to serve as the Company’s independent registered public accounting
firm for fiscal 2009. Management also provided shareholders with an
overview of the Company’s fiscal 2008 financial results and an update on
the Company’s current expansion plan and key initiatives in progress.
"In spite of the current economic recession, BJ’s continues to steadily
gain market share in the estimated $80-$85 billion casual dining segment
of the restaurant industry,” commented Jerry Deitchle, Chairman and CEO.
"Currently, our estimated share of the segment’s annual sales is only
about one-half of one percent. Accordingly, the bulk of our national
growth opportunity remains well ahead of us. Our previously announced
2009 new restaurant expansion plan remains solidly on track, and work is
well underway in developing a reasonable expansion plan for next year.
Our team has worked very hard during the last four to five years to more
clearly position the BJ’s concept as a ‘casual-plus’ competitor that
delivers a higher quality, more differentiated dining experience at a
price point that remains the same or lower than most of our ‘mass
market’ casual dining competitors. We will continue to make prudent
investments in our concept and our growth infrastructure to further
reinforce our competitive positioning as we navigate our way through the
current recession and become an even stronger competitive force when the
recession eventually abates.”
BJ's Restaurants, Inc. currently owns and operates 84 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 (44), Texas (13), 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 44 of our current 84 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.
