BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) today announced the record-setting
opening of its newest restaurant in Downey, California, on August 3,
2009. The new BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse is located at the Stonewood
Center Mall, a 950,000 square foot, super-regional shopping center
anchored by Macy’s Home Store, Macy’s, JCPenney and Kohl’s. The
restaurant is approximately 8,600 square feet, includes seating for
approximately 260 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.
"Downey’s opening day sales were in excess of $25,000, setting a new
record for BJ’s on that measure,” commented Jerry Deitchle, Chairman and
CEO. "Our new Downey restaurant is located in a densely populated,
mature trade area with proven and stable levels of retail sales in our
core Southern California market, where the BJ’s concept enjoys strong
brand awareness and high sales volumes. Our Downey opening represents
our fourth new restaurant for 2009. We currently remain on track to open
as many as six more restaurants during 2009 and thereby achieve our
stated goal to increase our total restaurant operating weeks by at least
15% this year.”
BJ's Restaurants, Inc. currently owns and operates 86 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 (45), Texas (14), 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 45 of our current 86 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.
For further information, please contact Greg Levin of BJ’s Restaurants,
Inc. at (714) 500-2400.
