California Pizza Kitchen - case essay

PepsiCo faces two very different companies in its most recent potential acquisition. Carts of Colorado is a designer, manufacturer, and merchandiser of mobile food carts – not directly in the food services industry, they do cater to a large corporate customer base along with PepsiCo that includes Coca-Cola, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, and Mrs. Fields. Alternatively, California Pizza Kitchen is a casual dining restaurant with 25 locations in eight states, typically located in affluent areas.

Boston Pizza is an international corporation. Its’ management team consists of chairmen and owners Jim Treliving and George Melville. Mark Pecinda , the president and chief executive officer, and Wes Bews, the chief financial officer. Both Jim Treliving and George Melville have been in a partnership for 40 years when Melville was Treliving 's business consultant for four years until 1973, at that time he became Treliving 's partner in the business

Given the net sales in 2011 is still higher than 2010, we can assume the problem is most likely with its operating cost management. On the other hand, HH’s assets turnover rate dropping 0.30 from 2010 suggests an inefficiency of generating more sales with its increased assets in 2011.

In our analysis, we compared the profits earned by 60 Crusty Dough Pizza Company restaurants to factors associated to their menu, amenities, services, and statistics regarding the restaurant communities. The factors that we analyzed are listed in Table 1.

The purpose of this case is to determine which key variables drive Crusty Pizza Restaurant’s monthly profit and then forecast what the monthly profit would be for potential stores. Based off of this information we will be able to make a recommendation to Crusty Dough Pizza Restaurant on which stores they should open and which they avoid. The group was provided 60 restaurants’ data that included monthly profit, student population, advertising expenditures, parking spots, population within 20 miles, pizza varieties, and competitors within 15 miles. For the potential stores we were given all of this

* The company has sufficient liquidity to finance ongoing operations without taking on additional debt.

The mixture of debt-equity mix is important so as to maximize the stock price of the Costco. However, it will be significant to consider the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) as well so that it can evaluate the company targeted capital structure. Cost of capital (OC) may be used by the companies as for long term decision making, so industries that faced to take the important of Cost of capital seriously may not make the right choice by choosing the right project(Gitman’s, ).

“Hi, welcome to CiCi’s!” This is the warm greeting that every CiCi’s employee will welcome every customer with when they walk through the door. This warm welcome is just one of the many things that CiCi’s does to exceed the customer service expectations that come with a buffet style restaurant. With competition lurking, and the economy pinching, great customer service has become a premium. This is why CiCi’s focuses so much on the customer’s wants and needs. The mission statement

operates 25 years’ history. Compared to Chuck E Cheese, Inc. and California Pizza Kitchen, Inc.,

Mr. Phimphrachanh wants to draw $100,000 from the business by the end of 2006. But based on his financial projections, the after tax net income is less than $100,000. Moreover, there are some other factors that he should consider.

When analyzing which debt financing option CPK should choose, the weight average cost of capital (WACC) will provide an approximation on how much CPK must earn in order to satisfy the amount financed. The values of WACC for the actual, 10%, 20%, and 30% options can be found in Appendix A. It appears that the higher the financial leverage, the lower the WACC will be. Take for instance if CPK chooses a 30% debt to capital situation, the ROE will be 11.1 % with a 9.2% WACC. In contrast, at the actual value, the ROE is 9% with the WACC being 9.5% and could pose badly for CPK. As long as CPK is comfortable with the high risk of a 30% debt to capital ratio, then it would be the most beneficial in terms of adding economic value to the company, and for the shareholders, while providing a high financial leverage.

William Wrigley Jr. Company is exploring whether it is optimal to recapitalise with taking on $3 billion of debt. Three options are revised; borrow and repurchase shares, dividend payouts or continue to function with full equity. Debt will provide a tax shield of $1.2 billion given the tax rate is 40%, this should increase the market share price to $61.53 per share. The viable method for the company is to utilize this debt to repurchase shares. The will not only increase Wrigley’s market value, via the debt shield, but also signal to market that management believes Wrigley’s is undervalued, something the dividend payment won’t achieve.

California Pizza Kitchen has been operating since 1985 predominantly in California. As of June 2007, they had 213 retail locations in the US and abroad. Analysts have put estimates on the potential of 500 full service locations. CPK's strategy includes the opening of 16 to 18 new locations this year including the closing of one location. In the second quarter of 2007, revenue increased 16% while comparable restaurant sales grew by 5%. Performing comparatively well against its competitors, CPK's stock has been depressed recently falling to $22.10 in June making their P/E equal to 31.9 time current earnings. In comparison with BJ's Restaurants with a P/E of 48.9, CPK appears undervalued. CPK's direct

Our analysis attempts to answer the question, “What are the things a company must consider when analyzing a new investment or project?” According to the text, a firm’s first objective when deciding to take on new debt should be that its return on net assets (RONA) should be greater than its weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Since we are working with an income statement only and do not have an amount for net assets, we will instead use return on invested capital (ROIC), which measures how well a company is using its money to generate returns. Comparing a company 's return on capital (ROIC) with its cost of capital (WACC) reveals whether invested capital was used effectively. From our spreadsheet calculations we see that using our estimated operating profit provides us with a 19.9% return on invested capital with only a 7.2% weighted average cost for that same capital. If these numbers are even close to correct, George should definitely make the move.

-at 24% user penetration the option A (pizza kit plus toppings) would allow a margin of $12,570 millions while the option B (pizza only) let a total factory sales amount of $35,137 well below the $45,000 millions basic business requirements.