Case 33: California Pizza Kitchen Essay

Portillo’s became the unsurpassed leader in the fast causal dining industry because my systems required maintaining unbelievably high standards. I never took short cuts or compromised quality to justify a heartier bottom line. I knew that if I ever lowered my standards our very devoted customers would simply leave to find something better. I see stagnating sales and believe that its starting - our faithful customer base is starting to go away and we have to fix it. We have to return to the place where our employees love their jobs. Their enthusiasm will translate to cleaner stores, better quality food, faster service and eventually healthier

This paper provides a summary of our analysis of the data obtained for 60 Crusty Dough Pizza Company restaurants. We compared 16 pizza store characteristics to monthly profit in order to determine the best indicators of success. The results of this analysis may be used to determine the store services and attributes that have the most bearing on profitably.

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

Mario’s Pizzeria, a family-owned establishment is known for authentic taste, fresh ingredients, brick oven baked pizza, is an example of common modern phenomena. The pizzeria has been in business since 1950 and brings with it a reputation in its home in Palm Springs, California, for its quality and uniqueness. Mario wishes to pass the business down through his family, however a new set of streamlined processes are required to remain competitive while still providing that family owned ambience that is one of their hallmarks. Customers are dissatisfied with the wait time and it necessary to evaluate the customer population, customer que wait times, the servicing system, and develop a priority rule for

With pleasure, we present to you the report on “case analysis of California Pizza Kitchen” for the fulfillment of the course “Cases in Financial

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.

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

In July of 2007, California Pizza Kitchen (CPK), a casual dining pizzeria started in California by co-owners Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax, was faced with the decision to invest in a stock repurchase program. Led by Chief Financial Officer Susan Collyns, the financial team of CPK was reviewing the preliminary results for the second quarter to determine if the stock repurchase program would provide a significant financial leverage for the company. The goal was to determine if the company can maintain the necessary financial stability to meet the expected growth trajectory for 2008 while utilizing debt

Exhibits 6, 8, 9, and 10 provide a great deal of information to TruEarth Pizza, including several necessary areas of continuing product development. Creating more appealing varieties and finding a way to increase the convenience factor, for example, would be excellent ways to improve customer response to the product. There are other, more distressing problems that suggest the entire model might be flawed and ultimately unprofitable: two of the most substantial dislikes of the

The company is famous for its advertising catchphrase, Pizza! Pizza! Which was introduced in 1979. The phrase refers to two pizzas being offered for the comparable price of a single pizza from competitors. Ordinally,

2005 will mark the 100-year anniversary of the first pizzeria in America. Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza each day, which is about 350 slices per second. According to an American Dairy Association random sampling survey, pizza is America’s fourth most craved food behind cheese, chocolate, and ice cream. American’s obviously love pizza; we have even designated the month of October as National Pizza Month. But whether you bake your pizza in your kitchen oven, in a wood-burning stove, eat it in a restaurant, or choose delivery, there is no denying this phenomenon has become as American as apple pie.

By the 1950s, America’s full-fledged love affair with pizza traversed into the business arena and major players in commercialized pizzerias appeared on the scene. By the 1950s and 1960s, pizza parlors, bowling alleys, and drive-in movie theaters offered relatively inexpensive entertainment and became popular hangouts for courting teenagers. Naturally, pizza proved lucrative to local businesses and was added to menus at local teenage hangouts. As America’s youth were dating and falling in love, they further solidified their love affair with pizza and fast food. Pizza had become so popular by the mid-1960s that a major pizza chain opened and began offering home delivery while another major player began selling pizza franchises across America.

As part of the PEST analysis, the California Pizza Kitchen has to abide by numerous government regulations (federal and state), but it has not reflected negatively on the profits. The California Pizza Kitchen company will more than likely face some economic

Pizza Hut is one of the flagship brands of Yum! Brands, Inc., which also has KFC, Taco Bell, A&W and Long John Silver’s under its umbrella. Pizza Hut is the world’s largest pizza chain with over 12,500 restaurants across 91 countries

* 300% increase on basic food product prices and only 20% rise in wages. Pizza Hut had to increase its price by 40%. Products were becoming less affordable to locals.