California Pizza Kitchen: From a Legendary Pizza to a Global Brand

California Pizza Kitchen opened their first restaurant in Beverly Hills in 1985. Former federal prosecutors Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax combined their passion for food with fresh high-quality ingridients to create innovative, hearth-baked pizzas such as The Original BBQ Chicken, Thai Chicken and Jamaican Jerk Chicken, cooked in an open kitchen. The restaurant gave California a place in the pizza pantheon alongside Chicago and New York. Their California twist on global flavors resonated with guests, and almost immediately, CPK became bustling spot for business and family gatherings.

California Pizza Kitchen
California Pizza Kitchen

Almost immediately after the first location opened, CPK expanded from California to more than 250 locations and more than 30 states and 11 countries. But it doesn’t stop there; you’ll also find CPK bringing smiles to the pizza aisle in your grocer’s freezer, taking the edge off travel fatigue in major airports, all over the world, feeding eager fans at sports stadiums and students on college campuses.

California Pizza Kitchen completed an initial public offering in August 2000 and traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the ticker symbol CPKI. Only July 7, 2011, Golden Gate Capital completed the acquisition of CPK and as a result of the acquisition, the company’s common stock in no longer publicly traded.

Global Restaurant Concepts Inc., a Filipino-owned company, brought the world famous brand in the Philippines. In 1998, the first CPK restaurant outside the United States opened its doors in Glorietta 3, Ayala Center, Makati City.

Locations:

Greenbelt 5
Powerplant Mall
Alabang Town Center
Shangri-la Plaza Mall
TriNoma
Promenade Mall
Lucky Chinatown
W Global Center
Harbor Point

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