National Restaurant Chain's DC Expansion
California Pizza Kitchen, the company that revolutionized pizza in the mid-'80s, is remodeling and reopening its DC-area restaurants and expanding its local presence. It’s all to woo Millennials and win back business from the Chipotles of the world. CEO G.J. Hart (center) spoke to us before cutting the ribbon on CPK’s updated Fairfax Corner and Pentagon Centre locations last week, revealing more modern decor and expanded menus with specialty cocktails and fish and steak dishes. The reopenings, which are getting as much fanfare as brand-new restaurant openings, will continue until the end of October at its Tysons, Gaithersburg, Bethesda, Annapolis and Hunt Valley locations. G.J. is talking to DC-area brokers about expanding in the region and branching out from its traditional mall and lifestyle centers locations to include more stand-alone, neighborhood restaurants.
G.J., speaking at his alma mater, James Madison University in 2013, says the LA-based company kicked off a five-year plan earlier this year to refresh all of its 200 US locations and become more competitive as dining options expand. The physical transformations, happening in the evenings while the restaurants are closed, include a more relaxed environment with wood floors rather than carpet, sustainable materials like reclaimed wood, and incorporating more of the outdoors. The company is also sending in its culinary team to tweak the menus to include more seasonal ingredients and bars are being added to CPKs that didn’t have them. G.J. says the idea is to “de-chain” the restaurants and have some localized themes through photography and artwork.
National Restaurant Association research SVP Hudson Riehle says table service restaurants have been lagging in sales growth behind quick service, which includes fast-casual restaurants. And the number of table service and quick-service locations—including food trucks—are only increasing, which will force more table service restaurants to differentiate themselves. The DC region remains a solid growth area for restaurants because of employment, population and income growth. DC's restaurant sales will reach $2.8B this year, up 3% over last year, across 2,100 restaurants. National sales are projected to post a record high of $709B, up 4% over last year.
