California Pizza Kitchen, which has struggled to find its footing since emerging from bankruptcy protection in 2020, is reportedly headed into new ownership.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Reuters says the Costa-Mesa-based casual dining chain known as CPK has signed a deal to be acquired for under $300 million by an investor group led by Consortium Brand Partners, a New York firm whose consumer brand investments include Outdoor Voices, Jonathan Adler and Reese Witherspoon-founded Draper James.
Todd Boehly’s investment firm, Eldridge Industries, is also part of the deal, Reuters reported. Boehly is a minority stakeholder in the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The acquisition, if completed, will mark Consortium’s first foray into restaurants; however, Eldridge’s restaurant investment business, Convive Brands, is expected to operate CPK following the deal, Reuters said.
CPK declined to comment. Representatives for Consortium and Eldridge did not return multiple requests for comment.
The reported sale of CPK, which turned 40 this year, comes as the chain has spent the last five years trying to stabilize after a tumultuous stretch marked by pandemic losses, heavy debt and bankruptcy.
According to Reuters, investment bank Piper Sandler was running a sale process for CPK, which lenders have owned since it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2020.
The company’s systemwide sales were $406 million in 2024, down 10% from the year before, according to Technomic Inc. data. The chain is the eighth-largest OC-based restaurant brand by revenue.
A Rebuild Years in the Making
In July 2020, amid punishing pandemic-induced slowdowns in the restaurant industry, CPK filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing liabilities of $500 million to $1 billion.
After bankruptcy, a newly formed shareholder group, CPK Parent, installed new leadership and moved the company’s headquarters from Los Angeles to Costa Mesa.
At the time, the chain revealed plans to activate a domestic franchising program for the first time to accelerate revenue and unit growth in key territories.
But a series of leadership changes ensued as progress remained slow.
In 2022, the board removed then Chief Executive Jim Hyatt, Chief Operating Officer Brad Gramlich, and corporate chef Brian Sullivan, who had been with the chain for 34 years.
The c-suite shakeup ended with Jeff Warne, an independent director on the board since 2020 with an extensive finance background, taking over as CEO.
“When I came on board, we were trying to put all the systems and processes in place so that we could restart growth,” Warne told the Business Journal in an interview earlier this year.
Warne has experience dealing with struggling brands.
His 23 years in the restaurant business include stints as CEO of Perkins & Marie Callender’s LLC and O’Charley’s Inc. He also served as president and chief operating officer at locally founded Pick Up Stix for two years and spent six years as COO of TGI Fridays.
He told the Business Journal earlier this year that after CPK emerged from bankruptcy, the chain was still burdened by a heavy debt load.
“We really needed to have partners in our growth story,” Warne said. “We weren’t as engaged in franchising, and refranchising, in terms of getting other growth partners in the brand so that we had other avenues of growth versus just our own company growth, because we were going to grow far too slow on our own capital.”
A Franchising Era Begins
The casual dining chain, whose claim to fame is inventing The Original BBQ Chicken Pizza, has been ramping up its franchising strategy over the past year in a move to unload corporate-owned stores.
Last November, it signed a partnership agreement with Nevada-based Sundine LLC to acquire three company-owned CPK locations in Las Vegas, along with plans to open six additional units in Nevada and Utah over the next several years. Sundine is a large multi-unit operator that owns more than 85 restaurants, including Del Taco and Jack in the Box locations.
“This is a significant moment in CPK’s growth strategy,” CPK President Michael Beacham said in announcing the deal.
More partnerships are coming.
CPK told the Business Journal earlier this year that it aims to sign three to four franchise partners per year and is targeting Florida, the Mid-Atlantic and the East Coast—markets CEO Warne says are ripe for expansion.
It’s unclear if those expansion plans will remain a top priority if the chain sells to Consortium.
