Rick Rosenfield reflects on California Pizza Kitchen's journey from a single Beverly Hills store to bankruptcy and a new era under Consortium Brand Partners.
California Pizza Kitchen was acquired in December for just under $300 million by Consortium Brand Partners. Co-founder Rick Rosenfield said the new owners are committed to restoring the brand's success after years of decline under previous private equity ownership.
Rosenfield and Larry Flax opened the first California Pizza Kitchen on a Beverly Hills street in 1985. Both had been federal prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys before leaving law to chase a restaurant dream. “We didn't want to open just a restaurant. We decided to be bold. We said we want to open a national and international chain of restaurants,” Rosenfield told Fox News Digital.
The Original BBQ Chicken Pizza drew crowds from day one. Actress Shirley MacLaine was the first customer. Rosenfield recalled the early days as “hectic” and said the barbecue chicken pizza created a blockbuster. The chain expanded by placing restaurants inside upscale shopping malls, a strategy that Rosenfield said helped change how Americans ate. “We brought this polished, casual dining to the best malls in America,” he said.
By the time Rosenfield and Flax had grown CPK to more than 200 locations worldwide, Golden Gate Capital acquired the chain in 2011 for $470 million. Nine years later, in July 2020, CPK filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The pandemic compounded existing financial troubles.
Rosenfield argued that the trouble started well before the pandemic. He said Golden Gate Capital damaged the culture he and Flax had spent decades building. “As founder, it's hard to sit back because I had no role in it whatsoever. So, we're armchair quarterbacks looking from the outside,” he said. “I believe that they damaged the culture from day one. They wanted to remake it in an image different than we had remade it in. And in the meantime, it wasn't successful.” Golden Gate Capital declined Fox News Digital's request for comment.
CPK emerged from bankruptcy in November 2020. Rosenfield said he still dines at the chain every few weeks and believes the food has remained consistent. The December acquisition by Consortium Brand Partners, a New York-based firm, marks the first time in years he feels optimistic. “I believe they want to bring the brand, not only to its former glory, but to new glory,” Rosenfield said. “I have confidence in this team. And for the first time in all these years, my partner, Larry Flax, and I are very excited about where it could go.”
Rosenfield reflected on the legacy he and Flax built from a single leased space. “I love that everybody has a CPK story. That's what drove me to do the book,” he said. “It's accomplished what we wanted. Grandparents, parents, kids all have a place that they can all go to and agree to go to.”
“I am extremely proud of the brand,” Rosenfield said.
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