Shop Talk

Check Out Line: California Pizza Kitchen cooking up deal?

Check out California Pizza Kitchen’s confirmation it is exploring its options, including a possible sale.

The 25-year-old restaurant chain, which also raised its first-quarter profit forecast, said it is weighing financial and strategic alternatives, including a sale.

California Pizza, known for its gourmet hearth-baked pizzas and creative salads, said its board authorized management to consider a variety of alternatives to enhance shareholder value and has hired investment bank Moelis & Co as its financial advisor in the review. Options could include changes in its capital structure, or a possible sale, merger or other business combination.

On Friday, a source familiar with the deal said California Pizza was seeking buyers. Private equity groups have been smelling opportunity in the casual dining sector of late, as financing becomes more accessible and consumers show more of a willingness to eat out.

Also in the basket:

Best Buy to sell Barnes & Noble’s Nook reader

Munchkin says Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan buys stake

Starbucks outlines gun policy amid fracas

Last month, we wrote a blog about a controversy over Starbucks decision not to ban guns in its cafes.

The fracas started when groups of pistol-packing, open-carry gun rights activists exercised their rights by visiting Northern California restaurants and cafes. Their actions prompted companies like Peet’s Coffee & Tea and California Pizza Kitchen to prohibit firearms in their outlets. But Starbucks, even when pressed by the influential Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, has declined to follow suit — a position that has been lauded by gun rights supporters and condemned by people who only want to see the police and military packing heat at Starbucks.

The controversy refuses to go away and Starbucks released a new statement on the issue:

“We recognize that there is significant and genuine passion surrounding the issue of open carry weapons laws. Advocacy groups from both sides of this issue have chosen to use Starbucks as a way to draw attention to their positions. While we deeply respect the views of all our customers, Starbucks long-standing approach to this issue remains unchanged.

We comply with local laws and statutes in all the communities we serve. In this case, 43 of the 50 U.S. states have open carry weapon laws. Where these laws don`t exist, we comply with laws that prohibit the open carrying of weapons. The political, policy and legal debates around these issues belong in the legislatures and courts, not in our stores.

At the same time, we have a security protocol for any threatening situation that might occur in our stores. Partners are trained to call law enforcement as situations arise. We will continuously review our procedures to ensure the highest safety guidelines are in place and we will continue to work closely with law enforcement.

We have examined this issue through the lens of partner (employee) and customer safety. Were we to adopt a policy different from local laws allowing open carry, we would be forced to require our partners to ask law abiding customers to leave our stores, putting our partners in an unfair and potentially unsafe position.

Restaurants fight recession with wine

Wine sales at restaurants and bars are falling as diners trade down to less expensive options or skip wine altogether to save a buck.  But some restaurants are cooking up contrarian strategies to squeeze sales from the vine.

California Pizza Kitchen took its wine list more upscale and wine sales followed.

The pizza chain launched the new wine list on Oct. 5. It includes Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay, La Crema Pinot Noir and Stags’ Leap Merlot for around $10 a glass.

“This is us going back to our roots. When we first opened CPK, (in 1985) part of the concept was we that we would have familiar wines at unfamiliar prices,” said Rick Rosenfield, CPK’s co-chief executive officer.

Morton’s steakhouse, on the other hand, is working the downturn in fine wine prices to its advantage.

It is hitting auctions as luxury restaurants clear cellars and striking exclusive relationships with wineries like Charles Krug, Gundlach Bundschu and Liverano when they have unsold premium wine.

Its limited-time Krug 1881,  which sells for around $13 a glass, is the restaurant’s top-selling Cabernet, said Tylor Field, Morton’s vice president of wine and spirits.