The California Pizza Kitchen

In 1985, two lawyers with an ambition to get into the restaurant business took the brave step of changing careers and opened the first California Pizza Kitchen. The decision was the right one and the chain's black and yellow logo depicting a palm tree is a familiar sight today. CPK, as it is also known, now operates more than 210 outlets and is in 30 states and several overseas countries. The first restaurant was in Beverly Hills and was an instant success. 2006 figures for the company give the net income as $21 million and the same year shows that there were 13,900 employees.

In addition to giving much needed employment, California Pizza Kitchen supports children's charities that are close to the restaurants. The company also organizes school field trips, giving educational tours of restaurants and allowing students to have a go at making their own pizza! The students see all the hard work that goes into running a successful restaurant.

The restaurant popularized the California-Style Pizza, which uses thin crusts in the same way as New York and Italian pizzas, but takes toppings from cuisine around the world in a fusion style. These Californian fusion pizzas are cooked in traditional wood burning ovens, bringing out the entire flavor. California Pizza Kitchen pushed fusion to new levels, introducing new pizzas that have become menu favorites, such as the Original BBQ Chicken Pizza, BLT, and Thai Chicken. The Jerk Chicken pizzas, inspired by Jamaican cooking are also popular. Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya is another popular meal.

It's not just pizza that is served in the chain's restaurants. The menu also includes sandwiches, soups, appetizers, pasta dishes, and salads. Diners can choose a dessert too, such as Key Lime Pie.  There are also 20 California Pizza Kitchen ASAP Kiosks. These have a smaller menu and serve customers at shopping malls and passengers at airports, offering them a quick service.

The pizzas can be found outside of restaurants and kiosks in the form of frozen pizza. California Pizza Kitchen supplies supermarkets and other food retailers through licensed products from Kraft Foods. The same standard of quality is maintained for the frozen varieties.

Pizza is popular in many countries and CPK is a well-known franchise, particularly in Asia. The company has restaurants in Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea. There are also locations in Mexico and the Philippines. California Pizza Kitchen will continue to fly the flag for superior pizza.