BJ's Restaurants Opens in Akron, Ohio


HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Oct. 27, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) today announced the opening of its new restaurant in Akron, Ohio on Monday, October 26, 2015. The new BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse® is located on a free standing pad at the Summit Mall in Akron. The restaurant is approximately 7,300 square feet, seats approximately 225 guests and features BJ's extensive menu, including BJ's signature deep-dish pizza, award-winning handcrafted beer and famous Pizookie® dessert. BJ's unique, contemporary décor provides the perfect environment for all dining occasions. Hours of operation are from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight Sunday through Thursday, and 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

"We are excited to open our 15th new restaurant this year in Akron, Ohio," commented Greg Trojan, President and CEO. "The new Akron BJ's is our seventh restaurant in Ohio and joins our recently opened Canton restaurant in the northeast Ohio market. We expect to open our last new fiscal 2015 restaurant in mid-November, before the Thanksgiving holiday, in Longview, Texas. With this opening we will have achieved our goal to open 16 new restaurants this year. Looking forward to next year, our 2016 development pipeline is in excellent shape as we currently plan on opening 18 to 19 new restaurants. With only 170 restaurants in 22 states currently open and estimated national capacity for at least 425 BJ's restaurants, we are excited about the continued growth opportunity in front of us." 

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. currently owns and operates 170 casual dining restaurants under the BJ's Restaurant & Brewery®, BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse®, BJ's Pizza & Grill® and BJ's Grill® brand names. BJ's Restaurants offer an innovative and broad menu featuring award-winning, signature deep-dish pizza complemented with generously portioned salads, appetizers, sandwiches, soups, pastas, entrees and desserts, including the Pizookie® dessert. Quality, flavor, value, moderate prices and sincere service remain distinct attributes of the BJ's experience. All restaurants feature BJ's critically acclaimed proprietary craft beers, which are produced at several of the Company's restaurant and brewery locations and independent third party craft brewers. The Company's restaurants are located in the 22 states of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Visit BJ's Restaurants, Inc. on the Web at http://www.bjsrestaurants.com.

Certain statements in the preceding paragraphs and all other statements that are not purely historical constitute "forward-looking" statements for purposes of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. The "forward-looking" statements contained in this press release are based on current assumptions and expectations and BJ's Restaurants, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update or alter its "forward-looking" statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Investors are referred to the full discussion of risks and uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K.

For further information, please contact Greg Levin of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. at (714) 500-2400 or JCIR at (212) 835-8500 or at bjri@jcir.com.