News

California Pizza Kitchen names 40-year restaurant veteran to CEO spot

January 22, 2018

Jim Hyatt steps into the CEO position today at California Pizza Kitchen, following the recent retirement of former CEO G.J. Hart's. Hyatt is a veteran restaurant executive who has successfully led multiple national restaurant brands over the course of his 40-year career, a news release said.

Most recently, Hyatt served as CEO of the publicly traded 600-location Ruby Tuesday brand, with $1.2 billion in annual sales, where he led the brand to improved profitability while delivering all-time high guest attribute scores, and leading a successful take-private transaction that closed in December. 

Prior to Ruby Tuesday, Hyatt was CEO of Church's Chicken — a chain with 1,600 units in 22 countries, and $1.1 billion in system-wide sales — and the publicly traded Così Inc. Formerly, he was also global COO at Burger King, where he led operations for 13,000 restaurants with $20 billion in system-wide sales in 65 countries.

"Jim is a world-class restaurant executive and team leader with a long track record of success in the industry and a passion for operational excellence," said Josh Olshansky, Managing Director at majority CPK shareholder Golden Gate Capital. "G.J. led the revitalization of CPK's brand and culture, and we are confident that Jim is the ideal person to take the reins as CPK embarks on its next stage of growth. We are deeply grateful to G.J. for his leadership and contributions, and we wish him well in his future endeavors."

The 33-year-old California Pizza Kitchen chain has nearly 300 restaurants in 13 countries and U.S. territories around the world.