BJ's Restaurants
BJ's Restaurants, Inc. is an American restaurant chain, headquartered in Huntington Beach, California. Some locations feature microbreweries that supply beer to other locations in the chain. The chain operates under the names BJ's Restaurant & Brewery, BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, BJ's Grill, and BJ's Pizza & Grill. BJ's menu features pizza, its own beers, as well as a selection of appetizers, entrees, pastas, sandwiches, specialty salads and desserts. History. BJ's was founded in 1978 and first opened in Santa Ana, California, as BJ's Chicago Pizzeria by Mike Phillips and Bill Cunningham. Phillips  and Cunningham sold their company to their accountants Paul Motenko and Jerry Hennessy in 1991. By 1996, seven restaurants had opened between San Diego and Los Angeles. Originally known as Chicago Pizza, the company went public about 1996, raising $9.4 million. The company then bought 26 Pietro's Pizza restaurants in March 1996 in a $2.8 million deal in cash and assumed debt, but then sold off seven of the locations with plans to convert the remaining Pietro's to what was then BJ's Pizza. During the same year, the company opened a microbrewery at its Brea  restaurant. Between 2010 and 2011, the National Retail Federation named it as one of the 10 fastest growing restaurants in the U.S. based on year-over-year sales. In October 2012, Greg Trojan became president and CEO. In 2013, BJ's produced a combined total of 60,000 barrels annually at their 11 brewery restaurants to serve their chain of 136 restaurants in 15 states. In 2010, the company's BJ's Hefelightzen was awarded a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival. Operations. , BJ's operated 210 restaurants in 28 states: Awards and recognition. Some of the company's  beers have been awarded gold and silver medals at various beer brewing competitions throughout the world.