Two Federal Prosecutors Mortgaged Their Homes to Sell Pizza: The Real Story of California Pizza Kitchen with Co-Founder Rick Rosenfield

We mortgaged our home.

We bought a quarter of a million dollars from the bank in 1985 dollars,

which is probably

closer to a million

today.

A lot of money.

The chef who we had brought from Spago and we got along like oil and water.

He thought these two lawyers shouldn't even be in the restaurant.

This is Rick Rosenfield, co-founder of California Pizza Kitchen, the brand you grew up on.

He and Larry Flax were two of L.A.'s top trial lawyers until they bet everything on a pizza place.

and we talk to our teams is, hey, listen, CPK is colorblind.

We are gender blind.

We're religion blind.

We're education blind.

We don't care about your background.

We care if you can get along with people, care about us, about building this company.

PepsiCo came in buying half the company and later two thirds for close to $100 million.

And by 94, PepsiCo brings in its own executive.

And you have called that the worst period for you and Larry.

John Martin comes in.

He says, you have an unlimited bank check.

You guys are wimps if you don't build 50 or 100 a year.

And he said, put them everywhere.

Put them in growing markets and put them in retail and put them in shopping centers.

Put them everywhere.

Let's just see what happens.

Well, we did that.

A bunch of them weren't working.

And then all of a sudden, Pepsi said, oh, we didn't mean open unsuccessful restaurants.

Oh, that's the thing.

Rick Rosenfield, welcome to the Restaurant Reset.

I am so excited to have you on because you happen to be the founder of a huge part of my personal family, childhood, of growing up, of just... what I remember from an early age is going to the opening of California Pizza Kitchen in Arcadia.

And just the amazing experience that my family had, we became just avid, avid eaters of California Pizza Kitchen.

It's a huge part of me growing up.

And so it was really exciting when I got the chance to speak with you and started diving into your story, which is Amazing.

And the fact that there has not been a movie made about this yet is wild.

And I know with the upcoming book, which we'll get to, maybe there's an opportunity at some point for that.

But just to set the stage for our listeners here, if you're not familiar with California Pizza Kitchen or affectionately called CPK by all of us who know, Rick, I wanted to start with opening day, March 1985.

Beverly Hills Drive in Beverly Hills, California.

You and Larry Flax, your partner, two of the most successful trial lawyers in Los Angeles.

And you have walked away from all of it.

Your houses are mortgaged.

Your friend's money is in the till.

You move your law office right next door to the restaurant in case the whole thing flopped.

The doors open and your very first customer is none other than Shirley MacLaine, which is the most like Hollywood, that could happen and she orders a cup of coffee and nothing else.

We mortgaged our home.

We bought a quarter of a million dollars from the bank in 1985 dollars,

which is probably

closer to a million

today.

A lot of money.

The chef who we had brought from Spago and we got along like oil and water.

He thought these two lawyers shouldn't even be in the restaurant.

This is Rick Rosenfield, co-founder of California Pizza Kitchen, the brand you grew up on.

He and Larry Flax were two of L.A.'s top trial lawyers until they bet everything on a pizza place.

and we talk to our teams is, hey, listen, CPK is colorblind.

We are gender blind.

We're religion blind.

We're education blind.

We don't care about your background.

We care if you can get along with people, care about us, about building this company.

PepsiCo came in buying half the company and later two thirds for close to $100 million.

And by 94, PepsiCo brings in its own executive.

And you have called that the worst period for you and Larry.

John Martin comes in.

He says, you have an unlimited bank check.

You guys are wimps if you don't build 50 or 100 a year.

And he said, put them everywhere.

Put them in growing markets and put them in retail and put them in shopping centers.

Put them everywhere.

Let's just see what happens.

Well, we did that.

A bunch of them weren't working.

And then all of a sudden, Pepsi said, oh, we didn't mean open unsuccessful restaurants.

Oh, that's the thing.

Rick Rosenfield, welcome to the Restaurant Reset.

I am so excited to have you on because you happen to be the founder of a huge part of my personal family, childhood, of growing up, of just... what I remember from an early age is going to the opening of California Pizza Kitchen in Arcadia.

And just the amazing experience that my family had, we became just avid, avid eaters of California Pizza Kitchen.

It's a huge part of me growing up.

And so it was really exciting when I got the chance to speak with you and started diving into your story, which is Amazing.

And the fact that there has not been a movie made about this yet is wild.

And I know with the upcoming book, which we'll get to, maybe there's an opportunity at some point for that.

But just to set the stage for our listeners here, if you're not familiar with California Pizza Kitchen or affectionately called CPK by all of us who know, Rick, I wanted to start with opening day, March 1985.

Beverly Hills Drive in Beverly Hills, California.

You and Larry Flax, your partner, two of the most successful trial lawyers in Los Angeles.

And you have walked away from all of it.

Your houses are mortgaged.

Your friend's money is in the till.

You move your law office right next door to the restaurant in case the whole thing flopped.

The doors open and your very first customer is none other than Shirley MacLaine, which is the most like Hollywood, that could happen and she orders a cup of coffee and nothing else.