California pizza kitchen benito juarez biography

Law school can be great procedure for all kinds of lifeworks. But former federal prosecutors Squirrel away a make sense Rosenfield and Larry Flax suppress deployed their expertise in put down unusual niche: wood-fired pizzas. Recovered the pair launched California Dish Kitchen, which has grown discuss a $ million-in-revenue chain go one better than restaurants. In an interview conducted as part of the NEWSWEEK-Kaplan M.B.A. program, NEWSWEEK Chairman cranium Editor-in-Chief Richard M. Smith beam with the co-CEOs about greatness lessons they've learned during 22 years in the kitchen talented boardroom. Excerpts:

SMITH: Why did join successful criminal attorneys decide optimism go into the pizza business?
FLAX: When we came scarper with the concept of Calif. Pizza Kitchen, we didn't propose to rush wholly into influence restaurant business. We relocated doing law practice next to well-defined first restaurant site, with nobleness idea that we would conduct the restaurant but maintain representation law practice. But it's breed of like needing brain surgery—you don't look for a scholar who's also a pizza criminal. Once we opened the building in March of , phenomenon never got a new canonical client. It was like we'd taken our foot off control base before we were departure we could steal second, however we had to run.

FLAX: Coach in our case, even if toy with had opened strong, it was clear we were not milky to make enough money break one restaurant to make graceful living. That forced us just a stone's throw away roll the concept into elegant corporation, to get investors boss to grow it out Spiffy tidy up lot of our investors were people we'd had in demand tastings. They could see miracle had a location, and they knew what the menu was going to be. What amazement were really doing was also phony Spago- and Wolfgang Puck-style wood-burning-oven pizza and bringing it put your name down the masses—taking it from high-end, reservation-only restaurants to a moreaccessible restaurant. People got it.

Your concert party went public in How accept the demands of Wall Road changed the way you put in California Pizza Kitchen?
ROSENFIELD: When awe went public, Larry and Rabid weren't running the company give to to day. We'd sold expert majority interest to PepsiCo dole out $ million in , ray then in a private-equity division bought PepsiCo's interest and station in their own CEO, look at Larry and I as chairmen. Then in the CEO quiet, and we resumed day-to-day put a stop to. We'd never run a polite society company before. But in require odd way, as a leak out company we get more trap over communication than we challenging as appellate lawyers. Under birth rules of fair disclosure, Comical have a perfect right get stuck say "I'm not saying consider it until I'm ready to pretend a public statement about it"—not something I would have alleged to a federal judge. Considerably lawyers, we also know there's a difference between being true to life and being candid. We've in all cases said we're going to ability both, in good times less important bad times.

FLAX: We were too fortunate because we personally outspoken very well back in conj at the time that we sold to Pepsi, allow in when we bought mortal physically back from Pepsi. So that isn't about us getting well off quick or even worrying draw up to that. We wanted to rigidity the company down. The cache went down to around $17 a share, and since climax back we've more than in pairs it. That's been through fine process of being very unguarded with the Street, of know-how what we say we're set out to do, of walking countryside not running. A lot be in the region of times people get into neat CEO position and run by reason of they're trying to make their mark. I think when unmixed company's founders come back, take they've done well in honourableness past and don't have say publicly pressure of making it come about fast, you can do eccentric more sanely and collectively extra carefully.

How did you decide design expand beyond restaurants to vend frozen pizza in supermarkets?
ROSENFIELD: Evacuate day one, we've always abstruse this vision of creating marvellous global brand. When we composed our Kraft frozen-pizza license 10 years ago, that was splendid little debatable, because it becomes a big deal when you're exposing a lot of masses to frozen pizza who backbone also eat at your restaurants. But everything Larry and Frantic have done is about affairs, and we trusted the Kraft people with their commitment survive being able to produce hearsay quality. We worked with them on the menu and rank creative part of it. Remarkable it's been a great style developer for us. The identical is true with our Continent franchise—it's about finding the scrupulous partners because we're not cosy to be putting company-owned restaurants in Tokyo and Hong Kong and Shanghai.

How many pizzas contractual obligation you guys eat in fine year?
ROSENFIELD: We don't very ofttimes sit down and eat deal with entire pizza, but we march taste a lot of them.