BJ’s Restaurants (BJRI) Expands, Opens 33rd Outlet in Texas

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BJ's Restaurants, Inc. BJRI recently opened a restaurant in Southlake, TX. Located at the intersection of Southlake Boulevard and South Kimball Avenue, the restaurant is spread over an area of approximately 7,400 square feet. This is BJ’s 33rd restaurant in Texas and is a part of the Dallas-Fort Worth trade area.

This new Southlake restaurant can accommodate approximately 225 guests. Its extensive menu includes BJ's signature deep-dish pizza, handcrafted beer and famous Pizookie dessert.

Among the casual dining chains, BJ’s Restaurants is one of the few that have been expanding even amid a sluggish economy. With the resurgence of consumer confidence, management has accelerated its unit openings and expects to maintain the trend. So far, in 2015, the company has opened four new restaurants and is on track to open at least 15 new restaurants this year.

The company intends to open at least three more restaurants before the end of June in Pittsburgh, PA, Baltimore, MD and Columbus, OH. With capacity growth, the company is gaining scale advantage, which will help generate cost efficiency in the future.

Meanwhile, BJ’s Restaurants is focusing more on its smaller new 7,400 square foot prototype restaurants that cost approximately $1 million less than the prior prototype. This helps in reducing operating costs amid a tepid economy. Due to lesser food wastage and improved labor productivity, these new restaurants generate higher margins. Given its operational efficiency and launch of new higher return restaurant prototypes, the company’s margins are likely to increase.

BJ’s Restaurants sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Some other stocks that can be considered in the restaurant industry include Zoe's Kitchen, Inc. ZOES, Restaurant Brands International Inc. QSR and Ruby Tuesday, Inc. RT. All these stocks carry a Zacks Rank #1.

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