In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Rick Rosenfield, cofounder of California Pizza Kitchen, the casual pizza chain that’s been redefining the pizza experience since 1985. You may know CPK as the premium frozen pizza option in your grocery aisle, but the company helped to elevate what was possible in the pizza category back in its heyday of the 80s and 90s; that includes inventing the barbecue chicken pizza. At its height, CPK was a public company with more than 250 locations globally. Today, CPK still has more than 100 locations in the U.S. and is actively rebuilding under new owners that acquired the business late last year. Rick and his cofounder Larry Flax are no longer affiliated with California Pizza Kitchen, but Rick just wrote the new book, “The California Pizza Kitchen Story: How Two Federal Prosecutors Changed the Way America Eats Pizza,” which recounts the wild ups and downs that the chain took over its first couple of decades. He joined the podcast to share a snapshot of that journey and to offer his tips for fellow restaurant entrepreneurs looking to take their big ideas to the masses.

Buy a copy of “The California Pizza Kitchen Story” here.

In this conversation, you’ll find out why:

  • Trust in your cofounder or business partner is paramount to your business’s longevity
  • Growth is never a straight line
  • You should try not to sip too much of the Kool-Aid from your new owner
  • Nobody will care as much as you do — but that doesn’t mean they don’t care


Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at sam.oches@informa.com.

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