California Pizza Kitchen is reportedly being sold to a new investor group for under $300 million, according to Reuters.
The buying entity is led by Consortium Brand Partners and also features investment firm Eldridge Industries. The latter owns Convive Brands, a New York-based hospitality group operating Le Pain Quotidien and The Little Beet. Piper Sandler ran the sales process, Reuters reported.
Sources told the publication that CPK’s value leans more toward its retail efforts than its restaurants, such as its partnerships with Nestle to sell frozen pizzas and with Litehouse to sell salad dressings.
This year, CPK is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Brand president Michael Beacham told FSR magazine earlier in 2025 that U.S. franchising would become a bigger priority for the chain. Although the brand has long franchised internationally, its domestic footprint has been primarily company-owned, with only licensed units in nontraditional venues like airports. Beacham said that structure has limited the chain’s ability to build deep local relationships and operate efficiently across numerous dispersed markets. To support expansion, CPK developed a smaller 3,500–4,000-square-foot prototype and additional to-go and kiosk formats.
In late 2024, CPK reached its first franchise agreement with Sundine LLC, which at the time operated more than 85 restaurants across chains like Jack in the Box and Del Taco. The group acquired three CPK locations in Las Vegas and planned to open six more stores across Nevada and Utah.
The acquisition news also comes more than five years after CPK declared bankruptcy amid the COVID pandemic. The company entered a restructuring agreement with its senior lenders to reduce debt. Before the filing, the company was owned by private equity firm Golden Gate Capital.
The concept, founded in 1985 by Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax, has almost 200 restaurants worldwide, according to its website.
