KELLY:
00:00:46
Rick Rosenfield set out to change how and where Americans ate pizza. I knew nothing about a business plan.
KELLY:
00:00:53
When he co-founded global chain California Pizza Kitchen with his business partner, Larry Flax.
RICK:
00:00:58
We were going to create the third major style of pizza in America with New York and Chicago. I grew up on Chicago pizza.
KELLY:
00:01:06
He chronicles building the brand in his new memoir.
RICK:
00:01:09
California pizza was going to be defined by whatever California Pizza Kitchen said it was, which was very bold, I might say.
KELLY:
00:01:18
Bold because the two 40-somethings had no restaurant experience.
RICK:
00:01:23
We were both federal prosecutors and right out of law school went to work for the Department of Justice in Washington, writing briefs in the Supreme Court. I came to La for the summer as a special assistant US attorney. Larry was in the US attorney's office, and we hit it off.
KELLY:
00:01:40
Rosenfield's tenure at the DOJ included working on high profile cases. Probably the biggest case of my career was the one I prosecuted. I was involved in a case that actually convicted the heads of Detroit, the St. Louis mafia. During the trial in Los Angeles federal court, that's when the movie The Godfathercame out. It's like Spielberg's Disclosure Day coming out in the middle of all these alien release files. You're like, what's happening here? Exactly. The timing for us was good.
KELLY:
00:02:09
In 1973, Flax and Rosenfield would start their own practice as criminal defense attorneys. But several years in, they grew tired of courtroom antics and hungry for change. I said, I just can't do this for the rest of my life.
KELLY:
00:02:24
And a close friend asked a forceful question.
RICK:
00:02:26
And that's when he said it, those famous words to us, says, you chicken [BLEEP] lawyers. Are you going to practice while you're home or are you going to do what you want to do?
KELLY:
00:02:36
So they got to work, securing a loan of $250,000 to develop their first location in Beverly Hills, but with a dangerous catch. Their homes were collateral. Success was their only option. They opened for business in 1985.
RICK:
00:02:51
California style pizza was in its infancy. It was started by Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley.
KELLY:
00:02:59
And further popularized by Chef Wolfgang Puck, who brought in pizza guru Ed LeDoux, who would soon join CPK.
RICK:
00:03:06
And he created the original menu. And that menu had rabbit sausage pizza, lamb sausage pizza, radicchio pine nut pizza, grape leaf pizza, and barbecue chicken pizza. And nobody had any interest.
KELLY:
00:03:20
Least of all their very first customer.
RICK:
00:03:23
And who walks in the door is our first customer, Shirley MacLaine. We go, this is great. Hope she gets a barbecue chicken pizza. Well, she sits down and orders a cup of coffee, because her agent worked in an office above us.
KELLY:
00:03:35
But the sales reports would soon reveal where they'd succeed.
RICK:
00:03:38
We sold 200 pizzas. 175 of them were barbecue chicken. Nobody cared about the exotic pizzas. What they cared about was something they could identify with. And many people would say to us, I don't even like pizza. I love this.
KELLY:
00:03:57
For the next seven years, they'd open 25 more restaurants across seven states and continue innovating.
RICK:
00:04:03
And so we became pioneers in upscale casual dining in malls in America.
KELLY:
00:04:11
By the early '90s, their success would invite an offer they couldn't refuse, for better and worse.
RICK:
00:04:18
We were basically given a blank check by Pepsi and said, put them everywhere. So we were in this expansion mode and building up real estate teams. And then all of a sudden they said, some of these aren't working, so they pulled the plug.
KELLY:
00:04:30
Rosenfield calls it the lowest point in CPK's history, bringing layoffs and cost cutting.
RICK:
00:04:36
I was telling them, despite the challenges, we were still committed to quality. And I saw one woman manager look over at another and roll her eyes like, does he really believe that? I called Larry and I said, Larry, we are really screwed with an expletive.
KELLY:
00:04:51
For them, regaining that company culture was paramount. So you had your rock values. So respect, opportunity, communication, and kindness. How did you successfully implement those values?
RICK:
00:05:06
We would evaluate people. Are they rock stars? If they weren't kind, they could never be promoted at CPK. We called ourselves a work with not a work for company.
KELLY:
00:05:17
A value ultimately not shared by the private equity firm which would take over.
RICK:
00:05:22
Well, it was a terrible moment. The company was public.
REPORTER:
00:05:26
California Pizza Kitchen decided to give investors a piece of the pie, and boy, did they have a craving for it.
RICK:
00:05:31
The private equity guys had the majority and they put their CEO in, and our contract was running out.
KELLY:
00:05:40
That new CEO would face the same pitfalls of expansion, ultimately resigning. How good did that feel? That felt great. [LAUGHS] When you strike at a king, strike him dead. Well, he didn't strike us dead.
KELLY:
00:05:55
But ultimately, Flax and Rosenfield, yet again, would be pushed out by outsiders with their own vision. Did it feel like losing an asset, a job, or part of your family?
RICK:
00:06:06
Part of my family. They wanted no part of us with the new CEO, and we didn't see that coming.
KELLY:
00:06:12
CPK would later file for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020. Rosenfield could only watch from the sidelines. But with new owners now in place, his hope is back.
RICK:
00:06:22
It's rewarding it's still here 41 years later. They're committed, and it's the first time I've been optimistic in a long time.
KELLY:
00:06:30
And after four decades of expansion, corporate battles, and comebacks.
RICK:
00:06:34
Awesome. The iconic. [LAUGHS] Original idea is still on the table. Still good. It's as good as I remember. It's a good pizza.
KELLY:
00:06:48
It is good. Really good.
KELLY:
00:06:51
I always love when I get to eat food on these things. I was going to say, you were in the moment there, you know, and the time to react. With the pizza. But what a great story. Yeah, Rick was just such a wonderful, sweet man to talk to. And I thought what he was saying about the company culture, it's not something you see very often. It's always about the profit. And he really emphasized to me they felt like they were creating a family. Loved reading the book. It just really did read like a Hollywood script. Really? I've got so many good memories of CPK. We all do. Date night as a kid. Yes, that was my high school date night spot. They created an environment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Check out the book. Great story.
