TheBuzz
TheBuzz
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Kahala site rules
the CPK kingdomCiting Sept. 11 as the reason everything is so bad is a common and tired chorus; but at California Pizza Kitchen Kahala Mall nothing could be further from the truth.
"We experienced pretty good growth in the couple weeks after (Sept. 11)," said General Manager Dave Dwyer, "We were up around 15 percent."
He attributes the increase to customers' desire for the comfort of familiar faces at their neighborhood mall.
"It was interesting. The first couple of days people would order food and sort of push it around the plate and ask us to box it up."
They needed a break from TV, he said.
When corporate store-by-store comparisons for 2001 were completed CPK Kahala Mall emerged at the top of the list. The store's rise followed its No. 4 ranking in 1999 and No. 3 spot in 2000.
The Ala Moana Center location opened in 1999 and the next year was ranked No. 5 with sales of $3.9 million, only slightly behind Kahala, according to CFO Greg Levin.
"Both stores, even after nine-eleven, have been doing very well" and are showing positive sales growth, Levin said.
The company is based in California and trades under the symbol CPKI.
In April of 2001, CPK founders Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield told the Star-Bulletin that sales at the Kahala Mall and Ala Moana locations perennially rank in the top five.
An average store generates $2.8 million in annual revenue while the Ala Moana location was approaching $4 million at the time, according to Rosenfield. CPK also has a store at Pearlridge Center.
The Kahala Mall location, the fifth restaurant built in the CPK chain, is nearly 15 years old.
"For an older store to actually grow in sales the way we have, it's a tremendous feat, so we're very proud," Dwyer said. That wasn't a royal "we" either. He was spreading the credit to his staff.
"We are the number one net sales restaurant in this chain of over 100 because of our fantastic employees who know our guests well and treat them to superior service," Dwyer said.
The store has seven employees with more than 10 years of service; three of those helped open the restaurant and celebrate their 15th anniversaries in November.
"More than 50 percent of our 85-plus employees have been here more than five years and all of these numbers are a rarity in this industry where 150 percent annual employee turnover is not uncommon," he said.
"The key to our success," Dwyer said, "is the strong correlation between happy employees and highly satisfied customers."
Also at the mall ...
Carl's Jr. opened March 23 to stronger-than-anticipated foot traffic in the old Burger King space near Consolidated Theatres, according to manager Kay Quarles."The first week was really great," she said, even though the store did no promotion. "We chose to do a soft opening."
The No. 3 Carl's Jr. in Hawaii (the Waikiki location closed) gets a lot of theater-goers and other mall customers, mall employees and outside traffic, as well as a "pretty good lunch crowd," Quarles said. Eventually the restaurant will open for breakfast.
Carl's Jr. is set to open a store at Pearlridge Center Aug. 1, she said. Both are owned by Island Star Restaurants LLC, a franchisee of the California-based and publicly traded CKE Restaurants Inc., which trades under CKR on the New York Stock Exchange.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com