Founded in 1978 in Orange County, California, BJ's Restaurants owns and operates a chain of 68 high-end casual dining restaurants in the Western United States that serve its signature deep-dish pizzas, salads, sandwiches, burgers, pastas, steaks, baby back ribs, and its own hand-crafted beers. Each restaurant is either operated as a BJ s Restaurant & Brewery, which has a brewery in the restaurant, a BJ s Restaurant & Brewhouse, which receives beer from one of its breweries, a contract brewer of the company s proprietary recipes or a BJ s Pizza & Grill, a smaller format, full service restaurant. The broad menu offers a wide range of entr e prices ($8.50 to $19.95) with an average guest check of $12, and allows BJ's to appeal to a variety of guests, and dining occasions including everyday lunch and dinner, special occasions, and late night business.

The company's restaurants are located in California (39), Texas (11), Arizona (4), Oregon (3), Colorado (3), Nevada (2), Florida (3), Ohio (1), and Oklahoma (2). The company also has a licensing interest in a BJ's restaurant in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.

(Read more at Wikinvest )