BJ's Restaurants Inc. sees additional potential in region

BJ's Restaurants Inc., which opens its first Reno location tomorrow, thinks northern Nevada could support at least one more location.

But the company based at Huntington Beach, Calif., is so busy with other new locations at least 13 next year, with 15 possible in 2008 that another location in Reno isn't a priority.

"We're continuing to evaluate the market. We don't have another location in northern Nevada in the pipeline," says Greg Levin, BJ's chief financial officer. "But it's a very fluid pipeline."

Levin cites straightforward reasons for the company's interest in northern Nevada: It likes markets with good population growth and solid household income.

And the decision to locate a 7,300-square-foot restaurant at Summit Sierra, he says, combined with the company's interest in growing, well-heeled neighborhoods with its hopes to find locations where its restaurants are surrounded by attractive retailers.

Of the 54 casual dining restaurants operated by BJ's, 35 are in California.

A Reno location, Levin says, allows the company to control its costs by sharing some overhead general management, for instance between restaurants in northern Nevada and nearby California.

The company differentiates itself from competitors in the casual-dining arena by an on-site brewery.

The brewing system, which can produce about 15,000 barrels a year, accounts for some 6,000 square feet of the Reno location. It's the largest of the 11 operated by BJ's, and it will produce brews distributed throughout the chain.

The new restaurant has seating for approximately 265. A semi-private room can accommodate up to 100.

The Reno restaurant is the 11th opened this year by publicly held BJ's.

In the quarter ended Oct. 3, BJ's said comparable-store sales at its restaurants were up 5.3 percent from a year earlier.

Along with its two Nevada locations it opened a store in Summerlin in 2004 BJ's operates in California, Texas, Arizona, Oregon and Colorado.