BJ’s Restaurants Opens in Fort Wayne, Indiana

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., April 11, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ: BJRI ) today announced the opening of its restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  The new BJ’s Restaurant opened on Monday, April 10, 2017, on an out parcel of the Glenbrook Square Mall at 245 West Coliseum Boulevard.  The restaurant is approximately 7,500 square feet, seats approximately 230 guests and features BJ’s extensive menu, including BJ’s signature deep-dish pizza, award-winning handcrafted beer and famous Pizookie® dessert. BJ’s unique, contemporary décor provides the perfect environment for all dining occasions.  Hours of operation are from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight Sunday through Thursday, and 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

“We are very pleased to open our fourth 2017 restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana,” commented Greg Trojan, President and CEO. “Our Fort Wayne restaurant joins our Avon, Greenwood and our recently opened Noblesville restaurant in the state of Indiana.  We remain on target to open six more restaurants this year with the next opening in Youngstown, Ohio at the end of this month.”   

As with all of our new restaurant openings, BJ’s invited members of the Fort Wayne community to attend a soft opening event prior to our grand opening.  As our team members put the final touches on the restaurant, invited guests were treated to complimentary food and had the opportunity to make a voluntary donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (“CFF”), a very important charity to BJ’s.  Additionally, BJ’s donated the proceeds of all alcohol purchases during the soft opening event to BJ’s Restaurants Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports charities that are important to our team members around the country.

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. currently owns and operates 191 casual dining restaurants under the BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse®, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery®, BJ’s Pizza & Grill® and BJ’s Grill® brand names.  BJ’s Restaurants offer an innovative and broad menu featuring award-winning, signature deep-dish pizza complemented with generously portioned salads, appetizers, sandwiches, soups, pastas, entrees and desserts, including the Pizookie® dessert.  Quality, flavor, value, moderate prices and sincere service remain distinct attributes of the BJ’s experience.  All restaurants feature BJ’s critically acclaimed proprietary craft beers, which are produced at several of the Company’s Restaurant & Brewery locations, its two brewpubs in Texas and by independent third party craft brewers.  The Company’s restaurants are located in the 24 states of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.  Visit BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. on the Web at http://www.bjsrestaurants.com for locations and additional information.

Certain statements in the preceding paragraphs and all other statements that are not purely historical constitute “forward-looking” statements for purposes of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby.  The “forward-looking” statements contained in this press release are based on current assumptions and expectations and BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update or alter its “forward-looking” statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.  Investors are referred to the full discussion of risks and uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements contained in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K.