BJ's Restaurants, Inc. To Present At January Investor Conferences And Provides A Business Update

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Jan. 6, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (Nasdaq:BJRI) will be presenting at two investor conferences during the month of January:

• Cowen and Company's 9 ^th Annual Consumer Conference at the Westin Times Square, New York, NY. The Company's presentation will begin at approximately 8:30am (Eastern) on Monday, January 10, 2011.
• 13 ^th Annual ICR XChange at the St. Regis Monarch Beach, Dana Point, CA. The Company's presentation will begin at approximately 9:15am (Pacific) on Thursday, January 13, 2011.

Both presentations will be broadcast live over the Internet. Interested parties may listen to the presentations at the Company's website located at http://www.bjsrestaurants.com . The presentation can be accessed by clicking on the "Investors" link from the Company's home page followed by the "Presentation" link. An archive of the presentation will be available following the live presentation for 30 days.  The Company also reported preliminary, unaudited revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 that ended on Tuesday, December 28, 2010. When compared to the same quarter of fiscal 2009 that ended on Tuesday, December 29, 2009, revenues for the fourth quarter increased approximately 18.0% to $132.9 million compared to $112.6 million for the same quarter last year. Comparable restaurant sales increased approximately 5.9% during the fourth quarter, compared to a decrease of 0.2% during the same quarter last year.  For the full fiscal year of 2010, revenues increased approximately 20.4% to $513.9 million compared to $426.7 million for fiscal 2009. Comparable restaurant sales increased approximately 5.6% during fiscal 2010, compared to a decrease of only 0.8% during fiscal 2009. As in prior years, final financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 are currently expected to be released in mid-February 2011 after the completion of the Company's annual independent audit. "Our leadership team was pleased with our strong top-line results for both the fourth quarter and full fiscal year of 2010," commented Jerry Deitchle, Chairman and CEO. "At BJ's, we consider ourselves to be sales builders, first and foremost. We believe that our ongoing favorable sales performance is largely the result of our strategy to prudently invest in the core of the BJ's concept, during both good and difficult economic times, to further enhance the overall quality, differentiation, relevance and value for today's casual dining consumer. Coupled with steady improvements in our ability to correctly and consistently operate our restaurants, we believe that BJ's is well-positioned to be a 'market share taker' in the casual dining segment for many years to come. 

"We continue to remain highly confident in our ability to deliver high quality, double-digit capacity growth during 2011, as measured in terms of expected growth in total restaurant operating weeks," said Deitchle. "We currently plan to open as many as 12 to 13 new restaurants during 2011 and thereby achieve an approximate 12% increase in total restaurant operating weeks for the full year. All of our potential new locations for 2011 have been identified, and four new restaurants have already commenced construction. Additionally, work is well underway to secure potential locations to support our restaurant expansion plan for 2012 and 2013." Investors are reminded that the actual number and timing of new restaurant openings is subject to a number of factors outside of the Company's control, including weather conditions and factors under the control of landlords, contractors and regulatory/licensing authorities.