California Pizza Kitchen Revises Guidance for the First Quarter; Management to Present at Banc of America Securities Consumer Conference.

Business Editors

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 2003

California Pizza Kitchen Inc., (Nasdaq:CPKI) announced today that same store sales through the first 12 weeks of the first quarter are in the mid 2% range and that total revenues should increase approximately 17% to 18% for the quarter. The Company also announced that severe weather in February made it extremely difficult to accurately staff the restaurants, and as a result, the Company anticipates labor as a percent of sales to increase by approximately 110 to 130 basis points over prior year's first quarter. Based on the higher than anticipated labor, management is reducing first quarter earnings guidance to a range of $0.20 to $0.22 per share.

Fred Hipp, President and CEO of California Pizza Kitchen stated, "While the month of February was extremely difficult with the President's day blizzard on the East Coast, the ice storms in Dallas and the heavy rains in California, I am overall pleased with our continued sales momentum. In February we lost approximately 40 days of restaurant sales or approximately $300,000 of sales." Hipp added, "The sales volatility brought on by the weather coupled with our continued focus on customer service and execution created a challenging trade-off and made it difficult for us to adjust labor accordingly. While we never want to cut labor at our customer's expense, we are actively reviewing our labor standards and staffing needs so that we can continue to provide excellent service to our customers and financial results for our investors."

To date the Company has opened three new restaurants in the first quarter and anticipates opening its fourth restaurant of the quarter in Pembroke Pines, FL later this week. The Company expects to open a minimum of 18 additional restaurants during the remainder of 2003, for a total of 22 new restaurants this year.

Management will address the investment community at the Banc of America Securities Consumer Conference on April 3, 2003 at 8:30 am Eastern Time. The presentation will provide an overview of the Company, new restaurant development pipeline, same-store sales outlook and earnings prospects for the remainder of the year.

Interested investors can listen to an audio replay of the Banc of America Conference presentation by going to www.cpk.com. The replay of the presentation will be available by the end of the day and will be archived for thirty days.

Additionally, the Company intends to release its first quarter earnings on April 22, 2003 at approximately 4:00 pm Eastern Time. A conference call will be held later that day and webcast at http://www.cpk.com.

This press release includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, therefore, undue reliance should not be placed on them. Forward-looking statements can be affected by inaccurate assumptions or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from the expectations referred to herein. Among the key factors that may have a direct bearing on our operating results, performance and financial condition are the execution of our expansion strategy, the continued availability of qualified employees, the maintenance of reasonable food and supply costs and numerous other matters discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. California Pizza Kitchen undertakes no obligation to update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

California Pizza Kitchen, Inc., founded in 1985, is a leading casual dining chain in the premium pizza segment. The Company's full service restaurants feature hearth-baked pizzas, salads, soups and sandwiches. The chain operates, licenses or franchises 152 restaurants of which 120 are company-owned, and 32 operate under franchise or license agreements. The California Pizza Kitchen website is http://www.cpk.com.