Larry Flax '67 dishes about his journey from courtroom to the kitchen
—By Lori Craig
It doesn’t get much more synonymous than “California pizza” and “California Pizza Kitchen.”
When USC Law graduate Larry Flax ’67 and his law partner decided 25 years ago to open a restaurant and leave the courtroom behind, they dreamed of making an indelible mark on the restaurant world. Today, with 250 restaurants in 17 countries and $500 million in revenue each year, CPK is a resounding success.
“We loved the restaurant business and we saw the way to make money was that you really have to develop a niche,” Flax said during a Feb. 10 “Conversation with the Dean,” hosted by USC Law Dean Robert K. Rasmussen.
Flax and Rick Rosenfeld met while working at the U.S. District Attorney’s Office and went into practice together. In 1984, after months of work-related travel, Flax and Rosenfeld decided they weren’t having fun any more.
“We were burnt out and we were looking for something else to do, and we did love food,” Flax said.
The two had been silent partners in an upscale Italian restaurant several years earlier and decided to try a venture of their own. Though Flax “was not a particularly big fan of pizza,” they knew it was one of the world’s most popular foods and that California-style pizza, in particular, was catching on. The California pizza – personal-size, eclectic toppings, cooked in a wood-fired oven – had been created by a Berkeley chef and was growing in popularity. Flax and Rosenfeld wanted to offer the gourmet dish in a family-friendly setting.
“What we decided to do was take it to the masses, put the oven right in the middle of the restaurant,” Flax said. “And then we were lucky enough to put the Barbecue Chicken Pizza on our menu. And that pizza just took off.”
That pizza is still the restaurant’s No. 1 pizza “all over the world. We cannot beat it,” Flax said. “Every time I think I come up with one that’s going to knock it off, I can’t do it.
“We just started having fun with [creating pizzas]: Peking duck pizza, the Thai pizza. I created the BLT pizza because I love mayonnaise.”
A burger fan, Flax also came up with the idea of a cheeseburger pizza, but it got put on the shelf. Now, 24 years later, Flax will be testing that cheeseburger pizza, along with an enchilada pizza, in restaurants starting next month.
Two hiccups early on tested the business but also proved the value of having a good attorney.
During the restaurant’s construction, Flax and his partner learned they would need $500,000 instead of the $200,000 they had financed. Their attorney suggested forming a partnership to raise the funds from private investors and “literally within one day and one night we had financed this extra $300,000,” Flax said.
| Expanding their empire |
California Pizza Kitchen opened for business, to wild success, but amid that victory came Flax’s second “scary moment.”
“With our popularity came a complete drying-up of our client base,” said Flax, who’d planned to continue his practice while operating the restaurant. “We found out nobody’s particularly interested in having a criminal lawyer risking their lives, so to speak, that was running a pizza parlor.”
Again, Flax’s attorney came through. He’d put a provision into the limited partnership agreement that allowed Flax to convert the partnership into a corporation, which would allow them to sell stock for future growth – and income.
CPK began expanding across the U.S. and internationally and went public in 2000.
Flax has weathered the ups and downs of the restaurant business, but he says the next few years will be a challenge.
“We realized that the way we’re going to win this battle is [by] delivering great food and great service,” Flax said. “Now we’ve come to that, we are much better focused than we’ve ever been on those two areas.”
USC Law students need to seize the opportunity to succeed in today’s economy, he said.
“It’s a different world and the best are going to rise,” Flax said. “The good news is that, in the next couple of years is, the quality of thought and ingenuity and workmanship and the cream of the crop are going to rise … and the opportunities for them are so opened up now: the smart people, the people that really care, that aren’t just on cruise control. They’re going to rise to tremendous success, whether it’s law or the restaurant business or whatever.
“But if you think it’s going to be the same, stop thinking that way. Re-orient yourselves; you all can. It really is, ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’.”
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