<P> BJ's Restaurants, Inc. is an American restaurant chain . It has 192 casual dining restaurants under names such as BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, BJ's Pizza & Grill and BJ's Restaurant & Brewery, the later of which has a brewery on the premises . </P> <P> BJ's was founded in 1978 and first opened in Orange County, California . By 1996, seven restaurants had opened between San Diego and Los Angeles . Originally known as Chicago Pizza, the company went public about 1996, raising $9.4 million . The company then bought 26 Pietro's Pizza restaurants in March 1996 in a $2.8 million deal in cash and assumed debt, but then sold off seven of the locations with plans to convert the remaining Pietro's to what was then BJ's Pizza . Between 2010 and 2011, the National Retail Federation named it as one of the 10 fastest growing restaurants in the U.S. based on year - over-year sales . BJ's Restaurants, Inc. owns and operates 192 restaurants of April 2017, located in 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 . BJ's currently operates 7 breweries located in Reno, NV, Temple, TX, Brea, CA, West Covina, CA, Sacramento, CA, and Boulder, CO . </P>

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