The restaurant was started in 1985 by attorneys Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax in Beverly Hills, California, United States.

[6] The chain has over 185 locations in 32 U.S. states[7] and 10 other countries,[8] including 15 California Pizza Kitchen nontraditional, franchise concepts designed for airports, universities, and stadiums.

PepsiCo executives had started cutting corners by replacing fresh ingredients with frozen vegetables and cheese, a change Flax and Rosenfield later reversed.

[12] In 1997, the private equity firm Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Company bought out PepsiCo's two-thirds stake with the intention of taking CPK public in 2000, pushing for expansion to resume.

Veteran restaurant executive Fred Hipp was hired to run CPK with an aggressive expansion plan, including 18 new stores in 2002, 22 in 2003, and 28 in 2004.

The expansion was to be carried out by former Brinker International Vice President Tom Jenneman, under the title of chief development officer.

In a March 25, 2003, press release, CPK cut its first-quarter earnings estimates, which were not consistent with the forecast made just a few weeks earlier.