California Pizza Plans Pricier Items, Dims Lights

California Pizza Kitchen will add a line of higher-priced entrees and an assortment of alcoholic beverages in a bid to boost dinner traffic and average checks.

The casual-dining operator is also making changes in its decor and ambience, like dimming the lights at dinnertime.

In a conference call, CEO Fred Hipp said CPK plans to build on a test last year of a $13.99 jambalaya pasta dish that pushed the envelope in terms of price. The jambalaya is now the 3rd most popular item on the company's menu, he said.

Despite its name, only one-third of CPK's revenues come from pizza. If the entree push takes off, that figure should drop further.

"We see an opportunity, if we can provide price-value, to establish a higher dinner-based check average," Hipp says.

Hipp added that CPK is restaging its wine and drink menu "pretty radically" with the goal of boosting alcohol sales from the current level of 5.5% of total sales. No specific target was given.

"We think we can [increase alcohol sales] through innovations by really adding some very different products from what you'd see in most casual-dining restaurants," Hipp says.

The lighting initiative, meanwhile, was prompted by customers who complained that CPK's bright-white interior look was too harsh at dinnertime.