Food Biz Daily -- One of the successful food licensors is California Pizza Kitchen; they recently cited slow sales in what they called "unprecedented economic times" (unprecedented except for the Joads) and heavy impairment charges while posting a $5.3MM loss in its fourth quarter of 22 cents per share, compared with a profit of $3.5MM, or 12 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Expansion will be limited this year to only 5 company-owned restaurants and 10 franchised units. Excluding the impact of more than $13 million of impairment charges and other one-time items, CPK said it would have earned $3.1 million, or 13 cents a share, in the fourth quarter. Fourth-quarter revenue dipped slightly to $161.8MM, down 0.7% from a year ago. Same-store sales fell 7.2% in the fourth quarter; for the entire year CPK reported net income of $8.7 million, or 34 cents a share, compared with profit of $14.8 million, or 50 cents a share, in the year before. Annual revenue rose nearly 7% $677.1MM. Same-store sales fell 2%. For the current fiscal year, CPK predicted same-store sales would fall between 5.5-6.5%.
