BJ's Restaurant - Brewhouse

[SamSpade]

Location closing:
Jantzen Beach Supercenter/Hayden Island, Portland, Ore.
February 21, 2023

2 Oregon locations remain -
Hillsboro, Ore.
Eugene

4 locations in Washington -
Seattle and Tacoma suburbs area

Some notes here recently about distribution of beers in the chain; brewing only in a few locations.

Jay Bee's Chicken Palace was Hooters but apparently dropped the franchise (?) during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

[storewanderer]

Exiting the Portland market is not too surprising for BJ's. There are just too many better options.

I would suggest BJ's find a replacement location but not to be negative since BJ's is the chain restaurant I visit the most of chain restaurants (aside from fast food), I think the better options have already found the suitable replacement locations.

[Brian Lutz]

I've been to the BJ's in Redmond Town Center a couple of times, found it fairly average but it's in a location that should give it good lunch traffic (Microsoft and AT&T have rather large offices within a block, and there are also several hotels and the main Microsoft campus nearby.) For quite a while they competed with Rock Bottom Brewery, but all of their locations in Washington are gone now, and they seem to be down to 14 scattered locations total (5 in Colorado, 3 in Illinois and 1 each in CA, FL, MD, MA, PA and VA.) I do know that the Rock Bottom location in Bellevue brewed its own beer; not sure if the one in Seattle did though.

[ClownLoach]

I've been to the BJ's in Redmond Town Center a couple of times, found it fairly average but it's in a location that should give it good lunch traffic (Microsoft and AT&T have rather large offices within a block, and there are also several hotels and the main Microsoft campus nearby.) For quite a while they competed with Rock Bottom Brewery, but all of their locations in Washington are gone now, and they seem to be down to 14 scattered locations total (5 in Colorado, 3 in Illinois and 1 each in CA, FL, MD, MA, PA and VA.) I do know that the Rock Bottom location in Bellevue brewed its own beer; not sure if the one in Seattle did though.

I used to love Rock Bottom Brewery, but they made self destructive decisions that I believe led to their closing. I believe that they are now owned by a random chain of generic brewpub brands. They used to brew in every location and had unique, local flavors and branding. For example Long Beach had a beer called Cyclone Racer which was named after a famous roller coaster from the long gone Pike Amusement Park that was nearby. The San Diego locations had their own beers too. Then one day everything became generic and the same chain wide. When I asked a very unmotivated brewer said that they were told to scrap all local recipes and follow a chain formula and naming convention. They felt that the new recipes were inferior and they were happy to explain why (lower quality ingredients). The other problem was that they constantly changed the menu drastically and removed favorites like their Asiago cheese dip which was really good. By the time they closed they had alienated all of their customers with generic, low quality food and beer.

[storewanderer]

Rock Bottom had a good run and it seemed like they were doing well. To me they had a much different atmosphere and attitude than BJ's. I wondered what happened to them. This is not uncommon with chain restaurants to have a really good run but it ends up being a short run and then they fade away.

I am wondering just how BJ's is doing. My view is they appear to be doing well. But looking at reviews online and reading posts here it looks like they are having execution problems.

[ClownLoach]

Rock Bottom had a good run and it seemed like they were doing well. To me they had a much different atmosphere and attitude than BJ's. I wondered what happened to them. This is not uncommon with chain restaurants to have a really good run but it ends up being a short run and then they fade away.

I am wondering just how BJ's is doing. My view is they appear to be doing well. But looking at reviews online and reading posts here it looks like they are having execution problems.

So both Gordon Biersch and Rock Bottom were acquired by a conglomerate in 2010. That explains the complete destruction of both brands as they left their better (but higher rent) locations and implemented the same kind of generic low quality food that also ruined Claim Jumper. I do recall other bankruptcies involving this conglomerate. What a waste.

https://beerpulse.com/2010/11/gordon-bi ... mega-deal/

[ClownLoach]

The real issue with so many of these smaller independent chains is that they establish a good menu, great team and excellent locations so they generate significant sales and profit. Then these big conglomerates come in and offer a small fortune to the owners. They go one of two ways: either they stop any further innovation (by dismissing the head chef etc. or just hobbling them by saying 'it's great as it is, that's why we bought it, don't screw with success') which causes the brand to go stale and die out, or they immediately cost cut the brand and destroy everything that was good (and then makes everyone wonder why the heck they bought it in the first place). Either way when these chains sell out their days become numbered immediately.

[veteran+]

And that is not exclusive to small businesses or restaurants.

It's going on all over the place!