BJ's Restaurants, Inc. BJRI

Competitive advantage analysis · consumer-cyclical

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
56/100
Moderate

Ranked against 56 peers in Restaurants

About BJ's Restaurants, Inc.

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. operates full-service restaurants in the United States. Its restaurants offer pizzas, craft and other beers, appetizers, entrées, pastas, sandwiches, specialty salads, and desserts. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc. and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc. in August 2004. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is based in Huntington … Full BJRI analysis →

Key strengths

  • Strong Interest Coverage & Conservative Leverage Debt serviceability is strong (score 0.76), with robust interest coverage.
  • Margins Stable Across Cycles Operating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.76), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.

Key risks

  • Liquidity Concerns Liquidity is concerning (score 0.26), raising questions about short-term obligations.
  • Scale Without Profitability Despite scale, profitability lags peers (score 0.32), suggesting limited competitive advantage.

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

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Pricing Power

Developing
47
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Signals, strengths and risks for Pricing Power

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Signals, strengths and risks for Cost Advantage

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Signals, strengths and risks for Customer Stickiness

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Signals, strengths and risks for Capital Efficiency

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Signals, strengths and risks for Resilience

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Signals, strengths and risks for Scale & Market Position

Where BJRI ranks in Restaurants

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. ranks #27 of 57 scored companies in Restaurants by moat score — the top 47%. The widest moat in the group is Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM) at 83/100.

# Company Moat score Rating
23 Biglari Holdings Inc. BH-A 58/100 Moderate
24 Biglari Holdings Inc. BH 58/100 Moderate
25 Portillo's Inc. PTLO 57/100 Moderate
26 Papa John's International, Inc. PZZA 56/100 Moderate
27 BJ's Restaurants, Inc. BJRI 56/100 Moderate
28 CAVA Group, Inc. CAVA 54/100 Moderate
29 RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc. RICK 53/100 Moderate
30 Denny's Corporation DENN 50/100 Developing
31 Cracker Barrel Old Country Stor CBRL 48/100 Developing

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How BJRI scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 46 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 66 · 15% of the moat score

A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.

Customer Stickiness

Score 48 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 67 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 56 · 17% of the moat score

Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.

Scale & Market Position

Score 51 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding BJRI's moat

What is BJ's Restaurants, Inc.'s moat score?

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (BJRI) scores 56 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #27 of 57 scored companies in Restaurants, the top 47%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 56 companies in Restaurants. Its strongest defense is Capital Efficiency (67/100) and its weakest is Pricing Power (46/100).

How does BJ's Restaurants, Inc. compare with other Restaurants companies?

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. ranks #27 of 57 scored companies in Restaurants by moat score. The widest moat in Restaurants is Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM) at 83/100. The companies ranked closest are Papa John's International, Inc. (PZZA) at 56 just above it and CAVA Group, Inc. (CAVA) at 54 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 56 companies in Restaurants. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is BJ's Restaurants, Inc. scored with the Corporate Default template?

Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.

Which competitive defenses are measured for BJ's Restaurants, Inc.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and BJRI scores: Pricing Power (46), Cost Advantage (66), Customer Stickiness (48), Capital Efficiency (67), Resilience (56), Scale & Market Position (51). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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