The Cheesecake Factory

• 1. Introduction

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  The Cheesecake Factory sells almost 35 million slices of cheesecake every year, according to a company spokesperson. Behind that number sits a company running 370 full-service restaurants. Of those, 218 carry the Cheesecake Factory name, 47 are North Italia, and 105 operate under other brands. Its founder was a former law student turned blues drummer. His mother had started out baking in a basement kitchen. How did a home recipe become a chain that crosses continents? And why does the same chain draw both record-setting sales and pointed criticism of its portions?

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• 2. A Detroit Basement

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  In the 1940s, Evelyn Overton clipped a cheesecake recipe from a Detroit newspaper and baked one for her husband's employer. The cake was a hit. By the late 1950s she had opened a small cheesecake bakery in Detroit, Michigan. She later closed it to raise her children, yet she never stopped baking. She kept supplying local restaurants with cheesecakes from her basement kitchen.

  In 1967, her son David M. Overton left Detroit for Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. A year later, in 1968, he gave up that path to become a drummer with the Billy Roberts Blues Band. By 1971 he had changed course again. He convinced his parents to move to Los Angeles and open a commercial bakery. In 1972 they settled in the Woodland Hills area and opened The Cheesecake Factory Bakery, producing cheesecakes and other desserts for local restaurants. The next step would put the cheesecakes on plates of their own.

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• 3. Beverly Hills Debut

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  In 1978, David Overton opened the first Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Beverly Hills, California. It was a small salad-and-sandwich place with a one-page menu. Ten varieties of cheesecake were on offer. That first room already held the chain's later habits: an eclectic menu, large portions, and signature cheesecakes.

  A second restaurant followed in Marina del Rey in 1983. By 1987, the Beverly Hills location had grown into a 78-seat restaurant with great financial success. That success led to a third, larger site in Redondo Beach, later renovated into a 300-seat space of 21000 square feet. By the end of the 1980s, the once-tiny menu had widened to include more entrees and short-order items. Washington, D.C. would soon become the first test of whether the formula could travel.

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• 4. Going Public, Going National

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  Washington, D.C. hosted the chain's fifth restaurant, and the first one outside Southern California, in the 1990s. In 1992 the company was incorporated, and it went public in September of that year. David Overton set a plan of opening three to four units a year. The goal was a 25% yearly increase in sales.

  The menu changed with the footprint. The company began revising it twice a year, adding steaks, seafood, and vegetarian dishes. By April 2013, it ran 162 restaurants under the Cheesecake Factory name across 36 states. On the 28th of August 2013, Plaza Las Américas in San Juan, Puerto Rico, opened its first one. The chain's average unit volume consistently leads the casual restaurant industry.

  A more unusual outpost opened in 1998 inside DisneyQuest at Disney Springs in Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It was a self-service, limited-menu express operation. It closed in 2017. The next frontier was beyond the United States, and it would be reached through partners.

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• 5. Overseas By License

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  On the 25th of January 2011, the company announced a Middle East partnership with the Kuwaiti retail franchising company M.H. Alshaya Co. Overseas growth would come through licensing agreements, in which other companies operate the restaurants. The first location outside the United States was a 300-seat restaurant at The Dubai Mall, which opened on the 16th of August 2012.

  In Mexico, the first restaurant opened in Guadalajara in 2014. In May 2014 the company announced its first restaurant in East Asia, and it opened on the 16th of June 2016 in Disneytown in Pudong, Shanghai. Beirut, Lebanon, got its restaurant on the 1st of December 2015, the eighth Middle East branch. Managers from the US and Dubai attended. The Avenues in Kuwait later became the 160th Cheesecake Factory opening.

  On the 12th of April 2017, the company announced a move into Canada. The first Canadian restaurant opened at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto that November. A Hong Kong restaurant opened at Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui in May 2017. By the start of 2024, the chain was open in 12 countries and territories, from Bahrain and Kuwait to Macau and Thailand.

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• 6. The Menu Problem

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  More than 250 items fill the Cheesecake Factory menu, and nearly all are made from scratch to order. The exception is the cheesecake. It is produced at the company's bakery production facilities in Calabasas Hills, California, and Rocky Mount, North Carolina, then delivered to restaurants frozen. The bakery division also licenses two bakery-based menus to other food service operators worldwide.

  The main menu covers steaks, chops, burgers, chicken, seafood, sandwiches, pasta, pizza, soups, and salads. There is also a lower-calorie menu, and a weekend brunch with pancakes, waffles, French toast, and eggs.

  The generous portions have drawn fire. In 2010, Men's Health magazine dubbed the chain the "worst family restaurant in America." The average sandwich there holds 1,400 calories. In 2013, the Center for Science in the Public Interest reported that the Crispy Chicken Costoletta carried 2,610 calories, more than a 12-piece bucket of fried chicken from KFC. The Bistro Shrimp Pasta reached 3,120 calories and 89 grams of saturated fat, the most of any entree from a national chain. In 2015 the company answered with a SkinnyLicious menu of cocktails, salads, appetizers, and dishes such as lemon-garlic shrimp and grilled salmon.

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• 7. Other Kitchens

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  David Overton designed the Grand Lux Cafe for The Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas. This upscale restaurant draws on Italian, French, and Austrian styles.

  On the 19th of June 2008, RockSugar Southeast Asian Kitchen opened at Century City in Los Angeles. It was a contemporary Asian-fusion restaurant. Overton left Chinese and Japanese cuisines off the menu because the Grand Lux and Cheesecake Factory restaurants already served them. A second location opened in Oakbrook, Illinois, in November 2017, and closed in December 2019. The Century City original closed on the 31st of December 2020, at least partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  The biggest addition came on the 31st of July 2019. The company announced an agreement to buy Phoenix-based Fox Restaurant Concepts for $308 million in cash at closing, plus another $45 million due over the next four years. North Italia, now counted among the company's 47 restaurants under that name, belongs to the larger portfolio the company assembled.

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• 8. Workplace and Scrutiny

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  Fortune ranked the Cheesecake Factory number 23 on its list of the top 100 companies to work for, based on an employee satisfaction survey. The company has also faced regulators and advocacy groups.

  On the 4th of December 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission resolved charges that the company had misled investors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company paid a $125,000 fine without admitting the findings in the order.

  In 2012, the company committed to eliminating gestation crates from its pork supply chain by 2022. Its 2021 Corporate Social Responsibility Report said 75% of its U.S. pork supply would be crate-free by the end of 2022. In 2024, the animal welfare organization Animal Equality noted progress but said the crates had not been fully eliminated.

  In 2015, the company said it would drop battery cage eggs but gave no timeline. In 2023, The Humane League and the Open Wing Alliance flagged its failure to report progress. In March 2025, The Humane League stated that the chain had reached a 100% cage-free transition.

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