The Cheesecake Factory
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| The Cheesecake Factory, Inc. | |
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| Type | Public (NASDAQ: CAKE) |
| Founded | Beverly Hills, California, U.S. (1978) |
| Founder | David M. Overton |
| Headquarters | Calabasas Hills, California, U.S. |
| Key people | Russ Bendel, President and COO David Overton, Founder and CEO |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Products | Types of Cheesecakes (White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, Pumpkin, Coconut Chocolate Cream), Burgers, Pizza, Pasta, Steaks, Sandwiches. |
| Revenue | ▲ US $1.32 billion (2006)[1] |
| Operating income | ▲ US $107 million (2006)[1] |
| Net income | ▲ US $81.3 million (2006)[1] |
| Subsidiaries | Grand Lux Cafe, LLC. |
| Website | www.cheesecakefactory.com |
The Cheesecake Factory, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAKE) is a restaurant company in the United States. The company operates 139 full-service, casual dining restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory name in major metropolitan areas in the United States. Cheesecake Factory restaurants are characterized by extensive menus, custom lavish décor, and large portions. David M. Overton, the company's founder, opened the first Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Beverly Hills, California, in 1978. The restaurant established the future chain's pattern of offering an eclectic menu, big portions, and signature cheesecakes,[2] and the chain became a multi-million-dollar sales performer. The company went public in 1992, and was the first restaurant chain to reach a billion dollars in revenues with fewer than 100 restaurants in operation.
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[edit] Concept
According to its website, The Cheesecake Factory offers an upscale casual dining experience, complete with a full bar, whose lavish decor includes limestone floors, decorative columns, hand-painted fabrics, contemporary lighting, and cherry wood trimmings.
Its extensive menu includes over 200 selections, including appetizers, pizza, pasta, seafood, steaks, salads, sandwiches, etc. Its featured dishes include Chicken Madeira, Miso Salmon, Cajun Jambalaya Pasta, and The Factory Burger. They have 50 different cheesecakes and desserts, including their registered trademark, White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake, and their Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake.
The Cheesecake Factory will ship their cheesecakes throughout the U.S. via Federal Express.[2]
[edit] History
According to the company's website, the Cheesecake Factory had its beginnings with Oscar and Evelyn Overton, who dreamed of opening their own business, and more specifically with Evelyn, a skilled cook with a cheesecake recipe much liked by her friends. Evelyn first decided to open a business after making a cheesecake for her husband's employer in 1949. Evelyn opened a small cheesecake shop in Detroit, Michigan in the late 1940s, but later gave it up in order to raise her two children, David and Renee. She continued to supply cakes to several of the best local restaurants, however, through a kitchen in her basement. By 1971, their children were now grown, and Oscar and Evelyn moved the business to Los Angeles, using the last of their savings to open a 700 square foot store that bore the name "The Cheesecake Factory". Evelyn would bake and manage the office while Oscar worked and sales and building new accounts. The early years of their new company were sometimes difficult, but as the company's reputation and sales grew, the Overtons realized they needed a larger bakery, which they opened in 1975, at which point their business expanded dramatically, with Evelyn creating over 20 varieties of cheesecake and other desserts for hundreds of accounts from Santa Barbara to San Diego, and even out of state. In 1978, David founded The Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Beverly Hills, which made Evelyn's cheesecakes even more famous. [3][4]
Today the company also operates one self-service, limited-menu express foodservice operation under The Cheesecake Factory Express marque inside the DisneyQuest family entertainment center in Orlando, Florida. Its cheesecakes and other baked goods can also be found in the cafes of many Barnes and Noble book stores. In addition, it operates a bakery production facility in Calabasas, California, which produces baked desserts and other products for its restaurants and other foodservice operators, retailers, and distributors. A second bakery was opened in Rocky Mount, North Carolina in March 2006. The Rocky Mount plant handles the distribution for the eastern half of the United States. [5] According to their website, The Cheesecake Factory does not provide nutritional information for its menu selections.[6]
[edit] Grand Lux Cafe
The owners of the The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas asked David Overton to create an upscale casual restaurant for the Venetian. After traveling to Europe to study the cuisine, architecture, design and decor of Italian trattorias, French bistros, and the grand cafes and pastry shops of Vienna, Overton created the Grand Lux Cafe, which, according to the Grand Lux's website, merges the luxury of European cafes with the sensibilities of an all-American restaurant. The floors and tabletops are all-marble, and the glass fixtures are hand-blown, and intricate mosaics grace each location. The Cafe offers, in addition to European-style food, cuisine from cultures including Thai, Malaysian and Caribbean. The Grand Lux Cafe can be found in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Sunrise (Sawgrass Mills), Miami (Aventura Mall), Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Long Island (Garden City, New York), Paramus, New Jersey, Boca Raton, Florida, and Denver (Park Meadows Mall in Lone Tree).
The Grand Lux also places particular emphasis on the on-premise bakery found at each Grand Lux Cafe, which are baked to order, though they also offer baked goods at the bakery counter for take-out. Lunch specials are served daily until 5:00pm, and special breakfast selections are served Saturdays and Sundays until 2:00pm.[7]
Today the company operates thirteen Grand Lux Cafe restaurants in Colorado, California, Florida, Texas, Illinois and New York. One opened in Paramus, New Jersey in 2007, with others slated to open in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the Scottsdale Fashion Square,[8] and Las Vegas.
[edit] Online
The third concept of the Cheesecake Factory Restaurants, INC., is its online venture service; which offers cheesecakes delivered to customers in dry ice.
[edit] Rock Sugar
The fourth concept of the Cheesecake Factory Restaurants, INC. is Rock Sugar, which features an Asian-fusion inspired menu within a contemporary setting. The new restaurant recently opened its first location in California at Century City in Los Angeles. The Restaurant features many Asian cuisines. However, David Overton intentionally excluded Chinese and Japanese cuisines, as these two genres of food are served at both the Grand Lux and Cheesecake Factory restaurants. Depending on the feedback from their initial location, the Cheesecake Factory LLC® may choose to open a second location in Las Vegas. [9]
[edit] In popular culture
In the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, the female character, Penny, is a waitress at a Cheesecake Factory location.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Cheesecake Factory (2007-02-06). "The Cheesecake Factory Reports Results for Fourth Quarter of Fiscal 2006". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-05-29.
- ^ a b "What Is The Cheesecake Factory?" About Page on the company's website
- ^ "Our Story" A History of the Cheesecake Factory at the company's official website
- ^ A timeline of the Cheesecake Factory's history
- ^ The Cheesecake Factory Plans for Second Bakery Production Facility.
- ^ FAQ page on The Cheesecake Factory's website.
- ^ History Page at The Grand Lux Cafe's Official Website
- ^ "Scottsdale Fashion Square Sparkes and Shines While Preparing For a Grand Dinner Guest" (pdf file)
- ^ http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cheesecake26-2008may26,0,6323663.story?page=1
