The Cheesecake Factory

Founding and early years

Evelyn Overton, inspired by a cheesecake recipe from a Detroit newspaper, made a cheesecake for her husband's employer in the 1940s. The cheesecake was well received, and she opened a small cheesecake bakery in Detroit, Michigan, in the late 1950s. She closed the bakery to raise her children but continued supplying cheesecakes to local restaurants from her basement kitchen. In 1967, Evelyn's son David M. Overton left Detroit to attend Hastings College of Law in San Francisco but decided to be a drummer in 1968, performing with the Billy Roberts Blues Band. In 1971, David convinced his parents to relocate to Los Angeles to open a commercial bakery. In 1972, they moved to the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles where they opened The Cheesecake Factory Bakery, selling cheesecakes and other desserts to local restaurants.

First restaurant

In 1978, David Overton opened The Cheesecake Factory, a small salad-and-sandwich restaurant in Beverly Hills that sold ten varieties of cheesecakes on a one-page menu. In 1983, he opened a second restaurant in Marina del Rey. By 1987, the Beverly Hills location had expanded into a 78-seat restaurant and was experiencing financial success. This led to the opening of a third, larger location in Redondo Beach, which was eventually renovated into a 300-seat, 21,000-square-foot (2,000 m2) location. By the end of the 1980s, The Cheesecake Factory's one-page menu had expanded, and the restaurant offered additional entrees and short-order items.

Expansion beyond Southern California

The first Cheesecake Factory restaurant outside of Southern California opened in the 1990s. The new restaurant, the chain's fifth, was located in Washington, D.C. The Cheesecake Factory was incorporated in 1992 and went public in September of that year. David Overton planned to open three to four units a year to generate a 25% yearly increase in sales.

The company began changing its menu twice a year and adding steaks, seafood, and vegetarian dishes. As of April 2013, the Cheesecake Factory operated 162 restaurants in 36 states under the Cheesecake Factory name. The first Cheesecake Factory in Puerto Rico opened on August 28, 2013, located in Plaza Las Américas in San Juan.

The company used to operate one self-service, limited-menu express food service operation under the Cheesecake Factory marque inside DisneyQuest at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It opened in 1998 and closed in 2017.

International expansion

As of 2024, the Cheesecake Factory has locations in Bahrain, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Macau, Mexico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

On January 25, 2011, the company expanded into the Middle East in a partnership with Kuwaiti retail franchising company M.H. Alshaya Co. The 300-seat restaurant opened on August 16, 2012, at The Dubai Mall. This was The Cheesecake Factory's first location outside the United States. As of May 2018, The Cheesecake Factory has eleven restaurants in the Middle East: four in Dubai (Dubai Mall, Mall of Emirates, Jumeirah Beach Residence and Dubai Festival City Mall), three in Kuwait (Arabella, Sidra, and The Avenues—which was the 160th Cheesecake Factory opening), two in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh and Jeddah), and one in the Yas Mall and one in The Galleria in Abu Dhabi. On December 1, 2015, The Cheesecake Factory opened its eighth Middle East branch at the Verdun Shopping Center in Beirut, Lebanon. The Cheesecake Factory made its first appearance in Doha, Qatar, by opening in the Mall of Qatar and further opened two more branches in Villaggio and Doha Festival City.

On June 16, 2016, The Cheesecake Factory opened its first location in East Asia in Disneytown, located in Pudong, Shanghai, China. The first Cheesecake Factory in Mexico opened in Guadalajara in 2014. There are Cheesecake Factories in Parque Delta and Centro Santa Fe, Mexico City. In November 2017, the first Canadian location opened at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto, Ontario. In May 2017, a Hong Kong restaurant opened in Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui.

The Cheesecake Factory dining menu includes steaks, chops, burgers, chicken, seafood, sandwiches, pasta, pizza, soups, and salads in various cuisines. In addition to its regular dining menu, the company offers a lower-calorie menu that includes salads, burgers, sandwiches, and small plates. The brunch menu is offered on Saturdays and Sundays and includes pancakes, waffles, French toast, and eggs.

The dessert menu offers various types of cheesecake, as well as other cakes, milkshakes, ice cream, and specialty desserts. Per a company spokesperson, the restaurant sells almost 35 million slices of cheesecake annually.

The more than 250 menu items are all made from scratch to order, except for the cheesecakes which are produced in bakery production facilities and delivered to the restaurants frozen.

Caloric content

The Cheesecake Factory has been criticized for featuring large servings of high-calorie and high-fat foods. For these reasons, the chain was dubbed the "worst family restaurant in America" for 2010 by Men's Health magazine. The average sandwich at the restaurant contains 1,400 calories. In 2013, the Center for Science in the Public Interest noted that the "Crispy Chicken Costoletta" has more calories (2,610) than a 12-piece bucket of fried chicken from KFC, and the Cheesecake Factory's "Bistro Shrimp Pasta" dish had more calories than any other entrée from a national chain restaurant at 3,120 calories, with 89 grams of saturated fat. In 2015, the Cheesecake Factory created a "SkinnyLicious" menu that features a variety of cocktails, salads, appetizers, and specialty dishes such as lemon-garlic shrimp and grilled salmon.

Criticism and controversy

Animal welfare

In 2012, the Cheesecake Factory committed to eliminate the use of gestation crates from its pork supply chain by 2022. In its 2021 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, it stated that by the end of 2022, 75% of its U.S. pork supply would be crate-free. In 2024, the Cheesecake Factory was highlighted by animal welfare organization Animal Equality for having made progress toward eliminating gestation crates in its supply chain, but not having eliminated them entirely.

In 2015, the Cheesecake Factory stated that it would eliminate the use of battery cage eggs from its supply chain, but did not specify a timeline for doing so. In 2023, it was identified by The Humane League and the Open Wing Alliance for failing to report progress on its cage-free transition. In March 2025, The Humane League stated that the Cheesecake Factory had achieved a 100% cage-free transition.

Legal problems

On December 4, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission resolved charges brought against the Cheesecake Factory for misleading investors during the COVID-19 pandemic; the company paid a $125,000 fine without admitting the findings in the order.