How does the cheesecake factory sell so many items at once?
Posted by Agitated-Recipe9718@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 129 comments
Posted by Agitated-Recipe9718@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 129 comments
Crayshack@reddit
Chesecake Factory is a titan when it comes to "just in time" logistics. They've done ton of data analysis to predict how much of each ingredient they need at a given location and they are scarily good at it. They're well studied in the field of data analytics and supply chain management because of just how far ahead of the curve they are.
EzPzLemon_Greezy@reddit
They also optimized the ingredients for versatility. So with a limited set of ingredients they can make a large variety of dishes.
10tonheadofwetsand@reddit
Yeah, if you really take a close look at the menu, you realize they have tons of the same thing over and over again just dressed differently.
Not that different from Taco Bell. A few ingredients shuffled around to create different menu items.
EzPzLemon_Greezy@reddit
And Chinese. PF Changs is run very similar and all their dishes are made fresh in house too.
my_frosted_flakes@reddit
Pfft not anymore
EzPzLemon_Greezy@reddit
Really? I'm friends with a guy who was part of the PF Changs frozen food line deal, and he met with PF and Chiang (its two guys that created it) and talked about it.
my_frosted_flakes@reddit
Used to work there less than a year ago, have many friends that still work there. They’re undergoing a “revamp” meaning trucking in frozen, premade appetizers and most sauces are premade as well. I think it depends I location but it’s not the same place since the new CEO took over
EzPzLemon_Greezy@reddit
What a shame. I'm assuming quality has gone down as well?
my_frosted_flakes@reddit
You betcha
KoalaGrunt0311@reddit
Most Chinese restaurants operate this way. Their speed comes from the prep work and style of cooking. Veggies are all cut and possibly precooked, just waiting for protein and sauce selection to be added.
EzPzLemon_Greezy@reddit
They don't need to cook in advance, there are few "low and slow" dishes in American Chinese. Its like 70% screaming hot woks and 29% deep fryer.
tica_spi@reddit
what's the last 1%?! DONT JUST LEAVE ME IN SUSPENSE HERE
MyTacoCardia@reddit
Rice
VelocityGrrl39@reddit
I mean, all restaurants do this to an extent. The pico de gallo we use on avocado toast is the same as the huevos rancheros and fish tacos. It saves prep time and money. It’s why some restaurants don’t really allow too many drastic substitutions because things are prepped as much as possible in advance. The restaurant I work in now (Italian American) spends all day Monday chopping garlic to use throughout the week in all their dishes.
Dr_ChimRichalds@reddit
So come on Tuesday for the freshest garlic?
ballrus_walsack@reddit
Depends on the restaurant
The_Elicitor@reddit
Plus the cheesecakes do come from an actual factory production line so they don't spend any time or effort in store on those
Other things like certain side dishes and appetizers likely do too, trimming down the number of steps needed in making meals
TooManyDraculas@reddit
That's how diners have been doing this sort of thing forever.
bannana@reddit
yep, a greek diner with a 20page menu wasn't unusual back in the day of diners.
Odd-Help-4293@reddit
We've got one of those near me. Bacon omelet, bacon wrap, bacon sandwich, bacon salad, ham omelet, ham wrap, ham sandwich, etc. Same ingredients 10 different ways for 10 pages.
TooManyDraculas@reddit
Chicken salad, ham salad, seafood salad, tuna salad, egg salad.
As a sandwich, plater or salad plate.
That's 15 menu items right there! And just mayo and what's lying around.
VelocityGrrl39@reddit
They’re still around.
lowdiver@reddit
This implies there aren’t still many many places like this (I can count probably 5 within walking distance)
saladmunch2@reddit
Got alot of that around the greater Detroit area. Whether it be Greek or Lebanese, whatever.
bannana@reddit
NYC or other northern big city, right?
I'm in ATL and most of ours have dried up especially with the restrictions on bars forcing to close at 2am, back when we had multiple legit after hours clubs, a handful of 24hr clubs, and popup afterhours clubs, and speakeasies those diners had a ton of business from patrons at night to the staff in early AM.
lowdiver@reddit
Not in the city, but nearby.
And yeah- I used to live in Atlanta and coming back, it’s wild how much things have changed.
bannana@reddit
ya, it's a boring town now days.
lysistrata3000@reddit
Michigan practically has one on every street corner, not just in major metro areas.
Maxpowr9@reddit
The Chinese take out model.
jenguinaf@reddit
That was what I noticed about Cheesecake Factory as well as BJ’s. They seem to use a set of ingredients in different ways for different dishes.
Welpe@reddit
You can also see this in that they will run out of ingredients for dishes after the dinner rush and either ask you pick something else or substitute another item for part of it. They really do plan for a specific amount to be sold and don’t keep extra stuff around for sudden changes in demand.
quasifun@reddit
And lots of super-successful businesses are the same way. Walmart is the biggest example in retail.
Icy-Kitchen6648@reddit
My boss was a dispatcher for Walmart, its actually ridiculous some of the things he's told me they do. They have a whole department that is dedicated purely for watching the weather radar. Like that's all they do all day, watch weather.
PAXICHEN@reddit
My wife worked for Miele in Germany. One day there was a backup on one of the Autobahns and a key component for the production line was stuck in traffic - they sent a freaking helicopter to get as many of the components they could to keep the line running.
RGV_KJ@reddit
That makes sense. Weather has correlation with some things people are likely to buy.
Saltpork545@reddit
It's not just correlation to the stuff people buy like de-icer and shovels. It impacts logistics. A huge swath of what gets transported from distribution centers to individual stores is done via 18 wheeler and Walmart has their own trucking logistics chain as well and I will bet dollars to donuts the weather reports impact their drivers and driving routes as well.
If you can have one of your drivers take 3 hours and go 200 miles out of their way to avoid an ice storm and lose 50 tons of merchandise that could be worth 300-500k and that delivery doesn't have to be at X and Y store in this zip code by Z day for Q reason, you very well might tell the driver's nav system to go around the storm.
devilbunny@reddit
They're probably fully-qualified meteorologists making their own predictions. Ex-NOAA, ex-military are two sources.
An organization like Walmart has no choice but to have that sort of department. Walmart lives on volume; their margins are almost nil. One hiccup can wipe out a store's profit for the day.
ericchen@reddit
What’s the advantage of that vs just getting the NOAA forecast?
StubbedToeBlues@reddit
NOAA and public forecasts are not quick enough, and with more regionalism. Your local weatherman are looking at storm for large metro ares and sometimes entire states. Mega-corpos like Walmart need to know the weather for an entire third of the United States, including how that weather will impact road conditions, ports, train yards, and fuel supplies
uses_for_mooses@reddit
Walmart employs at least one meteorologist, because here’s a Business Insider article about him and hurricanes Helene and Milton - Walmart's meteorologist starts his days at 3:45 a.m. when a hurricane is on the wayf
cfont288@reddit
That sounds like a dream job lol
woofiedude@reddit
My local Walmart sucks. Can’t keep the shelves stocked for basics. I stopped shopping there because of it.
barbiemoviedefender@reddit
I wrote a paper on their cross docking system in college (supply chain/operations degree)
Aromatic_Comfort203@reddit
Sure, but at the end of the day, I just want to know how they predict my cravings for their cheesecake at 2 a.m.
Hi_Im_Ken_Adams@reddit
I don't understand why and how Cheesecake Factory is so successful. Every single one I've ever seen has a line of people out the door with huge waiting times. And there's nothing unique about their food. It's the same as any other generic chain restaurant with bugers/pasta/salads etc.
Mega_Dragonzord@reddit
How many places can you go where one person gets chicken marsala, someone else gets gumbo, someone else gets a pizza, and another person gets orange chicken? They have a ton of choices and pretty much all of it is tasty. Plus cheesecake.
BenjaminGeiger@reddit
The only exposure I've had to Cheesecake Factory was their mini-location in DisneyQuest (RIP). All I really remember was the Blackout Cake (which is amazing) and a $2 basket of fries the size of my head. It was easily the best deal on Disney property.
Crayshack@reddit
Chains sell themselves not on being the best at any given thing, but on being consistently decent. In particular, the Cheesecake Factory has a pretty broad menu of things that they are decent at. You can probably find another restaurant that does each individual thing on the menu better, but when you have a large group of people and you are trying to balance diverse tastes, a restaurant with a diverse menu where everything is at least okay works great. Especially if you're traveling and don't have the time to research the non-chain places.
I don't think I've ever been to Cheesecake Factory with a group smaller than 15 people. With a smaller group, you can usually find someplace better to balance everyone's tastes. But, when you appeal to big groups like that, it doesn't take that many groups to fill up the house.
TooManyDraculas@reddit
They also tend to exist in places with limited other options, somewhat captive audiences, or where they're a better option than the other limited options.
Tourist hubs and retail shopping districts.
They don't need to be the best at anything. They just need to be better than TGIMcScratchnSniff. Which is largely what their reputation is.
RedSolez@reddit
All successful chain restaurants are successful because their menus are consistent at every location. There's many reasons why a diner would value consistency over quality- limited dining out budget so you don't want to risk wasting money at a new restaurant you may not like, food allergies, catering to a large group with varying tastes, traveling to an unknown place and wanting to eat something familiar.
Cheesecake Factory in particular is successful because their menu and dining room are huge so they can accommodate large groups and tastes, and are almost always attached to malls.
Delores_Herbig@reddit
Cheesecake Factory has a hell of a lot more than burgers, pasta, and salads. I think it is the largest menu of any chain, and that is one of the reasons for its success. Got a group of people that can’t decide where to eat? Well every person can find something on the Cheesecake Factory menu that they’ll eat. They also cater to lo cal, low carb, gluten free, vegetarian, etc. and it can be difficult to find restaurants that can accommodate dietary restrictions.
Everything is made fresh daily (as other people have mentioned in the post, it’s an actual marvel of logistics that they’ll able to do this at that scale). I think actually the only exception is the cheesecake. And their food is solid and consistent. They’re not going to be getting any Michelin stars, but you know you’ll get a decent fresh meal.
It’s not personally my favorite place, and I don’t like the ambiance, but I absolutely understand why it’s so popular.
Burial4TetThomYorke@reddit
It’s a comfort option for me. They have everything I could possibly want to eat save (last time I checked) butter chicken and Ethiopian food. The vibes are comfortable and relaxed and the portions are so huge that it’s quite cost effective when I take leftovers home. I’ve only ever gone occasionally, like once or twice a year at most.
OhHeyJeannette@reddit
Someone can find SOMETHING to eat at CF.
MechanicalGodzilla@reddit
I am a big fan of the TV show How it’s Made, and I would binge watch a show about the planning and logistics of restaurants, shipping companies, retail giants, etc…
smugbox@reddit
I would too, but I’d imagine a lot of companies are unwilling to give away too many secrets to the competition.
I work retail for a an incredibly famous company and the meticulous attention to detail is honestly next-level shit
MarcusAurelius0@reddit
So you're saying if I were to take say 30 people to one location and all order the same thing they may not be able to handle it?
SkiMonkey98@reddit
The numbers vary, but this is true of any restaurant-- sometimes they guess wrong and sell out of an item. But yeah, it's probably easier to overload CF with a bunch of identical orders than a restaurant of comparable size with a smaller menu
littlebopper2015@reddit
All they do is say “apologies, we are out of that dish tonight” and then wait for you to choose one of the other 500 options.
RoadkillMarionette@reddit
Adding to my plans for Santacon
Crayshack@reddit
It will probably take more than 30 people (they are big restaurants) but in theory, you could overload them if you threw enough people at the restaurant who all ordered the same thing.
zeezle@reddit
So I don't particularly enjoy the Cheesecake Factory because the menu is way too bloated, actually. But a lot of it is fairly redundant, in the sense that it's just slight variations of one thing or the other.
For example the burgers section. A lot of them are the same meat, the same bun, with just slight variations in the toppings. Many other restaurants just have a 'make your own burger' where you order whatever toppings you want from a list. So at those restaurants that's one entry, instead of a bunch of different entries giving every combination of toppings a name. But in reality those restaurants have just as many options as Cheesecake Factory does, they're just not all listed out as individual items.
Cheesecake Factory also has a 'healthy' version of a bunch of dishes, so it's basically the same thing with the same toppings just with a lower calorie base item or smaller portions. For example the 'Skinnylicious Hamburger' is just a slightly smaller version of the classic cheeseburger without any cheese and a salad on the side instead of fries; a different restaurant might just list the salad as an option and assume if you don't want cheese you'll ask to leave it off, instead of making a separate menu entry for it.
Likewise there are like 5 different grilled salmon dishes but it's just a different sauce/spice rib on the salmon and a different side. But those sides are all also used for other dishes, not only the salmon dishes. So the actual number of different items and ingredients the kitchen is preparing is less than the number of entries on the menu, if that makes sense?
notthegoatseguy@reddit
60-100 people in the kitchen according to my Google with multiple chefs directing multiple people.
Cheesecakes are made off-site and shipped to stores. Its one of the few things not made fresh at the store.
CF goal is consistency and speed. You aren't going to get the best pizza you've ever had in your life, but you'll get a reasonably decent pizza at a reasonably decent price.
SuperFLEB@reddit
Now that's just ironic.
iloveartichokes@reddit
It makes sense, their cheesecake is made in a factory.
SuperFLEB@reddit
Factory Cheesecake, yes, but the Cheesecake Factory is somewhere else. The restaurant with "Cheesecake Factory" on the sign is just a Cheesecake Dealership.
Agitated-Recipe9718@reddit (OP)
Tbh it’s shocking to me that things are made fresh there. I’ve never eaten there but ive seen videos of their menus and they’re massive. Even with that many chefs, how do they have the ability, time and resources to pull that off? And why not just offer a shorter menu with more quality ?
Revolutionary-Ad3648@reddit
I worked in one. Each dish is made in a completely fresh bowl/sautee pan. Like, you could use the same bowl to toss a salad between plateings, but nope, fresh. There were 4 dishwashers working a 30 foot conveyor belt. It was madness.
The floors were grated above draining floors, so when we made huge batches of mash potatoes, we would pour a 60qt batch through a giant colander on the ground. As the water moved, it would steam up under other staff.
There was a shoe washing station for when your servsafe shoes started to fail, you could hose them down. If you did not wear those shoes, you slipped around everywhere.
Walk in fridges were so tall, you had to spider walk up the shelves to reach the top 3 shelves.
Servers could only work a max of 4 shifts a week, and if their whites had any stains, they got sent home.
My favorite dish is on their brunch menu: Monte Cristo Sandwich.
abbydabbydo@reddit
What’s the logic behind 4 shifts a week for servers?
The also gave “personality tests” when I applied in 2001. I didn’t make it past that 🙂
Revolutionary-Ad3648@reddit
Fatigue. I believe they couldn't be overworked beyond their ideal performance, barely similar to a nurse? BoH staff definitely were not part of that policy. I dunno about the 'bakery' staff policy.
I can't remember a long test for my hiring. I was there in 2004/5 at a location that opened in 2003. I do remember a bizarre orientation before paperwork and training that felt cultish.
akfourty7@reddit
I was there until 2018 and the 4 shift thing was def not enforced at my store, I regularly worked 6-8 shifts in a row Thursday-Sunday.
StopSignsAreRed@reddit
It seems like they’ve found a way to balance time, quality and variety to appeal to a wide range of tastes and budgets and still make a healthy profit in a volatile industry. Why would they shake up that balance? It’s working great for them.
the_quark@reddit
Honestly I've eaten there and it's shocking to me too, I figured it was a bunch of frozen stuff and Chef Mike.
Agitated-Recipe9718@reddit (OP)
yeah same i watched tiktoks of their food and it doesn’t look fresh to me?? it looks like regular frozen food, i was assuming they just popped a tray in the microwave and called it a day. but what i couldn’t imagine was how they can fit thousands of frozen packets for each of their millions of menu items all in their storage spaces lol.
i could see them cooking it like partially (like dominos idk) but however from SCRATCH is shocking cause it genuinely looks frozen lol.
TooManyDraculas@reddit
They claim to prep and cook it all in house, kinda the only chain like this that even makes the statement. And none of it's particularly complicated or impressive. It's not hard to have 200 items when 25 are burgers, 25 are sandwiches, 25 are different taco plates etc.
Any restaurant does a ton of pre-prep in house, even sometimes batching and prepping this days before service when necessary/practical.
Maybe part of what you're missing is the sheer size of these places. I don't think I've ever actually sat down at one. But they're not super common, apparently only about 320 or so globally.
But they are massive. A lot of them are more than one floor, and they apparently bottom out at like 300 seats. They pretty much only exist at large tourist destinations and huge regional malls.
notthegoatseguy@reddit
You should read Bourdain's book, Kitchen Confidential. It goes behind the scenes on how restaurants can operate and get you a meal in 10 minutes that would require you to spend 25-45 minutes at home.
More quality is a higher price, which isn't what CF is going for.
There often are higher end restaurants in the same area where CF is. People will go there if they want to pay $70 for a steak or $25 for an artisan pizza.
TooManyDraculas@reddit
They actually are. To certain extent. Hence the cooked fresh thing, other chains mainly work from pre-prepped and part cooked product. Famously "boil in a bag" at many of them. An they've traditionally been a tick more expensive than the typically chain, while offering larger portions.
Generally no. That's a very old school thing that mainly survives in Diners. More focused menus have been very in since the 80s and aren't really an impediment unless they're very limited. Even the oldest school steakhouse has non-steak dishes, and limited tasting menus are the hottest thing going in upscale dining.
Cheesecake Factory leans into some of that old school, hence the huge menu. But otherwise they do the thing with large kitchen staffs, using more limited components accross multiple dishes. And by sticking to a limited number of HUGE locations in high traffic areas with purpose built almost factory style kitchens.
Kitchen Confidential is actually a pretty good reference here. Largely because there's a section on big, old school hotel kitchens and how they worked. In reference to his time working in the Rainbow Room. Which was and is this sort of kitchen.
Cheesecake factory has basically taken the old school, large scale, brigade heavy hotel/resort kitchen model. And stuck it near your local mall. Even hotel and resort restaurants don't generally operate quite like that, or at that scale these days. Outside of a certain scale of cater operation.
Big venue, big menu, big portions, a flat out army of staff to manage it all. It's a very 1960s idea frankly.
IRefuseToPickAName@reddit
'Behind the scenes' is literally just prep time in the morning or a closed day and having the grills, ovens and fryers hot all the time
DrGeraldBaskums@reddit
Plenty of restaurants in every corner of the country with shorter menus and higher quality food. That’s not their game.
It’s also brilliant marketing. They got you watching videos on something as boring as a menu, talking about it on Reddit, lots of foreigners visit because of the vids etc.
beka13@reddit
My ex-brother-in-law was a manager of a Cheesecake Factory and I was so bummed to learn this when I wanted recipes for cheesecake. booooo
justlarm@reddit
I think they must make some cheesecake there. I ate there a few years ago and our server was all jazzed that a blueberry cheesecake had cracked in the oven so the staff were gonna get to eat it.
Eric848448@reddit
I always figured everything is just microwaved to order.
Philthy42@reddit
It's been like 14 years, but I still have flashbacks of being a waiter at cheesecake factory on Mother's Day.
classisttrash@reddit
My guilty pleasure. My husband and I live in a city so we are constantly going out to try new restaurants…but oftentimes we’ll stop by the Cheesecake Factory afterwards for takeout dessert 😅
KimberlyElaineS@reddit
Nothing is great although they do offer variety.
fun_crush@reddit
I have eaten there a few times, and never once was I impressed. Everything is just butter and salt. It's 250+ mediocre meals that you could probably cook better yourself.
To any tourist or future tourist that comes to visit the US, do yourself a favor and do not eat at any of our chain restaurants.
OmarsBulge@reddit
Frozen dinners?
baalroo@reddit
Based on the handful of times I've been dragged in there, I'm assuming it's a lot of boil bags and microwaves.
New-Number-7810@reddit
Why do you think they have “factory” in their title?
Agitated-Recipe9718@reddit (OP)
well they are supposed to be a factory of cheesecakes but apparently they don’t even make that lol. still no idea how they’re able to produce the other 250 dishes even if they did work as fast as a factory
DrGeraldBaskums@reddit
FYI here’s a behind the scenes look of one of their kitchens in action . It’s like an army
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h4axhtnMHeA
hermitthefraught@reddit
They do make the cheesecake, just not in the individual restaurants. That's something that is well suited to making ahead of time in a specialized kitchen and then sending to the restaurants.
WashuOtaku@reddit
Historically, it was common for restaurants to make all types of food/cuisine. But by the mid-20th century restaurants began to specialize in some products instead of all. Cheesecake Factory is basically a call-back to that era.
Gatodeluna@reddit
In essence, yes. Largely the same as Olive Garden or any other national chain. They just do it better. Their presentation is good and the food tastes good. Some dishes will be better than others but that’s also partly down to individual preferences. I’ve always enjoyed whatever I’ve chosen.
cohrt@reddit
It’s all frozen crap that’s made elsewhere then either microwaved. Or fried onsite.
machagogo@reddit
That's just not true for this particular chain.
Others for sure, but not this one
cohrt@reddit
Did that change recently? Every time I ate there it was all lukewarm crap that looked like it came from the frozen food aisle.
machagogo@reddit
No
BelethorsGeneralShit@reddit
While that might have been your impression, everything they serve is cooked fresh on site in their kitchen.
Oddly enough the only thing that's actually trucked in frozen is the cheesecake itself.
PseudonymIncognito@reddit
You might think that, but most everything at a Cheesecake Factory is made on site, except the cheesecakes which are made in an actual cheesecake factory.
TheBimpo@reddit
Huge kitchen and mostly fresh ingredients, it’s not a heat and serve restaurant like Applebees.
/r/kitchenconfidential, /r/askculinary, or /r/chefit have threads about this
SDEexorect@reddit
i deliever beer. i once had to deliever to a cheesecake factory and i have never seen a kitchen so big. it was easily twice the size as the main dinning room.
TooManyDraculas@reddit
One of the few times I've been there was when I was in wholesale beer sales.
I think I've only been in one two restaurants that size every, and a much higher proportion of it was back of house. I've seen smaller keg rooms at stadiums.
SDEexorect@reddit
the biggest one ive seen was from this restraunt that had over 100 kegs on tap. they would get some where between 20- 60 kegs a week. always slammed packed. so many 1/6 kegs
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
For what its worth, it's an overpriced tourist trap. It does not operate in a normal front or back of house restaurant model.
notthegoatseguy@reddit
This is interesting as while I've seen them in touristy areas, mostly through City Nerd videos, that isn't the case in my area.
In Indianapolis, CF is in the northern burbs and another even further out in the southern burbs. Far away from where most sane tourists and business travelers would typically be.
TooManyDraculas@reddit
They do tourist areas.
And then very high throughput retail zones. Traditionally big ass malls.
Big ass malls don't do too well these days. So more recently they seem to open stand alones in suburban corridors with lots of retail.
The sort of next town down the highway where the big box stores and larger supermarkets live. Areas people close in on from the surrounding area to get their shit done on the weekends.
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
It is the trap. It creates its own vacuum.
GrunchWeefer@reddit
Tourist trap? Every Cheesecake Factory I've been to is way out in the burbs. It's in malls, mostly.
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
Yes.
GrunchWeefer@reddit
Did you just cite your own comment as evidence?
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
In a manner of speaking, yes.
A tourist trap doesn't need to be in a touristy area or around other tourist traps to be a tourist trap.
C.F. itself is the tourist trap.
10tonheadofwetsand@reddit
It sounds like you’re broadly using the term “tourist trap” to apply to anything that appeals to the masses.
CF isn’t generally going after tourists except in a few markets.
Their main market is suburbia.
Agitated-Recipe9718@reddit (OP)
yes every cheesecake factory video i’ve seen shows it in a mall of some kind. i didn’t even know it could exist outside of a mall lol. but i cant even begin to imagine how large a CF would have to be and how it could fit inside a mall lol
Agitated-Recipe9718@reddit (OP)
what do you mean, how does it operate ?
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
Here's a post of a video on r/kitchenconfidential..
Take the comments with a grain of salt, but they are worth a read.
Folksma@reddit
I fully admit i fell for the internet hype. When I finally moved to a city with Cheesecake Factory...i was very underwhelmed
I mean, the brown bread was good. But you can just buy an entire bag of "cheesecake factory" branded bread at the grocery store for like 4 bucks
lannistersstark@reddit
This is a love letter to cheesecake factory.
Go watch.
SaoirseLikeInertia@reddit
I’ve eaten at one a few times. The food is pretty good. Some food is better than other food. I used to go eat appetizers at the one in Seattle downtown before going to a movie or something with friends. The menu is the size of a phone book and 100% representative of American excess (I’m American.)
Agitated-Recipe9718@reddit (OP)
That’s the idea i got from watching people’s videos of their restaurants!! it’s shocking. does it taste fresh? i wonder how they stock the products
kyleofduty@reddit
Yes, it does taste fresh. There's browning and crispiness and nothing's dried out.
They get deliveries daily from Sysco, a large restaurant supply. They most sell fresh meat and produce as well as restaurant supplies. The trucks and warehouse is refrigerated. They do sell some prepared food, like precut frozen french fries, frozen hamburger patties, frozen chicken tenders, gluten free pizza crust. They definitely don't sell the Cheesecake factory menu premade.
It's normal in restaurants in the US to make customizations, like no peppers, shrimp instead of chicken, different sauce. This wouldn't be possible if the food wasn't made to order with individual ingredients.
SaoirseLikeInertia@reddit
Honestly I remember pretty good/decent food but I have no idea. Someone else posted that the cheesecakes are shipped so there’s probably a good amount of pre-prep that goes on. The cheesecakes are GOOD.
ALoungerAtTheClubs@reddit
It's a 3/5 kind of place for me. I never precisely want to go there, but once or twice a year I find myself at my local one for a birthday or something, and it's always OK. Their Swiss army knife menu means I can always find something good enough.
There are better chains (and of course local places), but it beats places I actively avoid like Applebee's.
Do_I_Need_Pants@reddit
God, have you been there around pax time? That place is ridiculous. Walk a few blocks and there are so many other options that taste better and are cheaper.
LadyStarling@reddit
what i legit love about cheesecake factory is if my gf and i can't decide on a cuisine, they are bound to have 2-3 options from either cuisine we are craving lol. like if i want italian and she wants mexican, they have more than enough dishes to accomodate.
and like others said, it's not the most amazing food, but it is pretty decent and consistent and price appropriate imo. i've never had a bad experience either, the staff are always very nice.
JustSomeGuy556@reddit
The individual restaurants are very large... While it's a "chain" it's very unlike most other chains. So they have a lot of chefs/cooks and are basically very efficient.
That said, I've eaten there one time and it was one of the least pleasant dining experiences of my life.
AfterAllBeesYears@reddit
Here's an article that goes over how the menu came to be. The part specifically about the menu is about 1/3 of the way through the article.
stu17@reddit
I actually just watched an interesting YouTube video on Cheesecake Factory: https://youtu.be/ndqsvTIveR0
In short, they have a ton of staff. Each store brings in so much revenue (relative to other big chain restaurants) that they can afford to employ a ton of staff.
Personally, I like Cheesecake Factory. I’ve tried about a dozen menu items. It’s not the best food I’ve ever had, but I’ve never been disappointed with it.
seditious3@reddit
My 83-year-old mother loves it. I refuse to eat there because of the full-page advertising on the menus.
therlwl@reddit
Depends on what you like. Cucumber lemonade, Jambalaya Pasta, Street Corn, and Cheesecake then yes.