- This is how The Cheesecake Factory evolved
from a basement bakery to the epitome of strip mall fancy.
Michigan, the early 1940s.
Amateur baker Evelyn Overton
finds a recipe for cheesecake in her local paper,
and it soon becomes her specialty.
Her friends and family love her cheesecakes so much,
she opens a small bakery outside Detroit.
The bakery didn't last long,
but Evelyn continued to make cheesecake in her basement,
selling them to local restaurants
while focusing on raising her two sons.
But in 1972, after her sons grow up and move out,
the Overtons relocate to California
and use their life savings to continue Evelyn's dream,
opening up The Cheesecake Factory Bakery.
Their gamble pays off,
and the bakery develops a solid customer base
all through Los Angeles.
It's the American dream.
Kudos to you, Cheesecake Factory,
and all that you do for us.
Thanks for watching.
Remember to like, subsc...
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on!
That's not the end of the story, not even close.
1978, David Marshall Overton, Evelyn's son, wonders,
what would happen if someone based an entire restaurant
around his mom's cheesecakes?
So, later that year,
the Overtons opened the Cheesecake Factory restaurant
in Beverly Hills.
They sold simple sandwiches, salads, and of course,
a full menu of Evelyn's cheesecakes.
By the early '80s, David had become a pretty good cook,
and a very competent businessman.
The Cheesecake Factory opened more locations
throughout Southern California.
This is when their menu started to grow bigger
than Bon Jovi's hair, and more random
than America's passionate love for pet rocks.
Have you ever wondered why The Cheesecake Factory
has a 21-page, widely diverse menu
where quesadillas live alongside edamame
and chicken is prepared in the styles
of Parmesan, teriyaki, and barbecue?
It's like they decided to put every restaurant
in the neighborhood under one roof.
Well, yeah, exactly.
David Overton would keep close watch
on the restaurants trending
in his neighborhood for menu inspiration.
If he saw a bunch of people eating
at a new Mexican restaurant,
he'd add Mexican food to the menu.
When he noticed a new Italian restaurant
was creating lines around the block, boom!
TCF would start making pasta.
David told Thrillist in 2018:
- I didn't want another restaurant
to open down the block and take my business away.
We just kept putting things on the menu
that people seemed to like.
Finally, I thought, well,
there's nothing that America wants
that we shouldn't be able to put on the menu.
So we just kept at it.
- And they really did.
By the early '90s, this Babu's Dream Cafe model
is a clear, quick success.
The menu continues to balloon, as does Bon Jovi's hair,
and they open restaurants on the East Coast.
1992, the company goes public,
and they bring in restaurant designers
who implement that whole,
hey, this kind of looks like Egypt
if it was built by Siegfried and Roy, and also,
you kind of have to squint your eyes,
vibe that we all know and love.
It's definitely pretty random,
but it's evolved into their trademark style.
Throughout the '90s, The Cheesecake Factory kept expanding
across the country, quickly becoming the preferred date spot
for everyone from promiscuous teenagers
to recent divorcees.
And their menu just kept getting bigger.
Bon Jovi, however, gets a haircut.
Looking good, Bon.
The restaurant also started becoming known
for its giant-ass portions.
David Overton was inspired by the enormous portions he saw
in retirement communities in Florida.
And they wanted to make sure you had some leftovers, right?
The year 2000, Earth nearly avoids a Y2K disaster.
Good news for humanity, and by extension,
The Cheesecake Factory, because in the mid-2000s,
the cult of The Cheesecake Factory grows.
Penny from "The Big Bang Theory" works
at The Cheesecake Factory in the show,
which was the most popular comedy on TV
for like a decade, for some reason.
2011, they expanded internationally to Dubai,
where the restaurant is at the bottom
of a freakin' indoor ski slope that's so Dubai.
In the mid-2010s, after hitting a whopping 250 menu items,
Overton caps the growth and says, "No more."
But they continue to expand their menu
by swapping 10 to 15 old items out
with new recipes every year.
On that note, bring back the crab wontons, they were delicious.
Swap 'em in for the shepherd's pie, I mean, who's even ordering that?
Also in the mid-2010s,
The Cheesecake Factory develops a cult following
among professional athletes who,
just to be clear, are mostly millionaires.
Chris Paul is obsessed with the Teriyaki Chicken.
James Harden found out he got traded
to the Rockets at a Cheesecake Factory,
and Vince Young spends $5,000
in one week at a Cheesecake Factory.
How do you even do that?
That's like, 870 avocado egg rolls!
2017, a writer for Thrillist ranks all 34 cheesecake flavors
in one sitting, and somehow does not throw up.
It's a modern miracle!
2020, The Cheesecake Factory is one
of the most successful restaurant chains
in the world, and is named one
of Forbes' 100 Best Companies to Work For,
even though the servers at The Cheesecake Factory go through
a grueling two-week training process,
where they study the entire 21-page menu cover to cover.
I do hear they get free cheesecake, though, which is nice.
From a basement in Detroit to every strip mall
in America, fan favorite for NBA players
and suburban splurgers alike, thank you,
Cheesecake Factory, for being every restaurant
on the block under one pseudo-Egyptian-looking roof.
Oh, thanks for the leftovers, too.