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Everyone knows what it's like to be with a big group of friends who can't agree on where to grab dinner
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That's when it's time to head to the Cheesecake Factory, featuring delicious desserts, strange and unique Egyptian decor
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and a coil-bound 21-page menu featuring around 250 items to choose from
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Today, we're having our cake and eating it too, as we figure out why is the Cheesecake Factory's menu so huge
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Back in the 1940s, a woman by the name of Evelyn Overton changed the course of her life
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and the confectionery world by sitting down to read her local Detroit newspaper
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While flipping through the pages, Overton found a recipe for a cheesecake she wanted to try
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and, after making her own modifications, became a local cheesecake celebrity. Evelyn and her husband Oscar packed up their life and moved from Detroit to Los Angeles
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They opened the Cheesecake Factory Bakery in Woodland Hills, California in 1972
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all the while supported by their son, accomplished cook and rock and roll drummer David Overton
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and opened up the first Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Beverly Hills in 1978
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Overton noticed restaurants opening up nearby, and when he would stop in to eat
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he would see things on their menus that were not on his. To prevent competitors from drawing away customers Overton kept adding items that were popular at other restaurants By the mid the Cheesecake Factory had become popular enough to open a new location in Marina del Rey
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as well as a 16,400-foot bakery production facility in the Calabasas Hills
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which handled the massive amount of cheesecake orders the restaurant was now receiving daily
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This massive selection has become almost as synonymous with the Cheesecake Factory as cheesecakes themselves
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with many delighted and confused by the embarrassment of riches offered to customers
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Just because the menu features hundreds of meal offerings, folks hoping to grab some of that signature cheesecake won't leave even remotely disappointed
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All of the cheesecakes on the menu originated from Evelyn Overton's original sour cream-based recipe
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though they are no longer cooked in a basement. Today, all cheesecakes are made in large facilities in Calabasas Hills, California
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and Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, then shipped nationwide. You can still get the original flavor
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at all locations, but you're now forced to choose between more than 50 delectable varieties
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Aside from a few stumbling blocks along the way, the Cheesecake Factory Corporation continues to
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thrive today with nearly 350 full-service restaurants. Today, the factory continues to
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do exceptionally well with 2024 sales somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.5 billion dollars and
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climbing year after year ranking 11th in gross sales among sit-down u.s restaurant chains
