The Cheesecake Factory Makes Everything Fresh — Except The Cheesecake
There are two things that The Cheesecake Factory is famous for: the cheesecakes, and the 20-page menu. Considering the name of the restaurant, some might assume cheesecake to be the star of every meal. But the truth is that the entrees and appetizers can sometimes steal the show, especially because they're a lot fresher. Despite the fact that a long menu is usually a red flag that the food at a restaurant is pre-made and reheated, the opposite is the case at The Cheesecake Factory. All 250+ menu items are made from scratch every day with fresh ingredients. But the same can't be said for the cheesecakes.
While The Cheesecake Factory's dessert menu may have over 40 different options to choose from, most of what diners will find are cheesecakes. You'd think therefore that all the baking would happen onsite, however contrary to popular belief, all of the cheesecakes are delivered to the restaurant frozen then defrosted before serving to customers.
It isn't as bad as it sounds
While The Cheesecake Factory's restaurants do serve pre-made cheesecakes, they aren't sourced from an outside supplier — they're just made in a baking facility that's separate from the restaurant. There are actual bakers and decorators who make these cheesecakes, and they do make them from scratch. But because they are made from scratch, the cheesecakes have to be frozen so they can be safely delivered to the restaurants intact.
Since The Cheesecake Factory is a big chain, it would make sense for it to rely on an outside supplier, and many restaurants do. For example, Olive Garden reheats breadsticks from Turano Baking Company since it can't make them in-house. The Cheesecake Factory, on the other hand, states the company decided not to do this in order to maintain "control over the creativity and quality of our desserts." So even though they're frozen, they're at least made with The Cheesecake Factory's proprietary recipes.
The cheesecakes used to be made fresh
Today, Cheesecake Factory customers aren't able to order cheesecakes that haven't first been frozen, but for several decades that wasn't the case. In the 1940s, when the restaurant's co-founder Evelyn Overton started selling her cheesecakes, she would make them out of her basement kitchen. As popularity for her cheesecakes grew, in 1972, operations were moved to an actual establishment that she and her husband Oscar called The Cheesecake Factory Bakery. Not too long after, the Overtons would later go on to open the first Cheesecake Factory restaurant in 1978.
At first, Evelyn made the cheesecakes herself, using a recipe she found in a Detroit newspaper and tweaked to make her own. Business eventually expanded, and as you might imagine, Evelyn wasn't able to keep up with orders on her own by the time the second location opened in 1983. In 1986, The Cheesecake Factory opened its first offsite baking facility, followed by another in 1995. From this point forward the cheesecakes were no longer served fresh.