FOOD NEWS
The Story Behind The Cheesecake Factory's Genuinely Unique Decor
By C.A. Pinkham
Alongside The Cheesecake Factory's reputation for quality, the restaurant stands out for its unique and seemingly unrelated decor.
Their decor features grand columns, palm trees, and wood paneling, which don't reflect anything about the restaurant. They are just items the designer and CEO thought were cool.
Designer Rick McCormack transformed The Cheesecake Factory's visual style into its iconic blend of bizarre yet oddly comforting elements with CEO David Overton in 1992.
McCormack admits the style might not sound good if you've never experienced it, as the restaurants boast an eclectic mix of influences from Egypt to Victorian England.
According to McCormack, the Egyptian style was mainly because Overton always thought Egyptian stuff looked cool.
McCormack and Overton never wanted their restaurants to stagnate visually, which is why each location looks slightly different.
It makes sense — much like the lengthy menu, the weird and idiosyncratic designs are intended as conversation pieces as much as they are fun exercises in design creativity.