10 Secrets You Didn’t Know About the Cheesecake Factory
Updated: Nov. 15, 2023
Here's a closer look at the sweetest Cheesecake Factory secrets we could find—including some tidbits about the official cheesecake recipe.
Cheesecakes were once baked in a basement
The concept for The Cheesecake Factory dates back to the 1940s. Evelyn Overton based her well-loved cheesecake recipe on one she found in a newspaper, and the business grew from there. The baking business she launched in Detroit, Michigan grew enough to open a cheesecake shop, which Evelyn ran until she closed it to raise her two children. After closing up shop, Evelyn’s equipment was moved into her basement, and she continued baking cheesecakes to be sold at local restaurants.
The restaurant started as a family business in California
Once Evelyn’s children were old enough, she and her husband moved to Los Angeles and spent all of their savings to open The Cheesecake Factory Bakery in 1972. In 1978, her son David opened the first Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Beverly Hills to offer guests a dining experience with plenty of dessert options. Don’t miss our full list of things no one knows about The Cheesecake Factory cheesecake!
The Cheesecake Factory’s website has recipes for you to make popular dishes at home
The coveted cheesecake recipe has remained proprietary over the years, but you can still make plenty of the dishes from the chain on your own at home. From lemon-ricotta pancakes to crispy Brussels sprouts, you can find recipes on The Cheesecake Factory’s website to whip up a meal.
For cheesecake, turn to our collection of Cheesecake Factory copycat recipes.
The food is made fresh daily
It’s hard to believe that there’s an offering of 200-plus items on the menu. But what’s more surprising is that all of the meals served in the restaurants are prepared fresh daily. The cheesecakes come in frozen to each location, but otherwise, it’s all made fresh on site.
This is why The Cheesecake Factory’s menu is so big.
You can take the sauces home
Part of making fresh food daily means making a whole lot of different sauces. The menu at The Cheesecake Factory boasts more than 100 sauce options. And while you can certainly enjoy them in the restaurant, you can also ask to have any sauce packaged up for you to purchase and take home.
The cheesecake recipe hasn’t changed
When Evelyn developed her coveted recipe based on a newspaper clipping, she obviously had a good thing going. There have certainly been new cheesecake flavors along the way, but 80 years later, the same base recipe for creamy cheesecake is still used.
You can have a whole cheesecake shipped to you
Whether classic original or salted caramel is your favorite, one slice may not be enough. To get your fix, you can take home a whole cheesecake from the restaurant with you. If you’d rather not leave the house, one can be shipped instead.
The menu is updated twice each year
There aren’t too many restaurants that allow you to order Korean Fried Chicken, Shepherd’s Pie and Avocado Egg Rolls in one sitting. Oh, and don’t forget a slice of cheesecake for dessert! And those menu options change often. There are more than 200 items on the menu, which is updated twice each year to keep offerings fresh and new.
Excess food is donated to fight hunger
Running a restaurant is a careful dance, and food waste is inevitable. But The Cheesecake Factory has made it their mission to change that. Excess food from the restaurants is donated to shelters, after-school programs and soup kitchens as part of its zero food waste Nourish Program.
Strawberry cheesecake is the most popular
Choosing from the dessert menu at The Cheesecake Factory is tough, especially with more than 30 flavors of cheesecake to contemplate. And while there are so many unique, delicious options, one flavor continues to take the crown. According to the chain, the Strawberry Cheesecake is the most popular order.
Originally Published: April 19, 2021
