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https://www.fsrmagazine.com/slideshows/26-casual-chains-earning-most-money-restaurant https://www.fsrmagazine.com/slideshows/26-casual-chains-earn... If you ig

https://www.fsrmagazine.com/slideshows/26-casual-chains-earning-most-money-restaurant https://www.fsrmagazine.com/slideshows/26-casual-chains-earn... If you ignore the tiny chain at #1, look at the gap between CCF and their #2 competitor in sales per location. I think at some point I read that CCF was second only to Apple Store in revenue per square foot (I think in prime real estate corridors, excluding luxury or some similar criteria, it was a while ago). Edit: first watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myRFzVmH1tg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myRFzVmH1tg . Best way to analogize it is that CCF is the Katie Ledecky of casual chain restaurants. Because people who write about business and tech don’t really go to casual chain restaurants, nobody appreciates their accomplishments like they do Costco or In-n-Out.

ghaff 3y ago
You’re probably tight. Personally I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten in one. I like a good fast casual burger now and then it’s often a good choice late night or at an airport. Sometimes I’ll break down and eat at some casual chain at an airport or in some suburban location. But if there’s a location with a CCF there are probably other options I’m inclined to choose first.
- zoky 3y ago
  Cheesecake Factory is actually pretty good, though. My go-to is the spicy cashew chicken, which is really tasty, and big enough that I always take some home. A tip if you ever do go: When the bread arrives, eschew the butter and ask for a side of ranch dressing to dip the bread in. It sounds weird (I don’t even like ranch normally) and everybody I’ve ever told about it looks at me skeptically, but once they try it they instantly become a convert.
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
    I’ve eaten at Cheesecake Factory a couple of times but it always feels so heavy to me. I’d rather pay the higher prices at Din Tai Feng and get more manageable portions.
    - techsupporter 3y ago
      Two things: a) it's Din Tai Fung; and b) nobody who's aiming for The Cheesecake Factory across the street from the convention center is going to accidentally wind up at the Pacific Place (or, worse, UVillage) Din Tai Fung. They are completely different menus and dining experiences. Though if The Cheesecake Factory ever adds soup dumplings to their menu, I bet they will be pretty good and cheaper.
      - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        I learned mandarin in the mainland so the romanization of 鼎泰丰 stuck in my head is different. Also, I was thinking more Bellevue square, where Din Tai Fung is fairly located across the street, so it’s actually a choice to make (though getting a seat at cheese cake factory is usually easier). I would put them up as comparable: they are both chains, they are both kind of pricey for chains, and if I were in Beijing, it would be a legitimate question to think about going to that or a western food chain.
        public_defender 3y ago
        I love this comment because it exposes several cultural assumptions in the parent which were not obvious to me on first reading.
      - astrange 3y ago
        DTF is unreasonably expensive, so that wouldn't be hard. There's other dim sum places to go to in California at least.
        seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        It is expensive. It Bellevue at least, there are other options (Topgun for example) but requiring driving, and you are still spending $80 or so. DTF is ok once in awhile, it’s not like there are tons of other Taiwanese dim sum places, most of them are going to be Cantonese.
    - 3y ago
- shalmanese 3y ago
  The reason why everyone sleeps on the Cheesecake Factory is very simple. The problem CCF solves is simply never encountered by the upper middle class because entry into this stratum is socially coded by having an adventurous palate where outwardly acting like a picky eater is a mark of shame. Thus, CCF is viewed as a class shibboleth because the problem CCF solves extremely well is getting together a group of people with lots of picky eaters who are all different kinds of picky eaters but who all still want good food and you have to pick a place you can all go. You're simply never expected to run into this problem if you run in upper middle class circles but it's a nightmare scenario for everyone else in cities without a CCF and having a CCF in your city solves it in a way that is a meaningful upgrade in your quality of life. As a result, people vastly underestimate the difficulty of this problem and how poor CCF's competitors are compared to it and how much brand loyalty people who don't have this social coding have towards this company for perfectly logical reasons. CCF's great accomplishment is not just realizing this but then designing their entire restaurant from the ground up to totally holistically solve this very hard problem and their near monopoly level profits are a reward for their hard work.
  - irrational 3y ago
    I wish people would say why they are downvoting you. Because, in my experience, you are right on. I assume the downvoters disagree, but, why do they disagree?
    - zdragnar 3y ago
      I didn't vote, but I find myself a little confused. I suspect the whole "upper middle class" bit has to be a regional thing; it simply doesn't fit my experiences at all. Around where I live, there's certainly no stigma at all about being a picky eater, or at least not one that's in any way specific to a social class. Plenty of people have preferences, and there's no shortage of places to go that offer genetic (casual or fine) dining that everyone will accept.
      - Filligree 3y ago
        Contrary: There absolutely is such a stigma here, and it gets people socially in trouble if they’re picky. I suppose it varies, but it only needs to be true some of the time for CCF to be profitable.
lotsofpulp 3y ago
Crazy how anemic their margins are for being deemed an exceptional business in their market. Have no idea how people have the stomach to invest in the prepared food business. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/CAKE/cheesecake-factory/profit-margins https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/CAKE/cheesecake-fa...

ghaff 3y ago

You’re probably tight. Personally I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten in one. I like a good fast casual burger now and then it’s often a good choice late night or at an airport. Sometimes I’ll break down and eat at some casual chain at an airport or in some suburban location. But if there’s a location with a CCF there are probably other options I’m inclined to choose first.

zoky 3y ago
Cheesecake Factory is actually pretty good, though. My go-to is the spicy cashew chicken, which is really tasty, and big enough that I always take some home. A tip if you ever do go: When the bread arrives, eschew the butter and ask for a side of ranch dressing to dip the bread in. It sounds weird (I don’t even like ranch normally) and everybody I’ve ever told about it looks at me skeptically, but once they try it they instantly become a convert.
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  I’ve eaten at Cheesecake Factory a couple of times but it always feels so heavy to me. I’d rather pay the higher prices at Din Tai Feng and get more manageable portions.
  - techsupporter 3y ago
    Two things: a) it's Din Tai Fung; and b) nobody who's aiming for The Cheesecake Factory across the street from the convention center is going to accidentally wind up at the Pacific Place (or, worse, UVillage) Din Tai Fung. They are completely different menus and dining experiences. Though if The Cheesecake Factory ever adds soup dumplings to their menu, I bet they will be pretty good and cheaper.
    - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
      I learned mandarin in the mainland so the romanization of 鼎泰丰 stuck in my head is different. Also, I was thinking more Bellevue square, where Din Tai Fung is fairly located across the street, so it’s actually a choice to make (though getting a seat at cheese cake factory is usually easier). I would put them up as comparable: they are both chains, they are both kind of pricey for chains, and if I were in Beijing, it would be a legitimate question to think about going to that or a western food chain.
      - public_defender 3y ago
        I love this comment because it exposes several cultural assumptions in the parent which were not obvious to me on first reading.
    - astrange 3y ago
      DTF is unreasonably expensive, so that wouldn't be hard. There's other dim sum places to go to in California at least.
      - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        It is expensive. It Bellevue at least, there are other options (Topgun for example) but requiring driving, and you are still spending $80 or so. DTF is ok once in awhile, it’s not like there are tons of other Taiwanese dim sum places, most of them are going to be Cantonese.
  - 3y ago
shalmanese 3y ago
The reason why everyone sleeps on the Cheesecake Factory is very simple. The problem CCF solves is simply never encountered by the upper middle class because entry into this stratum is socially coded by having an adventurous palate where outwardly acting like a picky eater is a mark of shame. Thus, CCF is viewed as a class shibboleth because the problem CCF solves extremely well is getting together a group of people with lots of picky eaters who are all different kinds of picky eaters but who all still want good food and you have to pick a place you can all go. You're simply never expected to run into this problem if you run in upper middle class circles but it's a nightmare scenario for everyone else in cities without a CCF and having a CCF in your city solves it in a way that is a meaningful upgrade in your quality of life. As a result, people vastly underestimate the difficulty of this problem and how poor CCF's competitors are compared to it and how much brand loyalty people who don't have this social coding have towards this company for perfectly logical reasons. CCF's great accomplishment is not just realizing this but then designing their entire restaurant from the ground up to totally holistically solve this very hard problem and their near monopoly level profits are a reward for their hard work.
- irrational 3y ago
  I wish people would say why they are downvoting you. Because, in my experience, you are right on. I assume the downvoters disagree, but, why do they disagree?
  - zdragnar 3y ago
    I didn't vote, but I find myself a little confused. I suspect the whole "upper middle class" bit has to be a regional thing; it simply doesn't fit my experiences at all. Around where I live, there's certainly no stigma at all about being a picky eater, or at least not one that's in any way specific to a social class. Plenty of people have preferences, and there's no shortage of places to go that offer genetic (casual or fine) dining that everyone will accept.
    - Filligree 3y ago
      Contrary: There absolutely is such a stigma here, and it gets people socially in trouble if they’re picky. I suppose it varies, but it only needs to be true some of the time for CCF to be profitable.

lotsofpulp 3y ago

Crazy how anemic their margins are for being deemed an exceptional business in their market. Have no idea how people have the stomach to invest in the prepared food business. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/CAKE/cheesecake-factory/profit-margins https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/CAKE/cheesecake-fa...