Cheesecake Factory

[poe]

I'm hoping California Pizza Kitchen and Fleming's will follow suit.

[rxis]

muahaha im get to fatten up at Cheesecake Factory!

[Omaha Cowboy]

I'm hoping California Pizza Kitchen and Fleming's will follow suit.

The California Pizza Kitchen opened in Omaha a couple of months ago. I ate there last week and it is very good (the BBQ chicken pizza is a MUST order)..

Flemming's opened in Omaha in 2005. I've eaten there once. It IS expensive. Everything is a al carte. Dinner for 2 ran me over a $135 bill without tip..

The Omaha Cheesecake factory location is now set to open the end of September..I can hardly wait..

Eventually, I am certain that OKC will have all 3 of these restaurants opening up within the next year or so..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

[floater]

I'm such a mad linker. Speaking to OKC's position in mainstream America, a TIME story about Factory's philosophy comes right before we get one:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/pr...200758,00.html

$970 in sales/square foot of space. Pretty astounding. No wonder the restaurants are so garishly designed.

[metro]

I wrote the Cheesecake Factory a week or so ago and asked why they didn't have OKC as a "coming soon" location here is their response.

Dear Mr. xxxxxxx:

Thank you for your email and interest in The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated. While
opening details have not yet been announced for our Oklahoma City location, the
tentative opening date is September 19, 2006.

We look forward to serving you!

Sincerely,

Keri Walsh
Guest Relations Coordinator

[metro]

I drove by last night. Most of the frame of the building is in place. It looks incredibly small and doesn't look like a two story place either. It looks smaller than the Elephant Bar. I hope they realize the potential of this location and at least make it two stories if it is going to be so small. Patrick can you confirm with mall management?

[poe]

They have Oklahoma City listed in the 'Future Locations', finally.

[Redneck Cabbie]

There went that diet...

[Luke]

Hm... when I drove by I thought it looked like it was going to be decently sized. Not two stories, no. But, to me, it appeared it was going to be larger than Elephant Bar.

[John]

Most of the Cheesecake Factory's I've been to are only one story, but with large proportions (much like their entrees).

It seems to be about the same size as normal for their stores. I'm excited to see the exterior finishes they use on our store and how tastefully gaudy it is.

[Luke]

I think this picture is the style ours will be:

http://blog.janosakura.org/images/j0506181.jpg

Just a guess, but when I drove by I noticed a square end and a round end and I couldn't figure out which the entrance would be. If this picture is the same design, then the square corner is the entrance.

Just a guess though...

Luke

[metro]

Either way, I wish it was bigger, I know our market could support it. Especially with all the suburbanites loving chain restaurants, its going to be packed with a long wait, they could still pack it out and double the size.

[madison]

I am under the impression that Cheesecake will be opening in Sept and I am pretty sure they are shooting for the 19th. And I am thinking that hiring will begin Aug 12th.

[metro]

Hmmm madison, so off the record do you think that "you are working there or at Penn Sq.?" Can you tell us more? Just in time for my birthday if you're right.

[mranderson]

I am under the impression that Cheesecake will be opening in Sept and I am pretty sure they are shooting for the 19th. And I am thinking that hiring will begin Aug 12th.

Actually, they are taking resumes for management right now.

[madison]

I actually don't work for either, but my husband does. Other postions other than management will be hiring then. I hope management is completed by then! Can you tell me how you knew that it was hiring for management in OKC, is there a sign or the website. Just curious.

[Patrick]

Actually, the original post I madewhich stated "late October" was incorrect. 17 weeks from the middle of May would take us to the end of August or early September.

[mranderson]

I actually don't work for either, but my husband does. Other postions other than management will be hiring then. I hope management is completed by then! Can you tell me how you knew that it was hiring for management in OKC, is there a sign or the website. Just curious.

It is listed in one or more of the more well known employment websites.

[metro]

Not to mention places like this usually hire management a few months out, usually 2.

[Pete]

Say CHEESE! cake

By Richard Mize
The Oklahoman

It wasn't likely that The Cheesecake Factory and its "upscale casual" dining would come to Oklahoma City -- right up until the decision was made.

"We have very controlled growth," said Howard Gordon, senior vice president for business development and marketing for The Cheesecake Factory Inc., which plans to open a 12,000-square-foot restaurant at 5600 N Pennsylvania Ave. at Penn Square Mall on Sept. 19.

How controlled?

"We can be offered, on a yearly basis, something in the vicinity of 2,000 sites," Gordon said Thursday from company headquarters in Calabasas, Calif. "Last year, we opened 18 restaurants. This year we will open 21."

So it is something of a coup for Oklahoma City to get one of the popular restaurants. Told that some people in restaurant development here were surprised to see The Cheesecake Factory come here, Gordon said, "You sell yourselves short."

The Cheesecake Factory is selective, but a previous relationship with Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, which owns and operates Penn Square Mall, coupled with demographics around the mall made Oklahoma the place to open a new restaurant, he said.

"We do a lot with Simon," he said, although development of The Cheesecake Factory here is not tied directly to development of another restaurant on Simon property. "They're the largest mall developer in the world, I think, in the country for sure."

Gordon said the company requires a population of at least 250,000 within 5 miles of a site, and an average household income between $50,000 and $70,000 -- conditions met by the Penn Square location.

The average location for The Cheesecake Factory has average annual sales of $11.5 million, he said.

"With The Cheesecake Factory, we offer another dining option. We are the No. 1 upscale casual dining restaurant in the country. We are a destination. We don't take that lightly when we choose a location," Gordon said.

The Oklahoma City restaurant, detached from Penn Square Mall but on an outparcel, will employ about 260 people, Gordon said.

It will seat 300 in a 10,500-square-foot interior and 2,000-square-foot patio, he said. The Cheesecake Factory building is going up on a long- term ground lease with the mall, he said.

Expect more congestion around the mall this fall. The restaurant is on the east side of Pennsylvania Avenue at NW 56, just north of Northwest Expressway, north and west of Penn Square.

"Will there be traffic? Sure," he said. But the restaurant business will be good for the mall and vice versa, he said.

[Nuclear_2525]

12,000 sq ft. sounds like a pretty big restaurant to me!

[BDP]

Seems like the term "upscale" is thrown about rather liberally these days.

Do we know what this place is going to look like, yet.

[jbrown84]

I'm pretty sure that calling Cheesecake Factory upscale is pretty accurate. This isn't Chili's or Applebee's.

Have you seen what their restaurants look like inside and out?

[madison]

Since I do not live in OKC yet, Can anyone tell me how construction is coming along?

[jbrown84]

I have some pictures from just a few days ago that I will try to get up. Basically the steel is all up.