# The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (CAKE)

> Runs full-service restaurants famous for huge menus and cheesecake, plus sells cheesecakes in stores.

- Exchange: NASDAQ · Sector: Consumer Discretionary · Industry: Restaurants
- Headquarters: Calabasas, California, USA
- Founded: 1978
- Employees: 47500 (2023)
- SEC CIK: 0000887596 ([filings on EDGAR](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000887596))
- Full page: https://inspectstocks.com/stocks/cake
- Data as of: price 2026-09-28; newest filing used 2026-08-03; latest fiscal period ended 2026-06-30

## Grade

**A** on the growth-and-cash rubric, 5 of 5 checks passed.

| Check | Result | Now | Before |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Revenue growing overall | passed | $3.9B | $3.4B |
| Revenue growing recently | passed | $3.9B | $3.8B |
| Free cash flow positive | passed | $206.3M |  |
| Free cash flow growing overall | passed | $206.3M | $47.2M |
| Free cash flow growing recently | passed | $206.3M | $155.1M |

Business quality (the + / − mark): 3 of 6 checks passed.

| Check | Result | Now | Before |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Profitable | passed | 4.6% |  |
| Healthy profit margin | failed | 4.6% |  |
| Strong operating margin | failed | 5.3% |  |
| Good return on equity | passed | 40.9% |  |
| Debt under control | failed | 4.88 |  |
| Turns sales into cash | passed | 5.3% |  |

How the grade works: the letter counts failed checks (none → A, one → B, two → C, three → D, four or more → F). It is built from SEC filings only — the share price never enters it — and describes the business, not whether the stock is worth buying.

## Key figures

In US dollars, as filed.

| Measure | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Revenue, trailing twelve months | $3.9B |
| Net income, trailing twelve months | $178.6M |
| Free cash flow, trailing twelve months | $206.3M |
| Net margin | 4.6% |
| Operating margin | 5.3% |
| Return on equity | 40.9% |
| Debt to equity | 4.88 |
| Diluted EPS, trailing twelve months | $3.69 |
| Share price | $105.19 |
| Market value | $5.2B |
| Price / earnings | 28.5x |
| Price / sales | 1.4x |

## What the business does

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated owns and operates casual full-service restaurants where guests sit down, order from a very long printed menu of American dishes, and often finish with one of dozens of cheesecake flavors. The company also owns other restaurant brands with different menus and styles, and it bakes cheesecakes and other desserts that it sells to grocery stores, club stores, and other food businesses. A smaller number of Cheesecake Factory restaurants abroad are run by local partners under license.

### How it makes money

- **Company-owned restaurants** (about 95% of revenue (2023)) — Guests pay the restaurant directly for meals, drinks, and desserts at The Cheesecake Factory, Grand Lux Cafe, North Italia, Flower Child, and other company-run locations.
- **Bakery and consumer products** (about 4-5% of revenue (2023)) — The company bakes cheesecakes and other desserts and sells them wholesale to grocery chains, warehouse clubs, and other restaurants and foodservice buyers.
- **International licensing** (under 1% of revenue (2023)) — Overseas partners pay fees and royalties to use the Cheesecake Factory name and recipes in markets where the company does not own the restaurants.

### Products

- **The Cheesecake Factory restaurants** — Large casual sit-down restaurants with a multi-page menu of salads, pastas, steaks, seafood, and many cheesecake flavors.
- **Cheesecakes and bakery desserts** — Whole and sliced cheesecakes and related desserts sold in the restaurants and packaged for grocery and club-store shelves.
- **North Italia** — Full-service Italian restaurants serving pasta, pizza, and other Italian-American dishes, run under the Fox Restaurant Concepts group.
- **Flower Child** — Fast-casual spots focused on lighter, vegetable-forward bowls, salads, and plates, also under Fox Restaurant Concepts.
- **Grand Lux Cafe** — Upscale-casual restaurants with a broad international-style menu, similar in format to The Cheesecake Factory but with a different brand name.

### Customers

- Individual diners who walk in or reserve a table and pay per meal at company restaurants.
- Grocery chains and warehouse clubs that buy packaged cheesecakes wholesale for retail sale.
- Other restaurants and foodservice operators that buy cheesecakes and desserts to resell on their own menus.
- International license partners who pay to operate Cheesecake Factory-branded restaurants abroad.

### Competitors

- Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, and others) (DRI) — Full-service casual dining meals for similar occasions and price points.
- Brinker International (Chili's and Maggiano's) (EAT) — Casual sit-down restaurants with broad American menus.
- BJ's Restaurants (BJRI) — Large-menu casual dining and desserts in overlapping U.S. markets.
- Texas Roadhouse (TXRH) — Full-service casual dining traffic and discretionary dinner spending.
- Bloomin' Brands (Outback Steakhouse and others) (BLMN) — Casual full-service restaurant visits in the United States.

### What it depends on

- U.S. consumer willingness to spend on sit-down casual dining rather than cooking at home or using cheaper fast food.
- Ability to staff kitchens and dining rooms with enough cooks and servers at wages the business can support.
- Long-term leases on large restaurant spaces in shopping and entertainment areas.
- Prices and supply of dairy, produce, meat, and other ingredients used across a very large menu.

### What could go wrong

- Labor cost and availability pressure is especially high because every location needs many cooks and table-service staff for long operating hours.
- Sales depend on discretionary dining-out traffic, which falls when households cut back on restaurant spending.
- The very large menu raises food waste, kitchen complexity, and exposure to swings in many commodity prices at once.

## More on this company

- [Overview](https://inspectstocks.com/stocks/cake)
- [Financial statements](https://inspectstocks.com/stocks/cake/financials)
- [Competitors](https://inspectstocks.com/stocks/cake/peers)
- [Earnings](https://inspectstocks.com/stocks/cake/earnings)

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Source: InspectStocks, built from the company’s own SEC filings. This describes a business — it is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell anything.