Over the years, Cheesecake Factory has been more that just an ordinary casual restaurant serving cheesecakes. It has proven itself to offer other types of food such as pasta, pizza, steaks, coffee, chocolate, and the list goes on and on. The company boasts one of the most diverse products and menus in the dining industry with more than 200 offerings in its menu. This has also propelled Cheesecake Factory to be the 9th largest dining company in the United States in terms of market capitalization.
The marketing strategies of Cheesecake Factory through the years have been remarkable and often innovative that has clearly differentiated itself from its competitors (Lambin, 2007). For instance, the company marketed itself form a typical bakeshop diner offering cheesecakes to become one of the most diverse companies in the United States in terms of product offerings. The company was then bold enough to diversify its product offerings to include burgers, pizzas, and pasta among others in its menu which won new market segments and thereby creating a family-oriented restaurant with practically anything for everybody.Nowadays, it even diversified the way they distribute their products form its stores to their customers. This has created a new way of getting orders processed by deviating from the traditional way of a walk-in and pick-up scheme to the use of the internet in ordering Cheesecake Factory products.
The company has then been profiting from the rise in online orders which was then delivered anywhere in the United States through Federal Express. Through this, Cheesecake Factory has won a wider scope in its client base by acquiring more possible customers (Kotler & Armstrong, 2007).This has also entailed to a larger frequency of orders because clients tend to order more and have the convenience of having their cheesecakes delivered right in their doorsteps even without a Cheesecake Factory store in their vicinity. This has been something that their competitors such as Brinker, Carlson and Darden has not been able to emulate or is currently trying to emulate. Furthermore, the company made a wise decision in making the company public and listed itself in the New York Stock Exchange in 1992 to finance its expansion throughout the United States.
Cheesecake Factory currently has 125 spread out over the country catering to all market segments. To date, Cheesecake Factory has gained an average annual revenue of $1. 32 billion in 2006 spurred mainly by aggressive marketing strategies for the past years. Additionally, Cheesecake Factory has also redesigned its stores in the United States to appeal to its younger market segment of customers (Cheesecake Factory Website, 2007). A typical Cheesecake Factory store has bright lights, modern architecture, as well as European-inspired store layout which makes every customer engaged into the mood to eat.
Color choosing for the store design has also been detrimental in the current success of the company’s success in winning customers. Red has traditionally been associated with good ambience and fine dining. Employing this to its stores, Cheesecake Factory has been associated with good food and a family-friendly ambience where family and friends could hang out. In 1999, Cheesecake Factory has set up a subsidiary company in the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas under the name of The Grand Lux Cafe with a venetian-theme cafe.
For the set-up of this new store, CEO David Overton even travelled to Europe to do research for the store layout which will be used for Grand Lux Cafe. Upon its opening, the Grand Lux Cafe has a modern Mediterranean feel complete from the floors up until to the lighting of the restaurant has been completely Italian. The prospects for Cheesecake overall has been bullish as the company aspires to venture into the volatile market overseas. This comes as the United States market for their diverse products begin to saturate.
