A behind the scenes look at The Cheesecake Factory kitchens and what’s best on their menu. Learn secrets and fun facts about how your food is prepared at one of America’s favorite restaurants!
The Cheesecake Factory Behind the Scenes Look
I was invited to California for a private tour of The Cheesecake Factory Culinary Research and Development Center where all recipes are tested and created. Then got a behind the scenes look at one of the restaurant’s kitchens and treated to an amazing lunch to try the new fall menu items.
It was an exciting trip and I’m betting you’ll have a whole new outlook on The Cheesecake Factory after you read this!
Fun Cheesecake Factory Menu Secrets
Here’s a fun secret that I never knew about The Cheesecake Factory Menu… EVERY dish on the menu, yes all 250 menu items, are made fresh from scratch in each of the restaurant’s kitchens. Nothing is frozen or pre-made on the menu but the cheesecakes.
Each head of lettuce is cut by a person, every eggroll hand rolled and each sauce is made fresh simmering for hours until perfect. For such a large restaurant chain, making the recipes from scratch is unheard of these days and what makes The Cheesecake Factory stand apart from the rest.
It was so much fun being invited for a behind the scenes look at the Culinary Center and having a chance to taste so many recipes! The incredible aroma as soon as we walked into the kitchens was mouthwatering.
Full of beautiful fresh fruits, vegetables, bread baking in the oven, bacon sizzling and amazing sauces! Luckily we got to nibble things as we got the tour. Click here to see my Instagram Story about my trip.
Cheesecake Factory History
If you don’t know the background story of The Cheesecake Factory, it all started in 1978 when the founder, David Overton, wanted to share his mother’s cheesecake recipes by offering a variety of cheesecake flavors at his small Beverly Hills restaurant.
Most people thought it would fail, because who would want different flavors of cheesecake? Fast forward 40 years and The Cheesecake Factory has became one of America’s favorite restaurants.
The founder didn’t know much about the restaurant business when he started and used fresh ingredients with no shortcuts. When he realized there were ways to have food pre-made and shipped, he already had a system that was working and never changed. All recipes are still made fresh from scratch to this day. What an amazing story!
The Cheesecake Factory VIP Tour
Getting a never before seen look at the Culinary Center kitchens where the recipes are developed was definitely a treat! Donald Moore, Chief Culinary Officer at The Cheesecake Factory gave us a tour and introduced us to his team.
It was evident how much they love their jobs because many have been with the company for 15 years or more. We also got to tour a kitchen of one of the restaurants. The kitchens were so sparkly clean! It was great watching some of our favorite recipes being made from scratch!
Crispy Brussels Sprouts
The first secret we learned was how they make their amazing Crispy Brussels Sprouts, an amazing new fall menu item. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was, because this is my all-time favorite appetizer! Fried Brussels sprouts and Brussels sprouts leaves tossed in salt, maple butter syrup, and smoky bacon, this dish is to die for!
The chefs put so much time and care into each recipe. They actually tried about 500 different kinds of syrup over the years before they picked the perfect one. Wow!
The Cheesecake Factory Cocktails
Even the cocktails are tested daily! It was fun meeting the people who develop the drinks, because I love the Cheesecake Factory’s happy hour. They let me taste test some Passion Fruit Mojitos.
I tried three different varieties of the mojito:
- The mint was muddled.
- The mint was torn.
- The mint was not muddled or torn.
My favorite was the drink with the torn mint. It had just the right amount of mint flavoring. I could really get used to this job!!!
Why are there so many choices on The Cheeesecake Factory menu?
When I told friends I was going on this trip, the most requests were for me to ask them why are there so many choices on the menu? The answer was straight and simple… the founder wanted a place where everyone would enjoy a meal together.
His vision was to bring people together, so there would always be something on the menu for everyone. Now you know why the menu is so large. It makes total sense, because you could definitely try something different on each visit!
But what happens to all of that fresh food at the end of the night? I love that it’s donated to local food banks to help the community. Just another bonus of visiting your local Cheesecake Factory more often!
New Fall Menu
We got to try a lot of the new fall menu items and I’m excited to share the photos I took with you today! If you haven’t been to The Cheesecake Factory in a while, check out these amazing recipes below and head over as soon as possible!
Favorite Cheesecake Factory Recipes
We tried SO MANY menu items, but I have narrowed it down to my favorites to share with you today!
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Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes
First, I fell in love with the Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes. These fluffy buttermilk pancakes with Ricotta cheese and lemon zest topped with strawberries is a speciality on their brunch menu that you can’t pass up!
Peanut Butter & Banana Waffles
A chocolate lover’s dream are the Peanut Butter & Banana Waffles. It’s a Belgian waffle covered with peanut butter, fresh banana, Nutella and crispy almond-toffee. Several people thought it was too much, but I could have eaten this entire plate! I’m a crazy chocolate person and there is no such thing as “too much” chocolate for me!
Chipotle Grilled Shrimp Salad
The Chipotle Grilled Shrimp Salad is a dish I would probably never think to order, but as soon as they brought it to our table, I knew it would be my new favorite dish! Perfectly grilled shrimp served over warm quinoa with avocado, corn, black beans, peppers, feta cheese with cilantro-lime dressing is so delicious.
Cajun Jambalaya Pasta
The Cajun Jambalaya Pasta has always been my husband’s favorite. Just looking at this photo of shrimp and chicken in a spicy cajun sauce on top of fresh linguini is makes my mouth water! If you’ve never tried this pasta before, you’re missing out!
Grilled Steak Tacos
I’ve never ordered a Mexican dish at The Cheesecake Factory, but now I’m addicted to these Grilled Steak Tacos! These are SO GOOD! I think the crispy onions on top is what made them so amazing.
Take a look at more amazing fall menu recipes that we got to taste. Everything was crazy delicious!
From top to bottom; Almond-Crusted Salmon Salad, Breakfast Tacos, Tuna Poke, Avocado Eggrolls, El Diablo, Roadside Sliders.
The Cheesecake Factory Mocktails
If you’re not a drinker, there are some amazing mocktails on the menu now. The Passion Mint Fizz and Citrus Sparkler are pictured below. My daughter would go crazy over these!
Fun Cheesecake Flavors
We couldn’t end our trip without having some cheesecake! We got to try a few of the newest flavors.
The Cinnabon Cinnamon Swirl Cheesecake is layered with Cinnabon cinnamon cheesecake and vanilla crunch cake topped with cream cheese frosting and caramel. I thought it was incredible!
I was shocked that I actually liked the Very Cherry Ghirardelli Chocolate Cheesecake the best out of the two! What’s even better is for every slice sold, 25 cents will be donated to Feeding America: the nation’s largest organization dedicated to fighting to domestic hunger through a network of food banks.
Thanks to The Cheesecake Factory for inviting me to be a guest on such a fabulous VIP tour and lunch! I hope you enjoyed drooling over some of these amazing fall menu items.
Let me know what dish looks the best to you!
This post was sponsored by The Cheesecake Factory. All opinions my own..
That Cinnabon cheesecake was awesome! I need to run out and get more. ha!
This looks like an amazing trip!!! Lucky you! I love that you share these things with us. That cinnamon cheesecake looks like my new favorite.
Wow, what a fun little adventure to get behind the scenes! Makes me want to go hang out at the Cheesecake Factory!
Looks like such a fun time! The Cheesecake Factory is one of our favorites!
I LOVE plain cheesecake and Strawberry. Love your site and read it all the time.
Thanks,
Laurie
Yum! I love mojitos! And Cheese Cake Factory!
What a fun experience. I’ve got to get a forkful of that Cinnabon Cheesecake in my mouth ASAP!
So cool! I need to show this to my mother-in-law. She loves Cheesecake Factory!
I love their menu! There is something for everyone and it doesn’t disappoint. We always order a few different cheesecakes to share- the classic is my favorite!
I love their white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. It’s my absolute favorite.
What a fun experience! I want to try their COFFEE & CREAM CHOCOLATE SUPREME. Sounds amazing!
I love The Cheesecake Factory even more after reading this, that fresh produce looked amazing!! Those Brussels sprouts have me drooling! Follow that with salted caramel cheesecake….???
My kids always ask for The Cheesecake Factory for their birthdays. It’s the best!
Yes, it’s all so good!!! It was hard to pick my favorites!
It all looks so good! I love Cheesecake Factory…great drink menu and yummy salads! And cheesecake of course ? My fave is white chocolate raspberry!
we LOVE The Cheesecake Factory! It’s usually a birthday dinner choice a least a few times a year, plus any other chance we get to go. The food is fab, but it’s the one place we ALWAYS save room for dessert. We each get a different cheesecake so we can all have a bite of each!!