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Article: The difference maker: for 25 years, David Overton has kept the Cheesecake Factory apart from the field. (Exclusive).(Company Profile)
- Article from:
- Restaurants & Institutions
- Article date:
- July 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. (US). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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What the Hummer is to automobiles, The Cheesecake Factory is to restaurant concepts, which is to say it is oversized, tricky to navigate and impossible not to notice. More importantly, both define their product categories. The Cheesecake Factory occupies a niche its executives call high-volume casual dining, and they have a right to name it as their concept is the segment's sole entry.
Uniqueness is not in itself a supreme virtue, however. It is conceivable that someone will open a restaurant entirely devoted to artichoke dishes and be alone in having done so. What is unlikely is that such a concept could sustain more than 60 locations, as The Cheesecake Factory ...