The Secret Genius of the Cheesecake Factory

Is this the roof of a majestic Beirut mosque? No, it's a cheesecake factory in Peoria, Arizona. Is this a 15th-century Italian beach house? No, it's the entrance to an epicurean world of fine dining, courtesy of the cheesecake factory. And is this the eye of Sauron, or perhaps some portal to another dimension? Not exactly, though there is a transcendental quality to the chocolate-carmalicious cheesecake made with Snickers. Some describe these establishments as excessive, pretentious, tacky, tasteless, chaotic, solace obnoxious, and overwhelming. But the cheesecake factory is misunderstood. Those giant Egyptian columns conceal complexity, authenticity, and oddly enough, humility.

这是贝鲁特伟大的清真寺的屋顶吗？不，它是亚利桑那州皮奥里亚的一家芝士蛋糕工厂。这是一座15世纪的意大利海滨别墅吗？不，这是一家享誉美食界的高端餐厅——芝士蛋糕工厂的入口。这是索隆之眼，或者是通往另一个维度的门户吗？也不完全是，但是芝士蛋糕工厂的Snickers巧克力焦糖芝士蛋糕确实具有超脱的品质。有人认为这些餐厅过于浮夸、矫揉造作、俗气、毫无品味、杂乱无章、过于吵闹和压倒性。但芝士蛋糕工厂被误解了。那些巨大的埃及柱子隐藏了复杂性、真实性、甚至有点谦卑。

Sponsored by Brilliant and Brilliant Only, learn math, science, and computer science the intuitive way would the link in the description. By size, the cheesecake factory may not look all that impressive. With about 200 locations, it ranks only 15th among American casual dining restaurants. There are 7.5 times as many Applebees and 4 times as many Olive Gardens. But watch what happens when we compare revenue per location. Suddenly, the cheesecake factory sits in a league of its own. Its average restaurant generates $11 million a year, 76% more than second place Texas Roadhouse, and 60% more than PF Changs. Like in and outs, they may be relatively few and far between. In fact, there are fewer cheesecake factories than in and outs, but each one is a certified money-printing machine. Put differently, that's $1100 per square foot. More than K-Jewlers made selling wedding rings in 2014. Avocado egg rolls are apparently a better route to riches than literal diamonds.

本视频由Brilliant独家赞助，通过链接可直观地学习数学、科学和计算机科学知识。尺寸上，The Cheesecake Factory在外观上似乎并不令人印象深刻。在美国休闲餐饮行业中，它在大约200家餐厅中仅排名第15位。Applebees的餐厅数是它的7.5倍，橄榄花园则是它的四倍。但是，当我们比较每个餐厅的收入时，情况就不同了。突然之间，The Cheesecake Factory成为了一个独特的联盟。它的平均餐厅每年可以创造1100万美元，比第二名的Texas Roadhouse多76％，比PF Changs多60％。就像在和内部一样，它们可能相对稀少。事实上，并不是比肯德基更少的The Cheesecake Factory，但它们每个都是一台认证的印钞机。换句话说，每平方英尺的收入为1100美元，比K-Jewlers在2014年销售结婚戒指的收入还高。鳄梨蛋卷显然比字面意义上的钻石更有财富之路。

There are two main ingredients to this incredible success. First, this is what demand looks like at a typical restaurant over the course of the day, from Chili's to Chipotle. During lunch and dinner, customers are easy to find. In fact, you don't find them. They find you. This, on the other hand, the period between about 2 and 5 pm is every restaurant's nightmare. Three hours during the middle of the day, every day, that are almost as unprofitable as eight in the morning. During this window, location is extremely important. Customers will stop by, but only if it's convenient. The solution? Many cheesecake factories are located in or near malls. After noon shoppers guarantee a steady flow of foot traffic during this lull, solving one of the greatest challenges in the industry, sharp fluctuations in demand.

这个惊人的成功有两个主要要素。首先，这是一个典型餐厅在一天的时间内的需求情况，从Chili's到Chipotle都是如此。午餐和晚餐时，顾客很容易找到。实际上，你不需要去找他们，他们会自己找到你。然而，在每天中午2点到5点之间，这是每个餐厅的噩梦。这是一段三小时的时间，中午时分每天都几乎和早上八点一样不能盈利。在这段时间里，地点非常重要。顾客会路过，但只有在方便的情况下才会停留。解决方案是，许多芝士蛋糕工厂位于或靠近购物中心。下午购物者保证了在这个低谷期间的稳定的人流量，解决了这个行业中的最大挑战之一，需求的急剧波动。

The other ingredient, of course, is its legendary menu. What started as one page in the 1970s has now grown to 21, with 13 categories, 26 subcategories, and wait for it, 250 unique items. What you're looking at here is a condensed version, without the descriptions, prices, international translations, company story, disclaimers, trademark symbols, and yes, full-page cheesecake advertisements usually scattered throughout. Neither does what you're seeing include the separate kids' happy hour, gluten-free, or quote, low-calorie, skinny, licious menus. At 6,000 words and with an estimated reading time of 30 minutes, the real menu is more treaties than tweet. From here, opinions quickly diverge.

另一个成功的关键因素当然是它传奇的菜单。在20世纪70年代开始时只有一页的菜单现在已经发展到了21页，13个类别，26个子类别，并且有250种独特的菜品。你现在看到的只是精简版，不包括菜品描述、价格、国际翻译、公司故事、免责声明、商标符号，以及通常散布在整个菜单上的满页芝士蛋糕广告。你所看到的还不包括单独的儿童欢乐时光、无麸质、或者双引号中所说的低热量、健康等菜单。而真正的菜单长达6,000个单词，估计需要30分钟才能读完，更像是一份条约而不是一条推文。从这里开始，人们的意见迅速分歧。

A deep, though unspoken schism divides the cheesecake discourse. After extensive ethnographic research and a few clogged arteries, I've identified two customer archetypes. The first sees in the darn good 3,000 calorie factory nachos with spicy chicken, incredible value. A hearty dinner and lunch the next day, all from an appetizer. From Italian to Mexican, Chinese, and American cuisine, there's truly something for everyone. Where else can grandma order a cobb salad and grandson a cheeseburger spring roll? The other half sees a heart attack waiting to happen. In this strange alternate universe, even a salad can set you back 1900 calories. The average American is advised to eat no more than 20 grams of saturated fat per day. The classic-basked cheesecake contains 88 nearly 4.5 days worth.

芝士蛋糕话题中存在着一个深刻的、虽然没有明说的裂痕。经过广泛的民族考察和一些阻塞动脉的研究，我发现了两种类型的顾客。第一种认为，拥有3000卡的美味辣鸡肉墨西哥脆片是无与伦比的价值。从一道开胃菜中得到丰盛的晚餐和次日的午餐。从意大利、墨西哥、中国到美国的菜肴，真的为每个人都准备了一些东西。在哪里，祖母还能点一份凯撒沙拉，孙子也能点一份芝士汉堡春卷？另一半人则认为那是等待发生心脏病的事件。在这个陌生的另类宇宙中，甚至一份沙拉也能让你摄入1900卡路里。美国人平均每天建议摄入不超过20克饱和脂肪。经典的烤芝士蛋糕含有88个近4.5天的份量。

And if all those calories don't cause a heart attack, they argue, the architectural hyper stimulation will. The gigantic portions, the 21-page menu, the collision of Egyptian columns and Californian palms. It's all just too much. To this group, the cheesecake factory represents not just gross opulence, but the only thing worse. Unjustified opulence. They imagine the company as three olive gardens in a trench coat. Eight transparent, clumsy attempt to make a corporate chain appear more sophisticated than it clearly is. They enjoy the same very cherry-gurradelli chocolate cheesecake, but with a certain hesitation, from a psychological distance, and with a tinged perhaps of smugness.

如果所有这些热量没有引起心脏病，他们会认为，建筑上的过度刺激会引起问题。巨大的份量，21页的菜单，埃及柱与加州棕榈的碰撞，一切都太过了。对于这群人来说，芝士蛋糕工厂不仅代表着令人作呕的奢侈，更糟糕的是，是无法证明其奢侈性的。他们把这家公司想象成一件轻松愉快的事情，就好像三个橄榄园穿了一件上衣一样。这是一个透明而笨拙的尝试，试图让企业连锁店显得比它实际上更复杂。他们享受着同样的很樱桃Gurradelli巧克力芝士蛋糕，但会有些犹豫，在心理上保持一定的距离，并带着一丝自鸣得意的味道。

There's simply no way all 250 dishes were meticulously crafted, never mind freshly prepared. Therefore, the large menu must indicate a lack of taste, a cynical emphasis on quantity over quality. Except here's the thing. They were meticulously crafted, and they are freshly prepared.

这些250道菜品肯定不可能都被细心制作，更别说新鲜地准备。因此，这个庞大的菜单反而说明味觉不够娴熟，讲求数量胜于质量。但实际上，这些菜品都是经过精心打造的，而且是新鲜供应的。

Somewhere between restaurants 1 and 200, likely after going public in 1992, the cheesecake factory should have succumbed to the natural process of corporatization. It should have shed its quirky so-cal personality and joined the homogenous, soulless heap of olive gardens and rainforests cafes. These corporate ghosts may retain superficial vestiges of their former glory. Olive gardens shallow commitment to hospitaliano, but inside they've become generic cheap imitations.

在1至200间餐厅的某个地方，很可能是在1992年公开上市之后，芝士蛋糕工厂应该已经屈服于企业化自然进程。它应该已经放弃了它那奇特的南加州个性，加入了那些毫无灵魂的奥利夫园和雨林咖啡厅的同质化堆集中。这些企业鬼魂也许仍然保留着表面的昔日辉煌。奥利夫园肤浅地承诺向医院一样用心服务，但实际上它们已经变成了毫无生气的廉价仿制品。

Would you like your mass-produced microwave soup served with a French beret or a Mexican sombrero? Submerged in the sea of semi-brands, who can blame these critics for assuming the same of the cheesecake factory? The company doesn't scold those who scoff in its direction, nor does it do much to advertise its authenticity. If anything, the opposite. You can certainly be forgiven for thinking food from a self-described factory was mass-produced.

你想要让你的大批量生产的微波汤配上法国贝雷帽还是墨西哥的圆形宽边帽吗？在半牌海里，谁能怪责这些批评家对芝士蛋糕工厂持同样的看法呢？这家公司不会斥责那些嘲笑它的人，也没有太多的宣传其真实性。如果说有什么话，那就是相反的。你肯定可以原谅认为这样一个自称的工厂出品的食品是大批量生产的。

Shockingly, however, it's really not. Everything you see is made from scratch. Not scratch with a wink. Really? Starting at 6 a.m. each morning, chefs begin preparing 700 ingredients and 160 sauces, marinating each piece of buffalo chicken, shredding each block of cheese, and chopping each tomato. And because everything is made to order, the company will gladly accommodate all kinds of customizations. Try ordering a Caesar salad without lettuce and be amazed.

令人惊讶的是，这并不是虚假宣传。他们确实是从头开始做每一道菜。早上6点开始，厨师们就开始准备700种材料和160种酱料，将每一块水牛鸡肉腌制，每一块奶酪切碎，每个番茄切碎。并且因为每道菜都是下单才开始制作的，所以公司欣然接受各种菜品的个性化定制。试试订一份没有生菜的凯撒沙拉，看看会让你惊叹。

The only exception is the cheesecake itself, which is made in one of two bakeries, in California and North Carolina, and flown as far as Kuwait and China. Now, does it's hilariously large menu allow the company to attract more customers and thus generate more profit? Of course, nobody's claiming otherwise. But every last one of those 250 meals are delicious. And they aren't chosen by focus groups or in corporate boardrooms. Instead, the founder, law school dropout and former rock musician David Overton, now 76 years old, personally approves each one.

唯一的例外是芝士蛋糕本身，它是在加利福尼亚和北卡罗来纳的两家面包房中制作的，并被运往远至科威特和中国的地方。现在，这家有着滑稽巨大菜单的公司能够吸引更多的客户，从而产生更多的利润吗？当然，没有人会声称反过来。但是，这250种餐点每一个都美味可口。它们并不是通过关注小组或在企业董事会中选择的。相反，创始人、法学院的退学生和前摇滚音乐家大卫·奥弗顿，现年76岁，亲自批准每一个餐点。

Other companies pay lip service to inclusivity with half-hearted low-calorie, gluten-free, and vegetarian choices, only to cut them when costs and crease. After all, rule number one when it comes to profitability is less is more. Fewer options equals less complexity, lower costs, and faster training. In 2021, 60% of restaurants reported reducing the size of their menus. I hop recently dropped a whole 10 pages. Dave and Busters went from 40 items to 15, even McDonald's switched to a limited menu.

其他公司只是象征性地关注包容性，提供一些无糖、无麸质和素食选择，但是只要成本增加了，就会取消这些选择。毕竟，盈利的第一原则是“少即是多”。更少的选项意味着更少的复杂性、更低的成本和更快的培训。2021年，60%的餐厅报告减少了他们的菜单大小。IHOP最近就减少了整整10页的菜单。Dave and Buster从40个选项减少到15个，连麦当劳都改为有限的菜单选择。

The cheesecake factory, on the other hand, maintains its mind-boggling cornucopia of 250 choices, replacing but not removing a dozen or so every six months to keep things fresh. A few are practically sacred, like Evelyn's favorite pasta, named after David's mother and the original cheesecake, unchanged since the 1940s. Gaze into the surreal dreamlike abyss that is the cheesecake factory, ponder its dizzying success, and tell me, what do you see?

相比之下，芝士蛋糕工厂则保持着惊人的多样性，提供了250种选择，每六个月更换一些品种，以保持新鲜感。其中有一些几乎被看作是神圣的，比如以David的母亲命名的Evelyn最喜欢的意式面食和自40年代以来没有改变的传统芝士蛋糕。看着芝士蛋糕工厂那荒诞梦幻的深渊，思索着它令人眩晕的成功，告诉我，你看到了什么？

If the image staring back at you is that of an insecure teenager sporting a briefcase and an oversized suit, it's only because the illusion of carelessness was so seamlessly executed. The cheesecake factory is so confident in its taste, freshness, and quality that it rocks the oversized suit with ease. It willingly, unnecessarily chooses to expose itself to ridicule for our enjoyment. It's not a careless chaotic corporate commodity masquerading as fine dining. It's fine dining masquerading as a careless, chaotic corporate commodity.

如果镜子里反射回来的形象是一个戴着公文包，穿着超大号西装的不安全的十几岁青少年，那只是因为不经意的错觉是如此无缝地执行。奶酪蛋糕工厂对其口感、新鲜度和品质是如此自信，以至于西装的超大号大小毫不费力地被穿着。它愿意、不必要地选择让自己为了我们的享受而遭受嘲笑。它不是冒充精致就餐的粗心混乱的公司商品，而是冒充粗心混乱的公司商品的精致就餐。

Tragically, this modesty has robbed it of its place and a small pantheon of lovable corporations. Now, is the cheesecake factory weird? Objectively. But its weirdness is a product of its role, a melting pot. It lies at the intersection of blue and white-collar America, a nice dinner out for the working class, and a fun, if slightly ironic, indulgence for the middle class. It's low-calorie, gluten-free, and over 40 vegetarian choices scream, come one, come all. And its strange palette is the result of an indiscriminate fusion of cuisines, from Tex-Mex egg rolls to cheeseburger spring rolls.

这家谦虚的店铺失去了它应有的地位，也失去了受人喜爱的公司的小型神殿。对于切斯蛋糕工厂而言，这是一种悲剧。客观来讲，它很奇怪，但这种奇怪是它角色的产物，它是一个融合了蓝领和白领美国的交汇点。对于工薪阶层来说，这是一个很好的晚餐场所；对于中产阶级来说，它则是一种有趣的、略带讽刺意味的放纵。它的低热量、无麸质和40多种素食选择，大呼“大家都来吧！”。它奇怪的菜单是各种美食随意融合的结果，从德州墨西哥卷饼到芝士汉堡春卷，样样俱备。

Finally, the cheesecake factory is the ultimate American export. Forget about the Statue of Liberty or $20 million F-16. 85 countries and territories host American military bases. 19 are major non-nado allies. But only the most privileged, a small elite circle of 10, have the honor and distinction of hosting a cheesecake factory. Canada, Mexico, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, China, Hong Kong, and Macau. These culinary outposts, shining beacons of American decadence, multiculturalism, and abundance, are as effective and ambassador as any of its embassies, movies, or pop songs.

最终，芝士蛋糕工厂是终极的美国出口。统统忘记自由女神像或 2000 万美元的 F-16 我们在85个国家和地区拥有美国军事基地，并有19个重要的非北约盟国。但只有最为特权的10个小圈子，有荣幸和特权承载芝士蛋糕工厂。加拿大，墨西哥，巴林，科威特，卡塔尔，沙特阿拉伯，阿联酋，中国，香港和澳门。这些烹饪据点，作为美国奢华、多元文化和丰裕的闪耀灯塔，与它的大使馆、电影或流行歌曲一样有效的角色。

Today's sponsor, Brilliant, offers a no less impressive or diverse menu of courses, on everything from programming to probability, physics, and calculus. So you can learn new skills, explore a potential career, or just a sharp. With Brilliant, you can calculate the probability you'll enjoy this cinnabon cinnamon swirl cheesecake, and fully appreciate the beautiful geometry of the tiramisu.

今天的赞助商Brilliant提供了令人印象深刻和多样化的课程，涵盖从编程到概率、物理和微积分等各个领域。因此，您可以学习新技能，探索潜在的职业，或者只是提高您的敏锐度。 使用Brilliant，您可以计算自己喜欢这个肉桂风味起司蛋糕的概率，并完全欣赏提拉米苏美丽的几何形状。

After your meal, you're going to need to read up on the mammalian caloric intake lesson.

用餐后，你需要阅读有关哺乳动物热量摄入的课程。

Brilliant makes learning fun and interactive by teaching through application. You'll solve puzzles, riddles, and play games rather than just memorizing facts.

Brilliant通过应用教学来使学习变得有趣和互动。您将通过解决谜题、猜谜语和玩游戏来学习，而不仅仅是记忆事实。

Click the link on screen now, Brilliant.org slash Polymatter, to start your free, unlimited 30 day free trial.

现在点击屏幕上的链接，Brilliant.org/Polymatter，开始你的免费无限制30天试用。

The first 200 people to do so will also get 20% off their annual premium subscription. Go pick what interest you most and start learning today.

前200名参与者还将获得年度订阅费的20％折扣。去选择你最感兴趣的内容，开始今天就学习吧。