Robert L. Jett
7/21/2013
Identifying Your Competitive Advantage
Intro To Business
David Noland, PhD

Cheesecake Factory Inc was incorporated in Delaware on February 1992. The Company operates
161 upscale, casual, full-service dining restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory(r), Grand Lux
Cafe(r) and RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen(r) marks. It operates two bakery production facilities hat produce baked desserts and other products for its restaurants and for other foodservice operators, retailers and distributors. It also licenses two bakery cafes under The Cheesecake
Factory Bakery Cafe(r) mark to another foodservice operator. The Company operates in two business segments, restaurants and bakery. Restaurants consist of The Cheesecake Factory(r),
Grand Lux Cafe(r) and RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen(r). The bakery segment produces baked desserts and other products for its restaurants and for other foodservice operators, retailers and distributors. Bakery sales to its restaurants are recorded at prices similar to third-party national accounts. Its bakery operations are in the business of creating and marketing branded bakery products under The Cheesecake Factory(r), The Cheesecake Factory Bakery(r) and The Dream
Factory(r) marks as well as private-label bakery products to other foodservice operators, retailers and distributors in order to leverage its brand identity with consumers and take advantage of excess bakery production capacity.
Some of the strengths of the cheesecake factory are Broad menu, Partnership with Starbucks, the different locations, Word-of-Mouth Reputation and Technology some weaknesses are they need more waiters, better childrens menu, and more or different advertisements.
The technological improvement has greatly affected The Cheesecake Factory, Inc too. It maintains its own financial and accounting controls through the use of a point-of-sale cash register system and computer network in each restaurant that cooperates with the network in their corporate offices by using a high-speed and, of course, very secure communication system. A weakness of The Cheesecake Factory is it doesn’t have too many ways of advertising their company. Their best ways of advertisements would be personal and web based. The
Cheesecake Factory has their menu on their website. This is good advertising because it is convenient for consumers. It also can be time consuming looking at the menu before you go, consumers may have an idea what they want before they even get to the restaurant. Personal advertising is wonderful too. You may know someone or heard someone talking about his or her experience at the Cheesecake Factory. Also, the company sells their cheesecakes in stores. This is advertising too because if you don’t have a chance to go to the Cheesecake Factory or live by the Cheesecake Factory you have a chance to taste their delightful cheesecakes.
There are so many ways to advertise for restaurants. Denny’s, Bob Evans, Eat ‘n Park, etc. have so many commercials, billboards and restaurants all over the country. The Cheesecake
Factory is more personal. They don’t have any commercials, billboards, etc. Most of their 17 advertising comes from word of mouth, others experiencing the dining or buying the cheesecakes in stores. On their website they do have current and old press releases going back to 2003. Along with the press releases, that has stock information, financial information, calendar of events, etc. This is helpful for consumers because it gives them any information they need to know about the full service restaurant. I believe that one of the main reasons why this restaurant is so successful is the fact that people who eat here enjoy the unique environment and want to come back. The design at all Cheesecake Factories is very elegant and the architecture at each restaurant is more developed and fancy. People often come back for more because, even though they know the prices are slightly higher than at other restaurants, the meal sizes are bigger and of a better quality. The Cheesecake Factory takes pride in being known for giving their customers large portions of food which is why many of them take the leftovers back home with them all the time.
One of the strength is the common knowledge of cheesecakes. When people think of
Cheesecake Factory the number one thing that comes to their minds is the cheesecake. There are so many different kinds of cheesecakes and with this amount of varieties to choose from, it definitely is one of the most significant strengths that the Cheesecake Factory has. I believe that
The Cheesecake Factory should take an advantage of this strength and start selling all the kinds of cheesecake they make to stores around the country. This will be a way to over come the weakness of advertising. If they sell in stores, and even other places they will also be advertising at the same time. They have so many different types to market for everyone. They can make an oven baked version for home, but people will still want to come and eat the original.

References
(http://lindsaykwinkler.weebly.com/) (www.slideshare.net/thiencao87/keynote-the-cheesecake-factory‎) (connection.ebscohost.com/) (www.thecheesecakefactory.com)