<story><title>How the Cheesecake Factory defied the restaurant industry’s rules of success</title><url>https://www.vox.com/culture/23516638/cheesecake-factory-restaurant-menu</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>CharlesW</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;Cheesecake Factory, similar to Costco, is the ultimate example of how you have to know the rules to break the rules.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I mean, it&amp;#x27;s a themed casual dining experience along the lines of Rainforest Cafe, Buca di Beppo, Hard Rock Cafe, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., etc. What &amp;quot;rules&amp;quot; are they breaking?</text></item><item><author>shalmanese</author><text>Cheesecake Factory, similar to Costco, is the ultimate example of how you have to know the rules to break the rules. The entire company is fascinating because they holistically designed an entire system where every single part of it works in concert to deliver their unique experience.&lt;p&gt;Nobody can really copy them because you can’t do it unless you start from a truly ground up perspective. Others who seem superficially similar on the surface simply can’t deliver a comparable experience because of this.&lt;p&gt;Is there any good public writing going into detail about this? Lots has been written on how Costco is Costco but all my info on CCF has been from geeking out with insiders who are also passionate about system design.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>shalmanese</author><text>&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.fsrmagazine.com&amp;#x2F;slideshows&amp;#x2F;26-casual-chains-earning-most-money-restaurant&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.fsrmagazine.com&amp;#x2F;slideshows&amp;#x2F;26-casual-chains-earn...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you ignore the tiny chain at #1, look at the gap between CCF and their #2 competitor in sales per location. I think at some point I read that CCF was second only to Apple Store in revenue per square foot (I think in prime real estate corridors, excluding luxury or some similar criteria, it was a while ago).&lt;p&gt;Edit: first watch this video: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=myRFzVmH1tg&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=myRFzVmH1tg&lt;/a&gt; . Best way to analogize it is that CCF is the Katie Ledecky of casual chain restaurants. Because people who write about business and tech don’t really go to casual chain restaurants, nobody appreciates their accomplishments like they do Costco or In-n-Out.</text></comment>
<story><title>How the Cheesecake Factory defied the restaurant industry’s rules of success</title><url>https://www.vox.com/culture/23516638/cheesecake-factory-restaurant-menu</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>CharlesW</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;Cheesecake Factory, similar to Costco, is the ultimate example of how you have to know the rules to break the rules.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I mean, it&amp;#x27;s a themed casual dining experience along the lines of Rainforest Cafe, Buca di Beppo, Hard Rock Cafe, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., etc. What &amp;quot;rules&amp;quot; are they breaking?</text></item><item><author>shalmanese</author><text>Cheesecake Factory, similar to Costco, is the ultimate example of how you have to know the rules to break the rules. The entire company is fascinating because they holistically designed an entire system where every single part of it works in concert to deliver their unique experience.&lt;p&gt;Nobody can really copy them because you can’t do it unless you start from a truly ground up perspective. Others who seem superficially similar on the surface simply can’t deliver a comparable experience because of this.&lt;p&gt;Is there any good public writing going into detail about this? Lots has been written on how Costco is Costco but all my info on CCF has been from geeking out with insiders who are also passionate about system design.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>7thaccount</author><text>I&amp;#x27;d also like to know. It seems like a lot of restaurants like BJ&amp;#x27;s Brewhouse which has a menu longer than a dictionary (exaggerating of course, but it&amp;#x27;s ridiculous). Of course nothing is THAT great.</text></comment>