Like most great stories, ours began with a dream. An excellent cook, Evelyn Overton & her husband, Oscar, dreamed of having a successful family business. Evelyn's passion for baking soon led to the creation of her original cheesecake, a hit with everyone who tried it. By the early 1950s, while raising their two young children, Evelyn converted their basement into a professional bakery and supplied her original cheesecakes to the best local restaurants in Detroit, MI. With their children grown, Evelyn and Oscar decided to move their business westward. With the last of their savings, they opened a small bakery in Los Angeles to sell their original cheesecakes. It was 1972. They called the bakery The Cheesecake Factory®. The original cheesecake led to an original restaurant, unique to this day, and in 1978 The Cheesecake Factory restaurant opened in Beverly Hills, California. With little knowledge of how to run a full scale restaurant but lots of intuition into what makes a great dining experience, their son David set out to offer their guests an experience they wouldn't soon forget - generous portions with unlimited, inventive menu selections. All were made with the freshest quality ingredients and served in a warm and casually comfortable setting. The restaurant was an immediate success! Just over 35 years later with close to 200 locations, the success of The Cheesecake Factory has even surpassed the Overtons’ wildest dreams making The Cheesecake Factory a great American success story.
