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The Cheesecake Factory is a beloved chain by many and rightfully so. The restaurant is an experience. From the gaudy orange color, the pillars inside and the lengthy menu. Cheesecake is a trip and an adventure.
Twitter user MaxKriegerVG broke down the exterior and interior design of The Cheesecake Factory, so people who haven’t been or Cheesecake fans, can understand how unique this dining experience is.
If you want a fully immersive "postmodern design hellscape" themed dining experience I highly recommend dinner at The Cheesecake Factory
from a design perspective that place is fuckin wild and I'll talk a little bit about why pic.twitter.com/0RHFDjKsuo
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
1992 was the fateful year that The Cheesecake Factory developed into what we know and love today.
The Cheesecake Factory essentially grew out of a Los Angeles bakery business. Then, in 1992, they brought on hospitality designer Rick McCormack and shit went off the rails
We're talking VICTORIAN-EGYPTIAN-ROCOCO OFF THE RAILS
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
He first breaks down the exterior of the restaurant including the infamous golden dome.
I mean check out this exterior
greco-roman cornices, seashells above the pseudo-arched doors, topped with a dome airlifted from fucking st. basil's pic.twitter.com/A7gweGu2Y5
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
The interior has palm trees, French limestone, mosaics and fresco murals! What doesn’t this place have?
The interior is a world of aesthetic chaos that feels like a mix between a Fry's Electronics, an overgrown Panera, and a laser tag arena. It's /sensational/.
Palm trees sit aside 2000's-chic glass lighting fixtures, French limestone floors, mosaics, fresco-like murals… pic.twitter.com/kRgFHQh0zw
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
I always noticed the tacky Egyptian faced columns, but never questioned them.
Pseudo-Egyptian faces top columns with hybrid palm frond/lotus blossom designs and pseudo-heiroglyphics. It's unchecked white exoticism/orientalism run amok w a huge budget. Some elements like the face's "third eye" and the Sauron-like sconces borderline on occult flavor. pic.twitter.com/gXIxT4yfr4
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
He then went on to dissect the tables, chairs and more parts of the dining experience.
TCF blasts you w/ a "luxury dining" aesthetic while cutting some /bizarre/ corners.
They serve you water in tankards, seat you in wicker chairs at marble tabletops.
Then you realize your tankards are plastic, your wicker is plastic, and your table is vinyl-lined particle board. pic.twitter.com/5sxUl4I8Fj
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
Both ostentatiously gaudy and consistently cheap, from the fake plaster walls to the fake wicker chairs, TCF is almost reminiscent of a theme park. The more you stare at this and see elements like the tacky booth cushions and glass dividers slowly emerge, the more surreal it gets pic.twitter.com/9c802tJ0H4
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
Then he went IN on the menu, which is as long as a college thesis paper.
The unchecked frenetic design doesn't stop there. Look at the goddamn menu.
Or should I say FOUR MENUS – menu, "skinnylicious", drinks, cheesecakes (not desserts, that's different!)
It is the most intentionally obtuse culinary document I've ever seen. It wants to DISORIENT YOU pic.twitter.com/8kOIzhc2XO
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
-"Quick Bites"
-Appetizers
-Glamburgers
-Specialties
-Pasta
-Sandwiches
-Steaks/Chops/Fish/Seafood
-Pizza
-"Super Foods"
-"Skinnylicious" (???)are all separate sections. there is no rhyme or reason to them. this menu is not your friend. it is actively trying to mislead you.
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
THAT'S RIGHT I SAID GLAMBURGER@tobyfox COME GET YA MANS pic.twitter.com/HGaM8L6RkE
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
mid-menu advertisements for the RESTAURANT YOU HAVE ALREADY CHOSEN TO DINE AT are frequent and deliberately make you lose track of your spot
here's one, w/ an entire page of flavor text
this thing feels like a god damn playbill. all the tcf's a stage, and we are but its players pic.twitter.com/loS7e3AUYe
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
after wandering the menu a while, helplessly, you order and the food arrives. it's good. not bad, not great, but good. better than an applebee's, better than a friday's. i wanted to say i hated it, but in truth, i couldn't. that was probably the most disappointing part of all.
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
Then the beloved and oddly placed cheesecake counter.
And then, at the end of it all, in a cold lonely counter cooler, the cheesecake.
my location placed it near the lobby/exit, far from the dining area. alone.
The namesake dish feels utterly inconsequential by the time you reach it.
Perhaps it meant something once. pic.twitter.com/Sau8s5QQa7
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
And in conclusion, The Cheesecake Factory doesn’t make any sense.
To conclude:
There is nothing more quintessentially "American capitalism" in flavor than The Cheesecake Factory
Wealth run wild. Chaotic visual fantasies realized w no aesthetic discipline. An obsession with appearance of luxury. Gross excess that excels at feigning its quality
— 〽️ax krieger, the game dev you should hire (@MaxKriegerVG) November 17, 2017
Never change The Cheesecake Factory.
