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The Cheesecake Factory

Engaged employer

Avoid working here if you can... - Server The Cheesecake Factory Employee Review

2.0
13 Sept 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Flexible schedule, they are great about requests and hot schedules makes it easy to pick up shifts, and there are always people that don't want to work. Friendly staff

Cons

Keeping the uniform white gets expensive and time consuming Favoritism- enough said Long shifts... we're talking over 10 hour shifts on the weekends without a break (YES, it's illegal and it is standard practice, I promise the money most of the times is not worth it) This company DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU. They recently changed their seating to policy to 'preferred seating 1st' meaning the booths get sat first, so if you have a section that is all table (by the way sections are never bigger than 4 tables) your only hope of getting sat is if every booth is full, also the bar seating has been taking out of the rotation all together. A few people will make all the money the rest will be stuck with a few tables all night. You will have a food run shift and/or a stand by shift every week, meaning you will have a shift you may or may not be used on and/or a shift where you are just running food and making very little every week. At my location the clientele were not likely to tip, so if you were not able to add grat for a party you would get 10% if you were lucky and very good, which is problematic when you are tipping out 4% of sales every night.

Explore other reviews about The Cheesecake Factory

5.0
18 Dec 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you want to work at one of the world’s best run dining businesses, this is where it’s at. I work at the Union Square, San Francisco location, and although it is intense, it’s rewarding, financially, physically and spiritually IMO. It’s clear that decades of effort have gone into crafting the business. They run it lean, so it’s an effort to deliver an excellent experience. But that is part of its greatness - if you are at all interested in understanding how to run a business well. The managers and general manager are all well chosen, character-wise, which is refreshing in the hospitality trade where difficult personalities can often be a drag. It’s probably due to the extensive formal training, that creates a high degree of professionalism. Far above average for the industry.

Cons

It’s a struggle to get all the hours as a server you want. This is due to practical/economical considerations, since the restaurant needs a deep bench of staff, to guarantee staffing, and accommodate changes to schedules by employees- and as far as I can tell, it’s no different across the current restaurant industry in SF. Obviously the more tenure you have, the more trust and hours they give you. So expect to be assigned server and runner shifts, and ‘breaker’ shifts where you relieve other servers. But in all cases you still make tips. Though working as a server is best.

4.0
1 Jul 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good pay to works worked ratio

Cons

have to work all holidays best time to make money is night shifts so really limits social time with friends and family

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