Who are The Cheesecake Factory's decision-makers?
David Overton leads The Cheesecake Factory, with finance, operations, technology, brand, legal, investor relations, and business-unit executives shaping major purchase decisions.
- CEO
- David Overton
- CFO/key exec
- David Gordon
- Founded
- 1972
- Employees
- About 50,000
- HQ
- Calabasas Hills, CA
- Status
- Public company; Nasdaq: CAKE
- David OvertonChairman and Chief Executive OfficerCo-founder; CEO since incorporationCreated the restaurant concept and remains the key brand steward.
- David GordonPresidentPresident since 2023Leads restaurant operations and growth execution.
- Matthew ClarkExecutive Vice President and Chief Financial OfficerCFO since 2017Owns finance, accounting, capital markets, and investor communication.
- Scarlett MayExecutive Vice President, General Counsel and SecretaryLegal leaderLeads legal, governance, and compliance.
Who leads The Cheesecake Factory?
The Cheesecake Factory's leadership team is anchored by David Overton as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and David Gordon as President. The remaining senior leaders in the profile cover operating, technology, brand, legal, investor, or business-unit responsibilities.
For account research, the CEO and CFO set strategic and financial constraints, while operators and functional leaders define the problem, integration requirements, and rollout readiness.
Who actually makes buying decisions at The Cheesecake Factory?
Large purchases usually require a business owner, finance approval, procurement review, legal review, and technology or security validation. For customer-facing, store, advisor, trading, manufacturing, or supply-chain workflows, the budget owner is often outside IT even when IT controls architecture and risk.
The selling path should identify the operating metric first, then map stakeholders around that metric. A generic executive email campaign is weaker than a use-case-led approach tied to an annual priority.
How is The Cheesecake Factory organized as it scales?
The Cheesecake Factory is organized around public-company reporting, operating units or brands, corporate functions, and field or client-facing execution. That structure creates multiple buying centers: enterprise technology, finance, operations, marketing, human resources, legal, supply chain, and business-unit leadership.
Expansion or transformation programs usually need cross-functional coordination. Vendors should expect formal procurement steps, security review, implementation planning, and measurement against business outcomes.
As of June 2026.Sources:The Cheesecake Factory leadershipThe Cheesecake Factory investor relations
The Cheesecake Factory — frequently asked questions
