Page 201 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

182 The Disney Way

It wasn’t long before son David left San Francisco, where he had been
living at the time, to lend his business acumen to his parents. David was
troubled by the fact that the restaurants buying his mother’s cheesecakes
didn’t appreciate them as he thought they should. He knew that people
loved the cheesecake, but he also knew he must demonstrate to restau-
rateurs and prospective foodservice customers that having a great dessert
program was a sure path to success.
David’s grand plan was to take “cheesecake” to the next level by
opening the first The Cheesecake Factory restaurant on Beverly Drive in
the heart of Beverly Hills. With nine investors willing to bet on David’s
dream, the deal was locked in. Or so he thought. A new landlord had just
recently purchased the property, which included four stores, and David
had his eye on one of them. David was ready and eager to lease the 3,200
square foot space, but the landlord hesitated and asked, “What are you
going to build here?” With nothing to show him, David told the land-
lord he was welcome to visit the factory, the bakery operations in North
Hollywood, if he wished.
A few days later, David and his father were on their way to the fac-
tory in the bakery truck, after having made a sales call together. When
they entered the building, David saw the landlord talking to his mother,
Evelyn. He walked over to the baker to communicate an order, and then
went over to greet the landlord, still not knowing if they had a deal.
Happily, the landlord did agree to lease the space to The Cheesecake
Factory for its new restaurant concept.
“Three or four years later,” David told us, “I was talking to him and
he told me this story. Of course, I didn’t know this at the time. He said,
‘When I went down to your factory, I wasn’t planning to lease you the place
because there was nothing I could see and I was very worried. But when I
saw you go over to the baker and take care of business before you came over
to me, I knew you would do a great job. That’s why I leased it to you.’”
The lesson is clear. “If you take care of business and are dedicated,
you can do it,” said David.
On reputation alone, The Cheesecake Factory’s first restaurant
opened with great fanfare in 1978. People stood in line for a table, and
they are still standing in line 28 years later! “Our guests are the happiest
in the world—Disney-style,” former executive vice president and com-
pany secretary Linda Candioty proudly told us prior to her retirement
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in 2002. Forget about getting a reservation, however, as the company