Cheesecake Factory Coming to Bridge Street Town Centre - Huntsville Business Journal

When officials with The Cheesecake Factory toured Bridge Street Town Centre in late 2019, they were sold on adding the state’s second location here.

All of what happened in 2020 didn’t change that decision, either.

“Our guests have been asking us to come to Huntsville for years, so we are very pleased to be opening a restaurant at Bridge Street Town Centre,” David Overton, founder, chairman and CEO of The Cheesecake Factory, said. “Bridge Street Town Centre is a wonderful property … and we look forward to opening there.”

The Cheesecake Factory will move into the 7,350-square-foot corner location on the south side of the property that previously housed Cantina Laredo. It will be across from P.F. Chang’s and adjacent to Barnes & Noble. Opening is “Winter 2021,” with no specific date announced.

The Cheesecake Factory has been consistently named one of the Fortune magazine “Best 100 Companies to Work For.” It has garnered numerous awards for customer satisfaction, quality of atmosphere, food and presentation, workplace diversity, and menu options. Its large, diverse menu contains more than 250 items including more than 50 cheesecakes.

The company also has consistently been nominated and acclaimed for community service and development of employees. Its other Alabama location is at The Summit in Birmingham. The Cheesecake Factory owns and operates 294 restaurants in the United States and Canada under three brands. It also has a bakery division that provides items for its restaurants and third-party bakery customers.

Nikki Columbo, senior vice president of National Key Accounts for Bayer Properties, said the company is opening “very few stores” in the next 18 months due to the coronavirus impact. Bayer Properties, based in Birmingham, manages Bridge Street Town Centre. Myriad factors contributed to the decision to open here, including the drawing power of the shopping complex to a large demographic.

“The Cheesecake Factory’s philosophy, pre-pandemic, was to not go into markets that did not have a set demographic draw,” Columbo said. “I believe that was something like 500,000 in 10 miles, which Huntsville does not have. But after looking at this project, and we’re the dominant project in the entire market until you get to Birmingham, given the way Bridge Street Town Centre trades in the market and attracts visitors from 25 to 50 miles, and looking at the core customer coming to Bridge Street 25 or more times a year, they looked at it as being able to draw in a market in excess of half a million.

“Then it was a decision of which (location) to choose, and when they toured 15 months ago it was clear to them that Bridge Street was their only choice. They’ve been great partners.”

The company’s history dates to the 1940s in Detroit when Evelyn Overton used a newspaper recipe to create her “Original” cheesecake. She opened a small shop but closed it to raise her two children, Renee and David. She still made cheesecakes at home for local restaurants, building a strong reputation. In 1972, with the children grown, Evelyn and her husband moved to Los Angeles to chase their dream.

She began making cheesecakes and quickly established herself in Los Angeles. In 1978, the Cheesecake Factory opened its first restaurant in Beverly Hills, Calif. Calling it “upscale casual dining” — today it’s known by influencers and others as “experiential dining” — the restaurant’s popularity took off. Its extensive menu covers a wide range designed for a variety of diners.

Columbo said other projects are in the works for Bridge Street. Dallas-based Main Event is opening in what was the Toys R Us/Babies R Us building on the corner of Governors Drive West and Eagle Drive Northwest. The 50,000-square-foot entertainment and restaurant complex will be the company’s first in Alabama.

Columbo said traffic and shopping patterns, demographics of outlying areas from Huntsville and Madison County, housing starts, known brands expressing interest and other factors are contributing to the flurry of projects here. Announcements about the FBI building a complex on Redstone Arsenal and Huntsville landing the Space Command headquarters also are impactful.

“We have a lot in the works, but obviously we don’t announce until things are signed, sealed and delivered,” she said. “But suffice to say we have a lot in the works. I like to say we cast a large net. It’s surprising that even in pandemic this (Huntsville) market is so strong. We’re seeing a lot of interest in this mini-economic boom the market is experiencing.”