Strategic Analysis and Evaluation of Cheesecake Factory’s Supply Chain: Uncertainties, Challenges, and Remedies

In the business world, it is important to maintain a profitable balance between efficiency (cost) and responsiveness (to changes in the market, customer demand, etc.) We took the fundamentals of supply chain theory and used them to analyze the real-world case of The Cheesecake Factory’s retail cheesecake supply chain. After an examination of the background of its supply chain structure, The Cheesecake Factory’s supply and demand uncertainties were first identified and assessed. We reviewed how supply uncertainties are influenced by disruptions to material flow on the supplier side as well as how implied demand uncertainties are influenced by changes in customers’ behavior and preferences. It follows that these different forms of uncertainties led to many supply chain challenges faced by The Cheesecake Factory, and we made remedial recommendations to address those challenges, including adding and continuously improving the flow of information with advances in technology and partnering with ecofriendly farms. Finally, we reviewed the ability and thus sustainability of The Cheesecake Factory to maintain a strategic balance between cost and responsiveness with their high-end cheesecake products given the ongoing challenges. Understanding supply chain variables is key to remaining profitable in business. The Cheesecake Factory’s cheesecake supply chain displays similar operational and consumption characteristics experienced by many other counterpart food processing supply chains. Our strategic analysis and evaluation can offer valuable insight to manage these supply chains and to improve their profitability.