Earnings

Cheesecake Factory's Viral Cajun Salmon Was Already On The Menu, President Says

David Gordon said the chain was once "gun-shy" about social media, while traffic at its namesake restaurants grew 9.5% last quarter.

The Cajun salmon that went viral and brought in a wave of first-time guests "wasn't even a new menu item," Cheesecake Factory President David Gordon told analysts on the company's earnings call Tuesday. "Somebody just discovered it and decided to talk about it a little more loudly than they had before," he said.

A dish discovered, a strategy loosened

Cheesecake Factory, which owns and operates restaurants and a bakery, including The Cheesecake Factory, North Italia and Flower Child, reported third-quarter revenue of over $1.033 billion, above the high end of its own range, CFO Matt Clark said. Traffic grew 9.5%, Gordon said, and Chairman and CEO David Overton put comparable sales growth at The Cheesecake Factory restaurants at 15.2%.

Answering a Baird analyst on what the chain does differently in marketing, Gordon said it posts organic social content more often than it did 12 months ago, when it was "a little more gun-shy to engage." The company has also changed how menu items look on social, he said.

Gordon said the Cajun salmon drew many new guests who brought others with them. Their tickets paired it with longtime favorites such as chicken madera or avocado egg rolls, and dessert ordering stayed consistent.

Mix, pricing and who is walking in

Clark told a William Blair analyst the quarter's components were 2.4% pricing, a positive 3.3% mix and 9.5% traffic. Asked by an analyst about a "low 3% mix at Cheesecake," he said the salmon sits at the upper end of the entrees and sold disproportionately.

The guests are "not bargain hunters," Clark said, noting alcohol incidence rates are up and cheesecake sales are flat, though still at an all-time high.

On whether younger guests will stick, Clark said it is early, about four months in, but sales trends have been very consistent regardless of the cadence of organic social posts.

Fourth-quarter and 2027 targets

For the fourth quarter, the company expects revenue of $1.04 billion to $1.05 billion. For fiscal 2027 it targets about $4.425 billion, with as many as 27 new restaurants and Flower Child openings of 11 to 13.

Gordon said North Italia is meaningfully increasing media spending in two markets to test whether awareness turns into trial. The company makes two menu changes a year, he said, and will keep that cadence next year and for the foreseeable future.

Clark called the sales inflection encouraging but said it is early, and he described the 2027 outlook as measured and closer to the company's historical algorithm.