The Cheesecake Factory Honored with SPIRIT Award for Excellence in Employee Satisfaction

The Cheesecake Factory was named the recipient of the 2009 SPIRIT Award in the full service restaurant category, an honor given by Nation’s Restaurant News and the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Dina Barmasse, Vice President of Human Resources for The Cheesecake Factory, accepted the award at the Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators annual conference on October 6, 2009, in Dallas, Tex.

The SPIRIT Award is presented to a restaurant or food service operator who believes in enhancing employee satisfaction, which ultimately leads to achieving guest satisfaction. Winning companies have demonstrated excellence in areas relating to workforce recruitment, hiring, retention, education and training.

"At The Cheesecake Factory, executing our mission of delivering absolute guest satisfaction is deeply rooted in our ability to take exceptional care of our staff,” said David Overton, Founder of The Cheesecake Factory restaurants. "We are proud to be recognized for the SPIRIT Award, as we’ve always believed that our outstanding staff members make our organization the best it can be.”

About The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) created the upscale casual dining segment in 1978 with the introduction of its namesake concept and continues to define it today. The company operates 146 restaurants throughout the U.S. under The Cheesecake Factory(R) name with an extensive menu of more than 200 items. Grand Lux Cafe(R), the company's second concept, has 13 units in operation across the U.S. offering a broad menu of more than 150 items. The company also operates one unit of its newest concept, RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen(TM), and two bakery production facilities in Calabasas Hills, CA and Rocky Mount, NC that produce over 70 varieties of quality cheesecakes and other baked products. Additionally, the company licenses two bakery cafe outlets to another foodservice operator under The Cheesecake Factory Bakery Cafe(R) mark. For more information, please visit www.TheCheesecakeFactory.com. "Friend Us” on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/TheCheesecakeFactory or "Follow Us” on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/cheesecake.