How Cheesecake Factory Employees Memorize The 250-Plus Items On Its Menu

The Cheesecake Factory's menu is one of the largest of any chain restaurant — with more than 250 items, the menu looks more like a novel than something you'd choose a meal from. It can feel overwhelming to page through the menu while you're sitting at your table, so you can imagine how tough it is for Cheesecake Factory servers to become experts on the many pages of appetizers, entrees, and desserts. It's not just recommended that servers memorize the menu — it's required (they have to take a test during their two-week training period). The restaurant's waitstaff are sharing their secrets for how they manage to memorize the extensive menu, one dish at a time. 

The Cheesecake Factory actually provides servers-in-training with flashcards that help them get to know each dish the chain offers. Trainers also provide tips and tricks to help servers visually identify menu items — and the plating process is always the same in the kitchen, which can help servers correctly identify similar-looking items (like the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake and the Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake, which both appeared in our ranking of every Cheesecake Factory cheesecake). Servers aren't just required to know what's on the menu — they also need to be able to identify each dish, explain its components, and share potential allergens. Those who say they've worked at the restaurant report that the test isn't super difficult. Its is taken online and completed in chunks throughout the training process, and mainly requires servers to choose a specific dish when presented with photos of several options.

Working as a successful server requires the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, super-hectic environment, and memorizing the menu, restaurant operating procedures, and customer orders and requests are all key for making bank when waiting tables. At The Cheesecake Factory, this can be especially tough — servers report that some guests don't even want to read the extensive menu, and simply rely on their server's suggestions to make their order. This means Cheesecake Factory servers don't just need to know the menu inside out — they also need to memorize ever-changing happy hour specials, seasonal offerings, and more.

We've all had the experience of watching a server perfectly remember an order from a massive table of people, and many wonder how exactly servers train their brains to get large, complex orders from the table to the kitchen without writing down a single thing. Some servers say that they look at what the customer is wearing and associate the order with the color of the customer's shirt. Others say that they prefer to repeat orders back to guests, both to confirm that they have the guest's order correct and to help it stay put in their memory as they walk from the table to the point-of-sale system (research shows that this trick can also boost a server's tip).