case study: the cheesecake factory
TRANSCRIPT
THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY ENTERPRISE CASE STUDY
IDEASCALE
The Cheesecake Factory is an upscale casual dining concept that features nearly 200 menu items. The brand family also includes Grand Lux Cafe and RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen with similarly large
menu offerings and upscale dining experiences.
In Spring of 2012, however, Grand Lux Cafe wanted a way to tap into to its rich network of employee knowledge to find new ways to differentiate the Grand Lux brand, streamline business and
save the company money, and continue to deliver a higher touch of service to their guests.
The challenge facing The Cheesecake Factory was to provide a system that was accessible and easy-‐to-‐use so that employees would contribute from home (since most Grand Lux employees didn’t
have access to a computer throughout the workday). As incentive, Grand Lux Cafe decided to launch
the “My Grand Idea” challenge that offered cash rewards to the best employee ideas as well as
encouraging general engagement by awarding prizes to two randomly-selected ideas.
To inform their staff about the program, The Cheesecake Factory
• Created a series of posters that were hung in employee areas of the Grand Lux Cafe.
• Sent reminders to the restaurant management to share program details during the pre-shift
meeting.
• Facilitated brand unity by making the IdeaScale community match the overall Grand Lux Cafe
look and feel.
• Shared an original employee-‐facing video ad during the bi-‐annual new menu rollout meeLng. The ad announced that all employees were invited to participate in the “My Grand Idea”
Challenge. The video outlined the benefits and rewards of the program.
Over the course of the campaign Grand Lux Cafe
• Received a suggestion to serve ketchup in ramekins on the side with appropriate meals instead of
providing it in bottles on every table. This sugges)on saved the company $200,000 all on its own. • Saw parLcipaLon from 500 users who contributed 122 ideas. From those ideas, 19 were
reviewed and selected for implementaLon. • Reported 1/6 total employee parLcipaLon even while the program was never made mandatory.
• One suggesLon improved overall restaurant efficiency by adding regular, automated reminders
to the back of house staff to complete hourly sanitation duties.
2IdeaScale Case Studies
The Cheesecake Factory Employees with Grand Ideas
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The system that was exclusively used by Grand Lux Cafe, but the program is being evaluated for a
second round of use within the entire Cheesecake Factory brand family. “We were incredibly pleased with the IdeaScale community’s capabiliLes as well as the support we received,” said Stu
Ackerman, Learning Technologies Manager at The Cheesecake Factory, “The team at IdeaScale was
invaluable in providing support to help us launch our community and were in touch throughout the
entire process. They returned emails almost instantly whenever we had questions.”
The “My Grand Idea” community remains open to ongoing discussion even though the contest is over
and employees look forward to the next challenge round.
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