1. Roughly in the 1940s, Evelyn Overton (co-founder of The Cheesecake Factory) saw a recipe in her local newspaper for a cheesecake recipe, which inspired her to make her "original" cheesecake. [Photo: Shutterstock]
2. Everyone loved Evelyn's cheesecakes so she opened up a small shop to sell her creations. Although wildly popular, Evelyn closed the shop to focus on taking care of her children. She moved all her baking equipment to the basement and continued to make cheesecake for many restaurants in the town. In 1972, Evelyn and her husband Oscar moved to Los Angeles and opened The Cheesecake Factory Bakery. [Photo: Shutterstock]
3. Six years later, in 1978, The Cheesecake Factory opened its first restaurant in Beverly Hills and it was an immediate success. [Photo: Shutterstock]
4. Every year The Cheesecake Factory goes through 3.1 million pounds of avocado! Most of which is used for their signature egg rolls since they are made fresh daily...along with pretty much everything else. [Photo: Shutterstock]
5. The Cheesecake Factory also owns two other restaurants: Grand Lux Cafe and RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen. [Photo: Flickr, Bob B. Brown]
