Interview with Mrs. Lisa McDowell
Lisa McDowell’s career with The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated spans nearly 20 years.
During this time she has played a significant role in the company’s successful growth and Strategic development.
Lisa joined The Cheesecake Factory in 1996 when the company had just 17 restaurant locations.
Today, with annual sales of $2 Billion, the company operates 186 The Cheesecake Factory Restaurants, 12 Grand Lux Cafes, and one Rock Sugar Pan Asian Kitchen. Additionally, there are Ten The Cheesecake Factory restaurants that operate internationally under licensing agreements.
Lisa began her career with The Cheesecake Factory as the Director of Training where she Created the infrastructure and systems to support the company’s growth. Since joining the Company, Lisa has opened more than 100 restaurant locations across all three concepts.
In 2002, The Cheesecake Factory’s Founder & CEO David Overton awarded Lisa the Founder’s Award In recognition of her exemplary contributions to the company. She went on to be promoted to Vice President of Performance Development, and Senior Vice President of New Restaurant Opening Operations, before being promoted to her current position as Senior Vice President of Global Development.
In her current role, Lisa has created the company’s Global Development Department to prepare For growth with international licensees. Always one to embrace change and enjoy a challenge, Lisa is now charged with building and leading teams across the globe and developing the Programs, systems and infrastructure necessary to facilitate the company’s initial expansion into Asia in 2016 and its continued growth in the Middle East and Latin America – while readying For upcoming growth in other parts of the world.
1- Where have you worked before joining “The Cheesecake Factory”?
When I graduated I joined a restaurant company named TG Fridays for 10 years, and I had 9 different positions in 10 years: Marketing, HR, Operations, training… They grew me into different things so I kind of always progressed and moved up to a director of HR, a director of Operations and I was lucky enough I saw The Cheesecake Factory.
2- How did you get hired?
A lot of people who were working for me at Fridays, have told me about The Cheesecake Factory. So I went there for a dining experience and Two weeks later I knew about a job opening there so I applied, and I was asked to fly over to Chicago for an interview and got hired. At that time it was restaurant number 15, and we haven’t started high growth yet.
3- What drove you to be here?
What drove me to be here was those really important things like being proud of where i work, respecting what i do, coming to work excited every day...
4- When you joined the company in 1996, it counted only 17 restaurant locations. Now it holds more than a hundred restaurant locations including The Cheesecake Factory restaurants, the Grand Lux Cafes and the Rock Sugar Pan Asian Kitchen. How much credit do you attribute yourself for this huge success?
I’m not the reason The Cheesecake Factory is successful, yet I like to refer to it as being part of this success, and the main reason this company is successful is the very complicated recipe for running a restaurant. It takes so many people to execute this vision daily. I’m not the reason of this success, I’m just part of it. My success is the people I get to work with, because they make this happen.
5- In 2002 you were awarded the Founder’s award in recognition of your hard and exemplary work. What are the most important criteria for an employee at The Cheesecake Factory to be handed this award?
That’s the highest award in our company, that’s the one that David Overton gives out. That award given, was for my service of excellence, and making an imprint on the company, to set us up for long term success. My ability to support, to lead, and to implement pieces of process systems for long term success. I had basic knowledge on how to help us open multiple locations at the same time and I was able to bring that knowledge to The Cheesecake factory, in order for us to keep progressing in an ongoing basis in a very business oriented fashion so we make good business decisions financially, we hired and trained people and added value to people’s lives that worked for us what helped us grow into high quality standards everywhere through ought the company and any place we went. We made top 100 restaurants in the world and there’s a reason for that result.
6- How did you gather staff for this particular location in Lebanon?
We interviewed over 1400 people, and chose 200 staff members to work just here at this location and 14 managers. That’s nearly 300 people in one restaurant and that’s a typical number in all of our restaurants. In all our locations that’s the average number of staff working for The Cheesecake Factory.
7- According to what standards do you chose your staff members?
We were keen about choosing the staff. They had to be talented, some of them had to hold experience, and we had to hire people for the right part, heart, and mind. They had to be smart, they had to really get it, to be really passionate about cooking, about making cocktails, about coming to the table and greeting guests.
8- What does a guest expect walking in The Cheesecake Factory?
A guest can expect great food service and hospitality, the highest quality freshest products, all hand made from scratch starting with the dressings, the sauces that you can only find at The Cheesecake Factory along with more than 50 different Low Calorie items. This place is all about great food, great people, great ambiance, and providing guests with what they would expect coming in here. We also try as much as we can to innovate so it’s never the same: we change menus twice a year, we work on the Décor, and the tables… so basically we work on everything in order to follow up the improvement.
9- You have been promoted since you started into several positions. Which position would you describe as the most challenging of all?
I think the one I currently have. Every position I had at The Cheesecake Factory, I had it before at Friday’s so I had experience at doing the other positions better than when I had my other job. It’s my most challenging position because I’m still learning as I go so it might take a little longer or I can face bumps in the way
10- Have you faced rivalry in your professional career?
When I came in, our company did not have this section because this department never existed. We were growing locally we had never grown internationally so no I did not take the job from anyone. Instead I had to grow the position, to design the department, to understand what my purpose and what my role would be.
11- Can you reveal to Beiruting readers some of the Cheesecake Factory projects in 2016?
We are planning to open in Asia for the 1st time, also we are cooperating with Maxim’s which is a restaurant company as well. The Cheesecake Factory is soon to be opened in Disney Land Honk Kong as well as in Cairo and Qatar. We are preparing 8 projects in the U.S., and I think by 2016 we would be ready to open up as well in New Mexico.
