Takeout and delivery are enabling The Cheesecake Factory “to operate sustainably at present,” but the casual-dining powerhouse has been forced by the COVID-19 crisis to temporarily close 27 restaurants, the company said in a statement released this morning.
Cheesecake alerted investors Monday that it is suspending all development, withdrawing its financial guidance for 2020 and drawing down $90 million from its revolving credit facility.
The company said in a press release that it “is evaluating additional measures to further preserve financial flexibility.”
“With 42 years of history as a guide, we believe we will overcome these challenging near-term operating conditions and be even better positioned for the long term,” CEO David Overton said in the release.
He stressed in the statement that the company’s highest priority remains the health and safety of employees and guests.
Toward that end, Cheesecake has switched to sealing the outermost packaging of delivery and takeout orders and changed to prewrapped utensils when the disposables are requested for off-premise orders.
The company operates about 292 restaurants and holds the licensing rights to 26 more.
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