Cheesecake Factory Opens Inquiry

The Cheesecake Factory has become the latest company to review how its stock options are awarded to executives. The Calabasas Hills-based restaurant company said the review, to be conducted by the audit committee of its board of directors, was initiated in response to recent news reports regarding practices at numerous publicly traded companies. Cheesecake is among some 65 companies that have come under regulatory review or have initiated their own investigations. The company said that its full financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2006 would be released on completion of the audit committee’s work. On a preliminary basis, Cheesecake Factory said its revenues increased about 12 percent to $322.2 million in the second quarter ended July 4, 2006. Same store sales, however, decreased 8 percent.