Cheesecake Factory to Debut New Chain in Thousand Oaks

Cheesecake Factory Inc. plans to open a new Asian fusion restaurant chain, which will make its debut at the Promenade at Westlake in Thousand Oaks this fall. The fast-causal restaurant concept will be called Social Monk Asian Kitchen and will offer made-to-order dishes including rice bowls, noodles, sandwiches, salads and traditional entrees. A spokesperson for Calabasas-based Cheesecake Factory confirmed the opening to the Business Journal, which was first reported by Eater. The move makes the company the latest in a series of casual-dining chains to experiment with the fast-casual model, where customers order at the counter instead of at their table. Glendale-based Dine Brands Global Inc., which owns Applebee’s and IHOP, has begun opening “express” versions of the two chains in the U.S. and internationally. Social Monk Asian Kitchen will be Cheesecake Factory’s second Asian-fusion chain. It also owns the full-service RockSugar Southeast Asian Kitchen, with one location in both Chicago and Los Angeles. Cheesecake Factory Chief Executive David Orton told Eater that the company does plan to expand the chain but that additional locations are not yet in development. Shares of Cheesecake (CAKE) fell $2.16, or 3.6 percent, on Friday to close at $57.67 on the Nasdaq.