Cheesecake Serves Up Expansion

Cheesecake Factory is on a winning streak, and it announced it will expand in the Southeast. The Calabasas casual-dining chain kicked off the year with its 25th consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales and announced Tuesday it will open its first outlet in Greenville, S.C. This will be the second company-owned restaurant the chain will open this year; it opened a store in Albuquerque, N.M. in February. The new restaurant’s décor will feature imported limestone floors and custom wood columns, hand painted murals and modern lighting. Cheesecake is also slated to open a Chinese outlet under a license agreement at Walt Disney Co.’s Disneytown, part of the Shanghai Disney resort, in mid-June. Cheesecake has more than 200 locations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Shares on Tuesday closed down 23 cents or less than half of 1 percent to $49.87 on the Nasdaq.