The Cheesecake Factory Told Its Landlords That They Aren’t Paying Rent Next Month
Sorry folks, but the registered trademark owners of the Glamburger and the Skinnylicious Factory Chopped Salad are not going to be sponsoring the revolution. Eater reports that The Cheesecake Factory sent out a letter to all of its landlords informing them that they won’t be paying rent for April, prompting a chorus of nervous renters to shout “wait, you can do that?!?!” and heralding TCF as an instrument of socialist change. While I firmly believe that Britney Spears, with a lethally sharpened Wet N Wild MegaLast eyeliner as her lance, is ready to lead her comrades in a Jazzercise-shimmy to freedom, TCF, her spiritual home, is still a publicly traded corporation looking to keep that CAKE stock from plummeting to post-Jared Subway prices. But it was a baller move all the same.
According to Eater, most of TCF’s landlords are malls, and Barron’s suggests that the struggling mall economy relies on the lure of Buffalo Blasts™ to keep their doors open. So they have the leverage.
The Cheesecake Factory, one of the most popular sit-down restaurant chains in the country, says it will not be able to make upcoming rent payments for any of its storefronts on April 1 because of significant loss of income due to the coronavirus crisis.
The Calabasas Hills-based company informed all of its landlords in a letter dated March 18 (reproduced below) that a severe decline in restaurant traffic has decreased its cash flow and “inflicted a tremendous financial blow” to business. Cheesecake Factory’s affiliated restaurants, such as Rock Sugar and North Italia, will also not make April 1 rent payments.
Company chairman and CEO David Overton writes, “Due to these extraordinary events, I am asking for your patience, and frankly, your help.” He continues, “we appreciate our landlords’ understanding given the exigency of the current situation.” The letter says that the company hopes to resume paying rent as soon as possible.
Eater notes that TCF “operates 294 restaurants in 39 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Toronto, Canada.” Although, since the outbreak of the coronavirus, it has closed 27 locations. A number of other locations are currently offering take-out and delivery only which is “enabling the company to ‘operate sustainably at present’.” Another reason they’re probably able to operate sustainably is that as “one of the largest restaurant employers in the country,” most of their 38,000 employees aren’t getting paid. Right now there’s a Change.org petition with nearly 15,000 signatures asking their employer to help them out during this crisis. And although CAKE stock has “fallen by more than 50 percent in the past month,” they’re not broke.
… the Cheesecake Factory announced that it would curtail development of unopened restaurants and tap into a $90 million credit line to increase its available cash.
It’s a fucked up situation for everyone involved, but it seems like the least TCF could have done, was to cc all their employees’ landlords on that letter too.
Pic: Wenn.com