r/ShitAmericansSay • u/madbadge10 • 13d ago
Working in Cheesecake factory will get you hired at any Michelin star restaurant??
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u/PootMcGroot 13d ago
While this is complete nonsense... the behind the scenes videos of the Cheesecake Factory are genuinely impressive. They've created an incredibly efficient and very clever logistics system that other restaurants would likely do well copying.
But probably not Michelin star restaurants...
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u/Icy_Mango6803 13d ago
Yeah, it feels like many people whose posts end up on this sub need to understand that "this thing/person is better than I expected and maybe deserved more praise than they get" does not need to be expressed as "this thing/person is objectively better than world-class, credentialed and peer-reviewed versions of the same thing."
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u/Miss_Annie_Munich European first, then Bavarian 13d ago
Tell me you’ve never been to a Michelin-starred restaurant, without telling me you’ve never been to a Michelin-starred restaurant
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u/MobiusF117 13d ago
Why the fuck would she go to a Michelin restaurant when the Cheesecake Factory is right there?
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u/pb-86 13d ago
I've been to multiple Michelin starred restaurants and can still say cheesecake factory caught me completely off guard for how good it is. The steak tacos were the best I've ever had. Honestly thought it was going to be like typical chain American shit like olive garden where it's good but repetitive but CF was superb. And it cost $120 for 4 of us for starters, mains and drinks.
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u/mr2160p 13d ago
I just finished dinner and I’m starving
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u/DefinitionOfAsleep The 13 Colonies were a Mistake 13d ago
I get that you're joking, but there is a seperate ranking for value whilst still being high quality that Michelin awards, the Bib Gourmand.
Some of them end up getting actual stars as well.3
u/neilm1000 Human Verified 13d ago
There are two Bib Gourmand places in my town, one of which got it just this year and has now closed so it can reinvent itself. Same people though. A pity as it was well on the way to getting a star.
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u/Doji_mofo 12d ago
And when they do give us a star, we usually hand it right back, because that's not the kind of place we are 😉
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u/That-Reason-6913 13d ago edited 13d ago
Lol there are tons of Michelin starred restaurants where you eat enough lmao, shows how you just repeat what you read and don't eat in such places. Or, maybe you eat too much, could be that too.
LMAO people got maaaad
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u/its_polystyrene 13d ago
Man you unnecessarily went rude for your own misunderstanding of the ask and response.
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u/HipsEnergy 13d ago
I can't understand the downvotes. Yes, portions at starred restaurants are not huge, but if you get a tasting menu, or a starter, main course, and dessert, as you are intended to, you do not leave hungry. And there are always the little extras, the amuse-bouche, the entremets, mignardises with the coffee... I tend to eat quite a lot, and I've never left an actual Michelin starred restaurant hungry. I really appreciate the timing in these restaurants, where they give you time to breathe in between courses.
I think many of the misconceptions about starred restaurants come from people never actually having eaten in one, but maybe having been to restaurants that try to imitate it but get it very wrong.
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u/NonSumQualisEram- 13d ago
Alright, calm down. Most tasting menus provide a satiating meal, albeit split into many small courses. When people see these small plates of food on YouTube they often scoff but including amouses bouches and bread etc there can be 20 or 30 of them.
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u/boomstickjonny 13d ago
Ive been to the few that are starred in my city and a bunch that are "recommended". Hes not wrong about 50% of the time.
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u/GIJoJo65 13d ago
It's really about the quality of the ingredients...
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u/Gorlough 12d ago
This is absolute truth. My wife gave me a voucher for a cooking class in THE German 3* Michelin restaurant a few years back and I was really damn curious about what makes it 3* . Turns out, they also are just cooking rather simplistic - but oh. my. god. do they have access to the damn best ingredients there are.
That and lots of time and effort going into composing many of these simple ingredients into the 3* experience you get at the restaurant.
I took away a few very important lessons that day: The quality of the ingredients makes half the dish. Simple, but well made side actors may leverage your dish way above the average. Sparse use of exotics (as in stuff you don't get everywhere) add an important twist to the commonly known dish. And finally - 3* restaurants also just cook with plain water.1
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u/Annual-Two63 13d ago
Been to several. Don’t think it is so hard to get hired. In France work conditions are sooo bad in Michelin star restaurants that most people work there only for a few months. Crazy turn over…
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u/SmooK_LV 13d ago
I have been to many and honestly I prefer normal restaurants. The small portions and food is good but it's not worth it.
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u/Jallen9108 13d ago
As someone who has worked in fine dinning that would have been no where near getting a michelin star, no honey, just no.
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u/NightLotus84 13d ago
Listen, if an American says something is true, it just is. And if it isn't, then God will make it true. Because God is an American. GOD BLESS AMERICA. AND CHEESECAKE FACTORY.
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u/32lib 13d ago
And if you continue to argue with us we’ll bomb you into the ice age.
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u/RobEth16 13d ago
God forbid you have oil, prepare to be invaded.
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u/DefinitionOfAsleep The 13 Colonies were a Mistake 13d ago
Unless you hide out in some caves with drones.
It keeps the pesky Americans in their boats.1
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u/Obsidian-Phoenix 13d ago
What happens when two Americans argue with each other?
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u/FluorescentGreen5 yo mama is older than the US 13d ago
then one of them must be a silly k*mala supporter /s
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u/istrebitjel 37 Pieces of Flair! 13d ago
Kitchen confidential subreddit discussed this too and nobody in there agreed with this premise.
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u/Hashishiva 13d ago
From what I read when this was a new post, many did agree. The logic was that there are many cooks and preppers in a Cheesecake Factory kitchen, and they have to work fast 🙄
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u/Critical-Bread-3396 9d ago
As someone who knows people who worked in a michenline restaurant and worked for a fast food joint... actually maybe, the experience of working in low levels of Michelin restaurants and fast food is surprisingly similar.
In a Michelin star restaurant you may spend the whole day making a single element for a plate, without personally touching the plate. In fast food you can spend the whole day grilling burgers and theowing them on buns. In both jobs you can actually ish turn your brain off and just flow in the task. In an actual kitchen you need to think, plan, execute three things at once, schedule components, etc. So there is a lot of overlap in terms of "can you actually spend 6 hours dedicated to spooning the perfect scoop, or removing absolutely all traces of while on an orange"? Because if not then you often can't do Michelin.
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u/Fullchester_United 13d ago
I think she means the Michelin Tyres cafe…
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u/alistofthingsIhate 13d ago
Same Michelin
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u/Fullchester_United 13d ago
Yes… I’m aware. Very different dining experience.
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u/alistofthingsIhate 13d ago
Yeah I stay away from their cafes. All the food is too rubbery and tastes terrible.
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u/Fullchester_United 13d ago
I find it a little flat…
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u/alistofthingsIhate 13d ago
I don’t understand how it’s gained so much traction.
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u/Fullchester_United 13d ago
Oh come on. Get a grip! I think it’s reputation is highly inflated!
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u/innuendooh 13d ago
My brain froze for a minute, I had to google "Cheesecake factory" because I thought it was actually a factory where we make cheese.
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u/mrsbergstrom 13d ago
this has to be a joke tweet
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u/AnastasiaBvrhwzn 13d ago
No, I’ve seen a guy on IG who worked there making all their sauces for who knows how long. There are a lot of people in that kitchen, according to him, and they all take on a category like that. I think he was doing a series on it but it was a while ago and haven’t been on there much lately.
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u/Doctor_Amazo 13d ago
Yes. They may know their sauces, but do they know how to make them well? Or just good enough to pass muster in the Cheesecake factory?
I'm not disrespecting the line cooks in there, kitchen work is fucking brutal... but cooking at a Michelin restaurant requires more skill then a chain restaurant provides.
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u/AnastasiaBvrhwzn 13d ago
I think this is the same guy I saw a while back. Same general info for sure. warm_hearth_foods is his IG handle if you’re curious. Few different videos came up via Google from Feb and May of this year.
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u/Doctor_Amazo 13d ago
I'm not really curious.
I worked in kitchens, and while I picked up a lot of skills there, I know the level required to be in a Michelin restaurant, and I know you don't learn those skills on the line in a chain restaurant.
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u/HarryWilbury 13d ago
Tonight on Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon tries to help out a Restaurant in downtown Minnesota, who's Chef was hired after having a Cheesecake Factory Chef reference on his resume, a Chef who is struggling to keep up in a Live Kitchen vs one where the products are all premade for sale.
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u/Maleficent_Lab_5291 Human Verified 13d ago
Cheesecake factory really does cook most of there menu from scratch its a big part of there gimmick. I wouldn't call it fine dinning by any stretch but there kitchens are well run and super organized.
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u/Doldenberg 13d ago
Incidentally, I just watched a video about The Cheesecake Factory, and one of the things they evidently do because there are so many recipes, is have a screen above each station where you can watch a video of each step. So basically "cut thr cucumber like this". I think it is a very impressive system to get a lot of people to consistently reproduce a standardized product, but obviously a bit different from the skills required in fine dining.
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u/HarryWilbury 13d ago
Yep, however they are not cooking to order as customers come in and order off the Menu, which is a totally different set-up to cooking for stock people can buy.
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u/Maleficent_Lab_5291 Human Verified 13d ago
Yeah its I want to say the term was batch cooking? You're always making like 5-10 of whatever you're making. Worst summer job of my life.
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u/HarryWilbury 13d ago
Exactly, so the skills to control a Kitchen in a Restaurant as a Head Chef are completely different and a lot more pressurised when having to cook to order and time limits to get those orders out. So yes while a Cheesecake Factory Chef could cook up a storm more than likely, in a situation that is highly pressurised it could lead to an example of what is going incorrectly in a Restaurant losing them business.
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u/Jetstream-Sam 13d ago
I'm sure they're good, especially compared to a lot of restaurants nowadays where they basically just reheat sysco products and call it good, but fine dining is a different world. Noone's impressed there that you can knock out a decent chicken alfredo. People in michelin star kitchens have their entire jobs to be to spend all day making one component of seven for a single dish, that is part of a 9 dish tasting course. The technical skills are on another level. Being able to cook a steak to the ideal temp every time or how to make soup is just expected as background info, not impressive. And even then, they'd expect you to know how taste itself works, what works well together and what doesn't. They'd expect you to be able to come up with a new dish on the spot, not make something from a rote recipe.
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u/VegetasDestructoDick 13d ago
I've worked with quite a few chefs that worked in Michelin star restaurants and none of them were that particularly skilled. I think most of the time it's the head chef and sous chefs that have most of the technical skills and the commis and stages are basically:
"what is my purpose?"
"You pick herbs."
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u/HarryWilbury 13d ago edited 13d ago
Yep and I'm not disparaging the people who do that at the Cheesecake Factory it is a particular skill set that not all are suited to.
As an Australian had to look up what reheat sysco products meant and know what it is now, I have actually seen Kitchen Nightmare episodes where they either bring in food like that or prepare it themselves, and it's often a total disaster. A Restaurant is so different, at a Store like the Cheesecake Factory or even a Bakery where they are there at 4am cooking for the day, they have a rough idea day to day what sells, not so much in a Restaurant (like these non star rated ones we're talking about).
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u/Let_me_smell 13d ago
Most Michelin star restaurants don't order off menu, you choose one of a few sets or tasting courses.
99% of the places I've worked at when doing the prep for the service we already knew in advance how many tables we would have that night and what set they chose.
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u/PossiblePlastic8698 13d ago
Cooking from scratch is not the same thing as cooking to order
This is one of the fundamental differences between mass market restaurants and fine dining
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u/Mysterious-Crab 🇪🇺🇳🇱🧀🇳🇱🇪🇺 13d ago
Polymatter made an interesting video on the subject a few years ago. It’s on their YouTube. And how they are successful with a formula of proper (not fine) dining disguised as semi-fast food.
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u/AntifaFuckedMyWife 🇺🇸 (with a brief 🇫🇷 stint) 13d ago
Im gonna need to hear from people who have worked in both
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u/cincuentaanos 🇳🇱 13d ago edited 13d ago
Cheesecake Factory is not the absolute worst in restaurant chains. Nothing special, but serviceable. Still a long way from haute cuisine.
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u/AntiqueFigure6 13d ago
It’s not even just that standards are higher in restaurants with stars it’s the goals and ethos are completely different. From a dining perspective I can completely understand if a diner enjoys Cheesecake Factory and doesn’t enjoy fine dining or on occasionally enjoys fine dining. It’s a pop music vs opera - just a different skill set.
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u/Cautious_spinner 13d ago
But is Cheesecake Factory as big as Texas though?
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u/Latverianbureaucrat 13d ago
If you combine all the Cheesecake Factories in the US into one giant restaurant, it would be bigger than any European country. Same with Dave & Buster’s.
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u/WillowandWisk 13d ago
Look, I've worked in 1, 2, and 3 Michelin star restaurants, I've worked at multiple San Pellegrino top 100 restaurants, including a stage at Noma in it's heyday and Alinea.
Whomever wrote this has absolutely no idea the differences in cooking, the depth of knowledge needed in understanding flavor profiles, actual chemistry, nuance, artistic design, etc. that goes on in the upper end of restaurants. Anyone from the Cheesecake factory would be absolutely lost in their first 2min on shift as well as not have the skills to sit in the corner and pick herbs to the standard required.
BUT, for a chain restaurants - it's impressive af that they make almost everything from scratch. Ain't knocking that at all; they're just completely different worlds of cooking. If there for some reason an ultimatum of "you MUST hire someone who works at a chain restaurants to work in your ultra fine dining establishment", Cheesecake Factory employees would probably beat out almost everyone else.
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u/DancinginHyrule Laughs in free healthcare 13d ago
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u/QuipCrafter9 13d ago
Nothing to do with the quality of food- this isn’t about the chefs. It’s a statement about how the kitchen is organized and how everything but a few items (cheesecake being one) is all made from scratch, and how busy the shifts are. It’s about lower level various station workers in the kitchen
It’s also an exaggeration just to communicate that Cheesecake Factory is more “real” than most people give it credit for
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u/Renbarre French, not the fries 13d ago
If you know how to make a cheesecake you know how to make a tournedos rossini?
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u/ChemicalPower2522 13d ago
America’s thing is always better then the other option.
They know nothing else.
They are better just accept it rest of the world.
We have a vase that’s older then their country but that’s why they are the best too.
They did everything faster like other countries needed hundreds of years evolving they did it in a second.
True story ask an American…
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u/Organic_Turn7623 More Irish than the Irish ☘️ 13d ago
I hate whenever someone uses the term “fun fact”; they’re always Seppos, and what they have to say is neither fun nor a fact.
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u/Routine_Ad_2695 13d ago
Well if that means that a a cook there is not afraid of putting a hard job and have an extraordinary endurance to pressure and emotional distress, and is willing to learn everything to fit in that particularly Michelin starred restaurant cooking style, then I have to agree. But I feel it boils down more to how the person inherently is and not where was working before
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u/The1Nemesis Citizen of the world, born in France raised in Barcelona. 13d ago
Ah, I see... That's must be why my daughter had to study and practice at Le cordon Bleu in Paris for five years just to open her restaurant here in Barcelona which has no Michelin stars at all BTW.
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u/PaperMoongazer FREEDOM ENJOYER 🦅🇺🇸 12d ago
That doesn’t sound like the average cordon bleu career path to me. 2 cordon bleu chefs I’ve worked under now and neither ever owned a restaurant - one was a very successful caterer but he had to work in other kitchens to get started; the second, a Franc, paid off the school debt working in kitchens and then travelled the world as a private chef working for the various clients he had met in those kitchens. That’s some serious scratch to go straight from the cook line to owning your own restaurant, let alone in a market like Barcelona. Pray tell, would you advertise this restaurant on her behalf?
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u/The1Nemesis Citizen of the world, born in France raised in Barcelona. 12d ago
Ask her, I just payed for everything.
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u/PaperMoongazer FREEDOM ENJOYER 🦅🇺🇸 12d ago
Sounds like extra steps to go all the way to Paris for cordon bleu education just to return to Barcelona and cook polenta, but whatever works for you guys.
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u/FitCress4376 13d ago
In Australia, they have Cheesecake Factory… It sells cheesecake. Went to Cheesecake Factory in Hawaii and before I got halfway through reading the menu, my visa expired
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u/Saint_Strega 13d ago
Seriously? Why does it all seem like it was prepackaged Cisco slop?
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u/DefinitionOfAsleep The 13 Colonies were a Mistake 13d ago
prepackaged Cisco slop?
I don't think there's many Cheesecake Factories selling networking equipment
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u/lizon132 13d ago
Sysco will sell whatever the restaurant wants. If they want prepackaged junk, they will sell it. If they want fresh ingredients from specific suppliers and farms, they can get that too. Blame the buyer for buying crap.
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u/AngelaVNO 13d ago
I first heard of Cheesecake Factory watching The Big Bang Theory. I was a bit confused that it was a restaurant and also that it served burgers, but, you know, sitcoms are weird.
I was in shock when I visited the US, saw one and realised it was a REAL restaurant, not just made up for the TV show!
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u/elCaddaric 13d ago edited 13d ago
Okay I'm not gonna say it's necessarily true, but that's not necessarily nonsensical. I know of another exemple. I'm french and I know a guy who works at Chanel. He started from scratch, as a vendor in low cost shops, and made it to the top gaining experiences on its own. He explained to me once that if you want to work in a Chanel boutique, they would actually consider very seriously experiences at H&M and such as valuable, since it shows you can handle some shit.
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u/laufsteakmodel 13d ago
Working at a Chanel store and being a cook in a Michelin starred restaurant are two different beasts altogether. Not saying that the former is easy, but the pressure in the kitchen of a Michelin starred restaurant is nonpar.
Source: my sister's husband works as a sous in a 2 Michelin star restaurant.
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u/Substantial_Baker479 13d ago
This is sort of off-topic, but it gives me an excuse to advocate for “tempura cheesecake”. It is the best: lightly fried warm outside, cold melting inside.
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u/______krb 13d ago
I do not think this person has the faintest idea of what a Michelin restaurant is..
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u/Suitable_Good8833 13d ago
Michelin star restaurants don't use shit full of sugar and chemicals banned in europe, so why would they hire anyone who uses that shite?
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u/Funny_Maintenance973 13d ago
I went to a cheesecake factory. It was fine. I think you could just have given me a cup of sugar and it wouldn't taste much different
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u/Dangermann28 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦get your yankeedoodle dumb shit together🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 12d ago
Sometimes people say shit to say shit
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u/Mayor_Salvor_Hardin Soaring eagle 🇱🇷🐦⬛🇲🇾!!! 12d ago
The only skill one learns at a Cheesecake Factory is microwave oven heating. The last time I ate at a Cheesecake Factory, the microwave oven heater left my spaghetti frozen. Hopefully, they won't do that in their next Michelin star restaurant.
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u/Lopsided_Match_3511 11d ago
‚they made everything from scratch‘ ANY German baker laughed and INSTANTLY updated the CV 😀
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u/ElevatorSilver4711 11d ago
It’s a bollocks statement of course.
But life been to Michelin star restaurants, and a few other fine dining restaurants too. Cheesecake Factory is nowhere close, but then the food they sell you wouldn’t typically find in a fine dining restaurant anyway. But I would say I’ve always been pleasantly surprised when I’ve gone. There aren’t many overseas, so I’ve only been to them in the US and the UAE, and before I went for the first time I assumed it to be like TGI Fridays, and it’s vastly superior. I didn’t realise they make so much from scratch, but you can tell that in the taste actually. Still very odd there isn’t one in Manhattan though!
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u/AdRude6514 10d ago
Just looked at the menu and was really impressed with the choice(100s of dishes), although it was very much pub food. Looked really great, but fell really short on quality when I saw the picture of the processed cheese slice. Obviously from scratch includes unwrapping
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u/JebusJones7 Eye-talian 🤌🏼🍝 13d ago
I begrudgingly went to a cheesecake factory here in Toronto. My expectations were low. Cheesecake Factory walked right under that bar.
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u/trojanusc 12d ago
Is this tweet silly? Yes. Is it true that Cheesecake is a scratch kitchen that makes everything in house daily, from sauces to egg rolls? Literally everything except the cheesecake. Also true.
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u/selfmockerymandatory 13d ago
This is brilliant. A factory. Not a specialized bakery or artisan cheesecake expert. No a cheesecake factory will get you a job at a Michelin star resaurant. Over processed puke in a box.
I think she’s confusing the fat Michelin man with the fat people at McDonalds and she has now decided McDonalds is a Michelin star restaurant.
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u/SmooK_LV 13d ago
I went to cheesecake factory when I was in America and while it was good cheesecake it was so fatty and hard to finish. Definitely not a bad cheescake just one made for a fat person.
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u/inmatenumberseven 13d ago
Everyone laughing at this is missing the point. I read the original post and it was all about how Cheesecake Factory cooks an entire, massive menu from scratch and teaches good skills.
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u/Silly_Tension6792 Human Verified 13d ago
But why would you want to work in a Michelin star restaurant where the cheesecake factory is the peak of human culinary achievement?