The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (CAKE)

Restaurants, 48,400 people, 97% in the restaurants. Read October 2, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 30, 2025, filed February 23, 2026. Ranked 53 of the 54 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now.

The filing counts its restaurant staff (a) and lumps the corporate and bakery remainder, so one restaurant pattern carries the whole workforce.

The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.

What follows from the reading

Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 10% now, 13% at the end of 2027, 13% at the end of 2028, 13% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 13% desk work, 22% people work and 65% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 87% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 9% becomes checking a model's work and 4% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.

Headcount

48,400 employees as of December 30, 2025 (stated). The filing states no count by country.

The filing: “As of December 30, 2025, we employed approximately 48,400 people, with approximately 47,075 in our restaurants and the remainder in our corporate support center, FRC headquarters and bakery facilities.”

The workforce as industry patterns

What the filing says about the workforce: About 48,400 people, 47,075 in the restaurants and the remainder in the corporate support center, FRC headquarters and bakery facilities; no collective bargaining agreements; a 47% internal management promotion rate in fiscal 2025.

Companies read with the same leading pattern

Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Restaurants and Other Eating Places, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

• Starbucks (SBUX, 381,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC, 290,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Darden (DRI, 209,931 employees)10% now, 13% by 2028
• McDonald's Corporation (MCD, 150,000 employees)10% now, 13% by 2028
• Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG, 130,301 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (TXRH, 101,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Brinker International, Inc. (EAT, 85,003 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL, 74,500 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028

What the filing says about AI

3 sentences in the filing name AI. Three sentences: AI solutions incorporated to a limited extent into the business, the additional risks of AI solutions including reliance on large datasets and bias in training data, and AI among the tools of cyberattacks.

• “(See the risk factor titled "If any of our third-party vendors experiences a failure that affects a significant aspect of our business, we may experience data loss, increased costs, operational disruption or other harm, any of which could materially adversely affect our financial performance.") Additionally, we have, to a limited extent, incorporated artificial intelligence ("AI") solutions int...”
• “In addition to risks generally applicable to the use of any information technology, AI solutions may be susceptible to a variety of additional risks, which include, without limitation, AI's use and reliance on large datasets that could be the subject of breaches or misuse, potential liability associated with AI decision making and bias in training data, potential liability for failing to comply...”
• “Cyberattacks are accelerating on a global basis in frequency and magnitude as threat actors are becoming increasingly sophisticated in using techniques and tools, including AI, that circumvent security controls, evade detection and remove forensic evidence.”

Its annual reports, year by year

Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector

• Fiscal 20210median 0
• Fiscal 20220median 0
• Fiscal 20231median 1
• Fiscal 20242median 4
• Fiscal 20253median 10

Headcount by filing year

As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.

Limits of this reading

• The 1,325 outside the restaurants (corporate support center, FRC headquarters and bakery facilities) are not split by the filing and are read into the restaurant pattern.

Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001104659-26-018643, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.