MASTERFUL MISE EN PLACE
A look behind the scenes at The Cheesecake Factory By bazaar staff
We’ve been lucky to have been invited to several kitchens all over Kuwait to see what it really looks like to prepare and create some of the tastiest dishes in the country. We always appreciate the hard work, dedication and thought that has been put into running a restaurant. Yet, The Cheesecake Factory takes it to a totally new level. We arrived at the waterfront location on Kuwait’s Gulf Road on a beautiful Sunday morning before opening hours. The kitchen staff had already been working for a couple of hours prepping things for the day. The menu at The Cheesecake Factory has more than 200 items, and they use more than 1400 recipes to make them. You might assume that a lot of the items are premade at The Cheesecake Factory, but in reality, everything is made from scratch, with the exception of the cheesecakes. The recipes for those fluffy sweet delights are a secret and there are only two factories (yes, they are real) in the US that produce them all for all the worldwide locations. Oh, what we would do, to be able to visit that! William Zito, the Area Kitchen Operations Manager, who is probably the best person to show you around the kitchen, welcomed us into his kingdom. He has been with The Cheesecake Factory since 1996 and not only understands how things work, he also believes in their mission and vision. He explained that every morning, the staff starts chopping vegetables, making sauces and salad dressings that will be used throughout the day. Everything is stored and labeled using a tamper-proof system so that they know if they need to make more. We donned chef’s coats, aprons and the unflattering but absolutely mandatory hairnets before we were allowed to step into the kitchen. After washing our hands, we were invited in for our sneak peek. There’s a vibe of productivity, efficiency and precision that you immediately feel. The atmosphere is friendly but very fast-paced. There is no time to waste, but everyone is smiling. The first item on our tour was the Avocado Eggrolls. The avocados 138