Frustrated customers of The Cheesecake Factory, a beloved chain known for its enormous slices of its namesake cheesecakes, are complaining about its shrinking portions. Recently, a handful of customers took to Reddit to complain about the dwindling portion sizes of its cheesecake slices. Once upon a time, it was practically customary to share a slice between two people—they were just that big. Now, however, it seems like fans are catching on to the phenomenon known as shrinkflation that seems to have made its way to the restaurant chain. And it’s not just impacting those cheesecake slices.
Over the weekend, Delish Editorial Director Joanna Saltz was dining at her local outpost of The Cheesecake Factory with her family and was taken aback by the tiny bread basket presented to them at the start of their meal. “My family noticed it,” she tells me—and they’re not alone.
Saltz noticed that the slices of bread were barely larger than your average spoon. I don’t know about you, but that’s definitely not what I’m looking for when I need to satiate my carb craving.
Other fans of the chain have noticed the changes, too. “As an avid [fan of] The Cheesecake Factory that has been there over 40+ times throughout the years, yes the slices have gotten smaller and I cannot believe no one is truly talking about it,” one person commented on Reddit.
“I feel like I got robbed!” another person noted of the daintier sizes. “Agreed that it has gotten much smaller, will need to explore other options,” one person lamented of the chain’s portions.
Although many people seem to think that The Cheesecake Factory’s bread basket is growing smaller, the chain argues that it’s just our imagination. Alethea Rowe, Senior Director of Public Relations & Global Branding, tells Delish, “The Cheesecake Factory’s complimentary basket of sourdough and ‘brown bread’ is a beloved part of our guests’ dining experience, and we have not made any changes to the portion.” Doth our eyes deceive us?
It’s possible the iconic carb basket only seems smaller because we just can’t get enough of that warm, slightly sweet brown bread. The bright side is that you can make some of our Cheesecake Factory copycat recipes and have seconds (and thirds) right at home.
