The twelfth Cheesecake factory completed just after the company went public - the first Cheesecake Factory entrant into the Chicago market. In the first year it began to achieve sales of one million dollars per month on a $13 check average that included about 10 percent drink sales. According to Doug Zeif, the former number two man at the Cheesecake Factory, the Chicago store led all other Cheesecake Factories in sales as the company passed the 100 store mark, grossing as much as $21 million per year.