The Number Of Cheesecake Slices Cheesecake Factory Sells In A Year Is Said To Exceed The Population Of Texas

Heading to The Cheesecake Factory without picking up a slice of their famous, decadent cheesecake seems like a crime, and that's a sentiment that their customers seem to agree with. After all, per a statement made by an unnamed company spokesperson to Reader's Digest, the chain sells nearly 35 million slices of cheesecake a year. But did you know that that total exceeds the number of people currently living in Texas? 

It's true: According to stats released by the state of Texas, around 32 million people live in Texas as of this writing. It's a close shave, but they sell more cheesecake at the restaurant's outposts than people live in Texas. That's jaw-dropping, especially when you consider The Cheesecake Factory's humble beginnings; starting off in Detroit back in the 1940s, founder Evelyn Overton opened a bakery, which she abandoned to raise her children. She continued to sell cheesecake to local restaurants out of her kitchen, and moved to Los Angeles in 1972, where she hoped to reopen the bakery with her husband. Ultimately, her son, David, started a restaurant in 1978 that heavily featured Evelyn's cheesecake recipe. While not everything the chain did in its first months proved to be successful — the first Cheesecake Factory menu included such obscure dishes as The Wyoming Humdinger, after all — it eventually morphed into the beloved, variety-filled chain everyone knows and loves.

What makes a trip to The Cheesecake Factory so special? Perhaps it's the elephantine number of cheesecakes you can sample there. The current menu as of this writing features 30 different types of cheesecake. Flavors range from the humble and very plain Original Cheesecake, which is adorned with nothing more than a pile of whipped cream, to the extravagantly sauced, served, and layered Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple. And that total doesn't include the cheesecake cakes that the restaurant typically keeps on the menu, which combine cake, cheesecake, frosting, and other decorations for a much more decadent dining experience.

If you can't decide which treat you want to test out, Tasting Table's Emily Hunt has ranked eight of the Cheesecake Factory's most popular flavors from best to worst. While swimming through the restaurant's massive menu, which has hundreds of items made from scratch, might seem like an endless chore, this list will help you pick and choose your way toward unadulterated bliss — whether you're noshing in Texas or not.