Nurturing Loyal Customers is the Best Way to Prepare for a Crisis by Association
10/27/26 – – Over the weekend, former President Barack Obama thrust casual restaurant chain The Cheesecake Factory into the final week of the midterm elections. Criticizing President Trump’s design taste, he said this at a campaign event in Ohio:
“What’s up with the gold? I mean, he’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
Predictably, the remark set off a firestorm of praise on the left and outrage on the right. Depending on the commentator’s political position, Obama’s jab was clever and insightful, or tone deaf and condescending. In the last 48 hours it seems like everybody has something to say.
Everybody except The Cheesecake Factory.
Dealing With a Crisis by Association
I’ve written many times about predicaments I call “crises by association.” These out-of-the-blue conundrums draw a company, person or product into a controversy they have nothing to do with. When this happens, the best strategy in most cases is to let the resulting conversation play out without protesting or offering commentary.
This caution is especially important when the storm you’re being pulled into is political and chiming in could be interpreted as choosing sides.
So far, Cheesecake Factory has wisely stayed out of the political donnybrook, allowing passionate fans to come to their defense.
Online testimonials rave about the culinary wonders on the restaurant’s 21-page menu, which features 250 “made-from-scratch” dishes, including 40 cheesecake varieties and desserts. (I must say the pumpkin pecan cheesecake with whipped cream featured on their website is very tempting.)
And much of the online chatter mirrors this observation on X by Republican commentator Matt Whitlock: “Cheesecake Factory is a great option for people who can’t afford a private chef at their Martha’s Vineyard estate.”
Yesterday Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stopped into the Cheesecake Factory on H Street in Washington, just a few blocks northeast of the White House. He suggested to reporters “the Martha’s Vineyard set” should give the restaurant a try and described the architectural design of Barack Obama’s Presidential Center in Chicago as “Darth Vader’s tomb.”
Even left-leaning comedian Jon Stewart kept his rhetorical gloves off Cheesecake Factory. Last night on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, he mocked Trump supporters for being offended by Obama’s restaurant reference and not his comparison of the current President to Saddam Hussein.
As we’ve seen over and over again, when it comes to defense in the eye of a crisis by association, the authentic voices of your customers can be far more powerful than your own. In fact, nurturing loyal customers is the best way to prepare for a crisis by association.
Olive Garden Was Drawn Into January 6th
In 2021, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, commenting on disturbing live scenes from the January 6th Capitol riots, said this:
“Look at them, they’re high-fiving each other for this deplorable display of completely unpatriotic, completely against law and order, completely unconstitutional behavior, it’s stunning . . . And they’re going to go back to the Olive Garden . . . and they’re going to have some drinks and talk about the great day they had in Washington.”
Passionate voices defending and denouncing Cooper’s snarky reportage quickly dominated discussion on social media. Olive Garden made no comment and its fans raved about the restaurant’s bread sticks, insisting that even a Vanderbilt heir would find them mouthwatering.
Chef Boyardee Found Itself on a Congressional Ballot
One of the unexpected outcomes of the 2022 midterm elections was Republican Mike Lawler’s victory in New York’s 17th Congressional District (Rockland County and parts of Westchester) over Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney. Contributing to the outcome was a gaffe by Maloney during the campaign.
In a media interview he was asked about the impact of inflation on area families. Here’s his unfortunate response:
“Yeah, well, I grew up in a family where, you know, if the gas price went up, the food budget went down. So by this time of the week, we would be eating Chef Boyardee if that budget wasn’t gonna change. So that’s what families have to do.”
Conagra Brands, marketers of Chef Boyardee products, remained silent, social media erupted with support by people who grew up with the brand’s affordable delicacies, and Republican Lawler turned to Twitter to highlight his soon-to-be defeated opponent’s display of insensitivity:
“According to @spmaloney, Hudson Valley residents who are struggling to put gas in their tank and food on their table should eat Chef Boyardee! I have a better idea — let’s Fire Sean Maloney and reduce inflation so that New Yorkers can afford to live here and eat what they want.”
Silence is Golden
This evening at 5:00 ET The Cheesecake Factory Inc. (Nasdaq:CAKE) reports its third-quarter financial results. The company’s stock price is up 118% this year. That’s better than most of the tech giants getting Wall Street’s attention. (President Trump was right when he pointed out yesterday that Cheesecake Factory is “a very good company.”)
The Obama comment is likely to come up on the investor conference call. It will take plenty of discipline for CEO David Overton — son of founders Oscar and Evelyn Overton who started making cheesecake in their basement — to stay the course. Silence is not an option, but something like this will do: “We want to thank our customers who have shared their love for Cheesecake Factory over the last few days.” Full stop.
I’ll leave it up to political scientists to debate the wisdom and impact of Obama’s remarks on the election. For me, I can’t stop thinking about that Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake!
