Former President Barack Obama isn’t a fan of the gilded changes President Donald Trump has brought to the White House since returning to office. “There’s gold everywhere,” Obama told Democrats at a rally in Cleveland on Saturday ahead of the midterm elections. “What’s going on with the gold? Everything – more gold!”
Then came the punchline: “He makes the White House look like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory.” »
The crowd laughed and the clip quickly went viral on the Internet. A small culture war skirmish quickly unfolded online – was the quip elitist? — and Trump on Monday defended both his love of renovation projects and his design style. “The fact that you say it’s a Cheesecake Factory just shows why you were a bad president,” Trump told reporters.
One of the main architects of the Cheesecake Factory aesthetic said he didn’t find the comparison funny either.
“I think it’s a little sad that the pettiness of politics would create that phrase, knowing all the challenges that are going on in the country today,” Rick McCormack, the restaurant chain’s former vice president of design, said in an interview.
The Saddam part of Obama’s gag had precedent. Long before Trump’s current redecorating spree — which saw the rose garden torn out and paved over for a patio, the East Wing demolished for construction of a new ballroom, and the West Wing covered in gold accents and gilt frames — Peter York, author of “Dictator Style: Lifestyles of the World’s Most Colorful Despots,” compared Trump’s flashy design style to that of the former Iraqi leader, noting that they and other strong men share a passion for gold, marble and portraits of themselves.
But McCormack, who is on a first-name basis with the restaurant he helped decorate, broke down when he heard the Cheesecake Factory was involved in things.
“The cheesecake wasn’t covered in gold appliqué and things like that. It’s really two different environments,” McCormack said. “It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, there are shiny things on the wall. Cheesecake has shiny things in it. Let’s compare the two,” but that’s from someone who really doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
McCormack credited David Overton — who opened the first Cheesecake Factory in 1978 in Beverly Hills, Calif., to showcase his mother’s baked goods — for crafting the aesthetic the company is still known for across its more than 200 locations: affordable (though now dated) opulence and maximalism — traits also present in the restaurants’ notoriously long menus.
McCormack helped design some of the company’s first restaurants as an entrepreneur, then joined Cheesecake Factory full time in 1995, a few years after the chain’s IPO. As a new employee, McCormack was tasked with launching the company’s first in-house design department, working for 13 years to spread the distinctive look of a handful of restaurants to new locations across the country.
McCormack deployed limestone or granite floors, hand-plastered walls, and lighting that highlighted the great room’s distinctive features, such as murals on the high ceilings and large columns. Things seemed both Egyptian and European, with a touch of Las Vegas charm.
“Dave always wanted a certain feeling of grandeur when he walked in,” McCormack said. “We really wanted you to come in and be somewhat surprised that you could dine there and afford it.”
Although representatives for the Cheesecake Factory did not respond to requests for comment, McCormack would prefer that Obama leave his former employer out of his metaphors. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Enough people love the design that has made Cheesecake a phenomenal success over the years,” McCormack said.
McCormack admits that design styles have changed significantly since the 1990s, but he believes the chain’s enduring success is partly due to the extravagant dining spaces he helped create. Many Americans fondly remember hosting special dinners and family celebrations in the restaurant’s theatrical interiors, making him proud.
“Even though on paper, at first, you might not think all of these elements should go together, but I think the way they were grouped into this common palette brought them all together,” McCormack said.
One reason McCormack thinks most restaurants don’t look like the Cheesecake Factory these days is that it’s simply too expensive to build anything close to it. “The price of construction has just skyrocketed, and building a restaurant now is almost prohibitive,” he said. “You have to be really smart before you spend money and that’s a challenge.”
McCormack sees no similarity between the work he did with Overton in the 1990s and the choices Trump is making today. He knows that whoever enters the White House after Trump will likely tear things apart to make their own changes, so he would prefer that people talk about more important things and refrain from political attacks. “Everyone has different tastes, and not every design will be universally liked, nor should it be,” he said.
“I just don’t know who gave them that quote and why they thought it was a good quote to use, but it’s a little sad,” McCormack added. “But the good news is that we are talking about design right now.”
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