This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jay Hinson, the senior vice president of restaurant kitchen operations at The Cheesecake Factory. It has been edited for length and clarity.
People sometimes ask how I stayed at one company for nearly three decades and continued moving up. I think a big part of it came down to curiosity. At every stage of my career, I asked questions, studied the people above me, and tried to make their jobs easier.
I started working in restaurants when I was 14. A friend helped me get a summer job at a local restaurant, washing dishes and shucking clams. Before long, I learned the fryer, then the broiler, and I fell in love with the pace of the kitchen.
I joined The Cheesecake Factory in my early 20s and started as a line cook. Funny enough, I didn’t even know what The Cheesecake Factory was when I applied.
My general manager at Ruby Tuesday, where I was working at the time, told me the company had one of the best kitchen management programs in the industry and said I should look into it. My initial thought was, “Why would he tell me to work at a factory?”
A few months later, I saw a “The Cheesecake Factory coming soon” sign at a mall near me and applied on the last day of hiring.
Today, I’m the senior vice president of restaurant kitchen operations at The Cheesecake Factory, overseeing kitchen support across the company, including training, food quality, kitchen equipment, and financial operations tied to restaurant kitchens.
I never walked into The Cheesecake Factory thinking I’d become a senior vice president. My first goal was to become a manager. Then I wanted to become an executive kitchen manager. After that, I focused on the next role.
I took it one promotion at a time.
The 3 questions I ask in every new role
Every time I earned a promotion, I started studying the next role. I paid attention to how my bosses handled pressure, how they spoke to people, and how they adjusted their leadership styles from restaurant to restaurant.
I was fortunate because some of my bosses let me travel with them to different locations. I could see that one team might need encouragement while another team needed structure. That taught me how important adaptability is in leadership.
I also asked a lot of questions. Looking back, there were three questions I asked over and over again that shaped my career.
The first was: “How is today?”
That question helped me understand how my restaurant and my team were performing day to day. It opened the door for honest conversations and feedback, and it showed the people above me that I cared about more than just my own responsibilities.
The second question was: “How can I be better?”
I always wanted direct feedback. If my restaurant was strong in one area, I’d ask where we were weak. If the kitchen was clean, I’d ask about food quality. If food quality was strong, I’d ask about leadership or development.
Feedback is not always easy to hear, but it’s necessary if you want to grow.
The third question was: “What can I do to make your job easier?”
Instead of focusing only on my own performance, I started thinking about how I could reduce problems for the people above me. If a boss had to repeat the same feedback to me twice, I wanted to fix that immediately.
Sometimes, making someone’s job easier meant communicating more often. Sometimes it meant solving issues before they escalated. Sometimes it meant becoming dependable enough that they didn’t have to worry about my restaurant.
The more detailed the feedback became, the more I improved.
The Cheesecake Factory rewarded people who wanted to grow
One reason I’ve stayed with the company for 28 years is because I believed the opportunities were real.
When I first joined The Cheesecake Factory, I sat in orientation rooms with people who had started as line cooks and moved into leadership positions. Seeing that made advancement feel possible.
I also connected deeply with the company culture. I felt cared for as a person, not just trained as an employee. That mattered to me early in my career, and it still matters now.
Today, one of my favorite parts of the job is developing younger employees. I love hearing a line cook say they want to become a manager and then seeing them accomplish it a few years later.
I’ve said this about every role I’ve had at The Cheesecake Factory: it was my favorite job at the time. I think that happened because I was promoted at the right pace and developed by the right people.
For anyone starting in restaurants today, my advice is to ask questions early, understand the expectations of the role, and look for a company that promotes from within.
Then pay attention to the people doing the job you want next.
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