The Cheesecake Factory’s longtime design boss says it looks nothing like the Trump White House

By David Mack, CNN

(CNN) — Former President Barack Obama is not a fan of the gilded decor changes President Donald Trump has made to the White House since his return to the power. “There’s gold everywhere,” Obama told Democrats at a rally in Cleveland on Saturday ahead of the midterm elections. “What’s up with the gold? Everything — more gold!”

Then came the punchline: “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”

The crowd laughed and the clip quickly blanketed the internet. A small culture war skirmish quickly went through its motions online — was the quip elitist? — and Trump on Monday defended both his love for renovation projects and his design style. “For you to say it’s a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president,” Trump told reporters.

One of the key architects of the Cheesecake Factory aesthetic said he doesn’t find the comparison funny either.

“I think it’s a little bit sad that the pettiness of politics would create that sound bite, knowing all our challenges going on in the country today,” Rick McCormack, the restaurant chain’s former longtime 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 has seen 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 barnacled over with gold accents and gilded frames — Peter York, author of “Dictator Style: Lifestyles of the World’s Most Colorful Despots,” likened Trump’s flashy design style to that of the former Iraqi leader, noting they and other strongmen 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, bridled at hearing the Cheesecake Factory dragged into things.

“Cheesecake wasn’t covered with gold appliqués and things like that. It really is two different environments,” McCormack said. “It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, this has shiny things on the wall. Cheesecake has shiny things in it. Let’s compare the two,’ but that’s to someone who really is not knowing what they’re talking about.”

McCormack credited David Overton — who opened the first Cheesecake Factory in 1978 in Beverly Hills, California, to showcase his mother’s baked goods — for devising the aesthetic the company is still known for at its more than 200 locations: affordable (if now dated) opulence and maximalism — traits similarly on display in the restaurants’ notoriously lengthy menus.

McCormack had a hand in designing some of the company’s first half-dozen restaurants as a contractor, then joined Cheesecake Factory full-time in 1995, a few years after the chain went public. 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 from a handful of restaurants to new locations across the country.

McCormack rolled out floors made of limestone or granite, walls that were hand-plastered, and lighting that highlighted the grand room’s distinctive features, such as murals on high ceilings and grand columns. Things felt at once Egyptian and European, with a touch of Las Vegas flair.

“Dave always wanted a certain sense of grandeur when he walked in,” McCormack said. “We really wanted to have you walk in and be somewhat surprised that that you could dine there and afford it.”

While representatives for the Cheesecake Factory did not respond to requests for comment, McCormack would prefer if Obama left his old employer out of his metaphors. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Enough people like the design where it’s made Cheesecake a phenomenal success over the years,” McCormack said.

McCormack admits design styles have changed considerably since the 1990s, but he believes the chain’s long-lasting success is partly due to the extravagant dining spaces he helped create. Many Americans can fondly recall hosting special dinners and family celebrations amid the restaurant’s theatrical interiors, which makes him proud.

“Even though on paper, at first you might not think all these elements should go together, but I think the way that they were packaged with this common palette, it drew them all together,” McCormack said.

Part of the reason McCormack thinks most restaurants don’t look like the Cheesecake Factory these days is because it’s simply too expensive to build anything that comes close. “The price of construction has just skyrocketed, and to build a restaurant now is just almost price prohibitive,” he said. “You got to be really smart before you’re spending the money and it’s a challenge.”

McCormack doesn’t see any similarities between the work he and Overton did in the 1990s to the choices Trump is making today. He knows whoever moves into the White House after Trump will probably rip things out to make their own changes, so he’d prefer people talked about more important things and refrain from political attacks. “Everyone has different tastes, and not every design is going to be universally liked, and nor should it be,” he said.

“I just don’t know who gave them that quote and why they thought that was a good one to use, but it’s a little bit sad,” McCormack added. “But the good news is we’re talking about design right now.”

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