Cheesecake Factory Business Expansion into Canada

Introduction
If someone were to have gone to Montréal, they may have quickly become familiar with the numerous tourist attractions, elements of scenery, or simply learned to adore the French language. However, regardless of what may have caught their attention, there is no denying just how wonderful the city truly is. To ensure its prosperity, Montréal has become a force for innovation and talent, as well as for economic, international and social development. Because of these advancements, the city has been considered as one of the best places to both live and visit in all of Canada, even going beyond the limits as one of the friendliest cities in the world. It continuously demonstrates itself to be an amazing location for any business, whether one starting small or beginning to expand. In saying, this proposal is to share ideas as to how Canada can offer one of its liveliest cities as a potential location and branch for The Cheesecake Factory. By investing the company as a branch in Montréal, Québec, The Cheesecake Factory is putting forth the belief to thrive in the city’s local economy, and become a successful component of its various other locations. The Cheesecake Factory is a great company that can maximize their profits and broaden their company growth by investing in this specific city; its delicious food, modern architecture and friendly atmosphere are what would it would bring to both citizens and visitors to the province. As the first Cheesecake Factory opened in Canada in Ontario’s capital, Toronto, for the first time, excitement and interest were solely generated by fellow Canadians; this proposal is to bring forth the idea that these exact feelings can be brought and experienced by a larger, potential population of consumers.
Why The Cheesecake Factory should invest in Canada
When investing into the Canadian markets, many businesses sourced in other countries – including the United States, etc. – who have expanded into Canada have seen commercial success in various different locations across the nation. This success is mainly due in part to the benefit Canada offers to these businesses in their respective industries. Specifically, in regards to this proposal, The Cheesecake Factory should invest in more than one Canadian location for numerous reasons – all of which are to the benefit of the company itself:
Economic Innovation
 To begin, Canada’s strong focus on innovation and creativity in a vast majority of public industries has been noted to strongly encourage both young entrepreneurs, as well as established business leaders, to develop more efficient and effective means in the sense of managing, developing, and starting new businesses. Saying this, Canada has the benefit of both a great business foundation and current-stable economy in place, in order to open newer opportunities for better investments to be made for present locations in the country. For example, in a variety of trade organizations such as the Group of Eight (G8), Canada is considered a fair location to conduct business, simply due to the environment of encouragement given from the developed innovation within different companies. Likewise, for many Canadian business owners in a particular industry, there are many opportunities available to support the potential but gradual expansion of their businesses; the encouragement of these ideas for a business within a particular setting allows for more opportunities to become available over time. The opportunities in question allow for individuals in question to be given chances to refamiliarize with the economy’s trends, and begin to plan ahead. For example, various financial support programs may become available for an individual to use to their benefit. Canada’s encouragement of such endeavors allows for the flow of innovative ideas for various business owners. Through this, Canada has created a positive and efficient environment for the majority of business owners to thrive in their particular industry.
Development in Major Cities
 Another reason as to why a corporation such as The Cheesecake Factory should invest in Canada is because of the potential for development to arise in a majority of Canada’s popular cities. Over time, Canada will continue finding new ways to successfully grow and develop its own economy, especially with the help of foreign businesses (or Foreign Direct Investments) being provided as an add-on to the growing economy. If more investors are drawn to the efforts of Canadian businesses, they may decide to begin investing in Canadian companies, or choose to expand their own within Canadian borders. This is more-so true while looking at Canada’s larger cities – Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa – many of these cities alone create a large amount of Canada’s GDP growth, with Montréal alone accounting for approximately 10 percent of Canada’s GDP growth (“Why invest in Canada?”, 2012). Because these large cities have almost a greater access to means of manufacturing, education, etc., it is able to show that they are constantly developing and improving upon previous milestones in their potential businesses in order reassure the value of consumers to their business; the developments in these major cities for consumers allow for industries such as restaurants and services to be more successful in larger areas.
Offers Access to International Markets
 Lastly, a corporation like the Cheesecake Factory should invest in Canada because of the its access to international markets for potential investors. For all investors, the success of a company relies on strong access to markets, in order to broaden their customer base. Canada offers this access through an extended and growing list of trade agreements held with various countries around the world. These agreements are able to represent ambitious trade expansion plans into different global markets. For both Canada and investors, this becomes an advantage, as it is able to maintain access to products from different areas for the world. Canada has numerous friendly ties to many countries with connections to customers interested in their products and resources around the world. The aforementioned restaurant industry with The Cheesecake Factory has many companies in a type of competition with one another, however as a result of this competition, they are likely to receive a high demand in another country, where such an establishment was not available before. The presence of potential investors in other countries makes them a more appealing country to invest in, knowing their strong connection with other countries are effective, thus allowing for said investors to begin seeing Canada as a trustworthy nation with a greater potential for expansion and monetary gain.
About Montréal, Québec
The largest and most populous city in the province of Québec, as well as the second-most populous city in Canada following Toronto, Ontario, Montréal is known as one of the most diverse yet cultured cities in all of Canada, holding high rankings as one the best cities to live in in terms of opportunities, quality of life, and the availability of luxuries. Although Québec City is the political capital of Québec, Montréal is both the cultural and economic capital, acting precisely as the main entry point to the province itself. It is a city rich in culture and history, and a well-deserved reputation as one of the liveliest and most animated cities in North America (“Montréal”). In accordance with worldwide statistics, Montréal is the second-largest French-speaking city in the world, behind Paris, France. Even though Montréal’s economy has been extremely positive in recent years, the city remains quite affordable in comparison to other central major cities in both Canada and the United States. Montréal has an estimated population of 1.75 million, as of 2016 (“Montréal Population 2018”). Due in part to its colonial history, the largest ethnic groups are those of European origin. The largest European ancestries in Montréal include a large majority of French (~26 percent), Italian, Irish and English descendants. The remainder of the population belongs to a visible minority (otherwise abbreviated as v.m.) The most common visible minorities included Arabs, Latin Americans and South Asians, as shown in the pie chart above (“Montréal Population 2018”). In accordance to demographics, the ages which see the highest members of the population include both males and females in two separate categories; between 25 to 29 years of age, and 30 to 34 years of age (Institut de la Statistique du Québec, 2014). As Montréal is a city with beautiful architecture, it is worth to take note of one of its most well-known attractions, such as the Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montréal; with Roman Catholic roots dating back to the early 1700s of European settlers in Québec, this central church has remained a core attraction in the downtown area for decades (Canadian Interiors, 2017). With the city’s location, popularity, and rich history showing to be key aspects in terms of attraction for the city, Montréal’s economy offers many benefits for businesses to invest in, especially with regard to any specialized industries of choice (such as the restaurant industry, etc). To begin, Montréal has one of the most defined economies in Canada, with a number of independent industries run by consumers in various demographics. As such, also in part to its location, Montréal is accessible internationally, through a majority of international transportation. The economy of Montréal is the second largest of all the major cities in Canada, and the leading economy in Québec; it acts as a centre of technology, commerce, finance, and world affairs. By the end of 2015, Montréal was responsible for $193 Billion of Québec’s $370 Billion CDN GDP (“The 150 richest cities in the world by GDP”). Popular industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications, with a majority of headquarter offices having a presence in various districts. The city’s service sector has strength and includes civil, mechanical engineering and research and development. With all these contributions to the Canadian service industry, Montréal has become is one of the most diverse economies.
Why The Cheesecake Factory should be opened in Montréal, Québec
        Montréal is known as one of the most developed and open municipalities in Canada, offering great investment opportunities for new businesses to arise. Because of this knowledge, many companies may see Montréal as an innovative and modern city with plenty of connections to be made among themselves, employers, and potential consumers. Due in part to its national status, Montréal is able to use these opportunities to its advantage; becoming a greater part of the global economy. Saying this, Montréal is an advantageous location to place The Cheesecake Factory, however a few specific reasons will be mentioned below:
Tourism
Firstly, tourism acts as one of the most important industries in Montréal in terms of generating local revenue. On average, the city welcomes approximately eleven million visitors from various locations around the world throughout the course of a year – including China, Japan, the United Kingdom, United States, and Mexico. The tourism industry has found success mainly due in part to the various locations open to tourists, which hold key aspects of the city’s history and past government influence, while also having many approachable natural elements. The successful nature of Montréal’s tourism industry can be further shown through the total generated revenue; in 2017, a sum of $4 billion had been brought to the city, showing an increase of 9.7 percent from the previous year (Ayala, 2018). Having a Cheesecake Factory located among this mass of foreign and local visitors show countless benefits for the business in question, such as the increase in sales over a short period of time. As a large number of tourists approach these restaurants, the sales in these businesses, as well as others, will have high sales. As more and more people travel to a popular location, they are bound to try new and different things, especially in relation to food and dining. Because The Cheesecake Factory is also a location that has a fairly large menu of options, it allows for their consumers to feel less constricted about what they may want to order. As a final note, younger demographics, who are visiting the city with family members, may feel intrigued to try establishments that they are more familiar with, otherwise have heard of. The benefit of this is expanding the restaurant to reach a more common demographic that may go to the establishment more often, thus increasing sales and overall success of the business over a short amount of time.
Geographic Location
        Additionally, Montréal’s natural location in southern Québec acts as a great location for The Cheesecake Factory to invest towards, especially when considering the potential of exposure. The city’s strategic location allows for the seamless movement of imports and exports to and from North America to continents such as Europe and Asia. The Northeast North American corridor surrounds Montréal with one of the largest ports in North America, as well as three airports, including two international airports – Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport and Mirabel International Airport (Montréal International, 2016). Adding additional means of both national and international transportation – by land, ocean, or sky. With these types of resources available for use, it allows for different industries to manage any amount of supply they may receive from either local or international suppliers. With the investment of a business in a lively city such as Montréal, it becomes as no surprise to find potential connections being made on a wider – and possibly global – scale. Without access to such resources, businesses may not be able to expand to broader clients or consumers.
Diverse Economy
        One final reason as to why The Cheesecake Factory should decide to invest a location in Montréal is mainly due to the economic diversity that becomes available from members of Montréal’s younger demographics, especially in the city’s various industries, such as food services and restaurants. The majority of businesses in Montréal manage the opportunity to support up-and-coming businesses, similar as to how The Cheesecake Factory may be supported with aspects such as financial backing. Given this support from other industries, a restaurant such as The Cheesecake Factory begins to develop further opportunities to expand their business to a target demographic, as mentioned previously.
Competition and Competitors in Montréal
As Montréal itself is known to have one of the most popular tourism industries in all of Canada, there are bound to be instances that generate competition for rivaling businesses across the city. As for The Cheesecake Factory, competition may still prove fierce, as a majority of restaurants rely on their location in packed commercial areas, attempting to attract tourists. In saying, Montréal is home to a variety of different locations holding both restaurants and dessert shops; one similar combination of the two is a popular restaurant called Toqué!. The establishment currently holds a second-place spot as one of Canada’s best restaurants, out of an established one-hundred (“Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants 2018”, 2018). It is known for its farm-fresh Québécois dishes, including numerous freshly-made desserts – such as cheesecakes – offered as part of its menu. Due in part to its open location in short distance of shopping outlets and positive critical reception, Toqué! has attained a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars through Google Reviews. Furthermore, one of the most popular dessert restaurants in Montréal is C’ChôColat, rating 4.4 out of 5 stars, as well as being highly reviewed by both guests and critics. C’ChôColat has adapted to a type of modern-European style, similar to that of The Cheesecake Factory, albeit offering additional European pastries on their menu. Another acclaimed restaurant includes Montréal’s Da Emma. Similar to the previous locations, this establishment holds a 4.5 out of 5 stars, located in nearby distance of shops along Commune St W. Similar to The Cheesecake Factory, it has an Italian aesthetic found through its design and overall atmosphere. In comparison to The Cheesecake Factory, each of these locations have the advantage of French – or Montréalen – culture incorporated within their establishments, from their menus, offered portions and expected pricing. However, each also lacks the simple attraction that The Cheesecake Factory has brought to its international locations, allowing it to be known as both a well-respected and acclaimed establishment.
 

(Left to Right, bottom): Interior of the three aforementioned restaurants – Touqe!, Da Emma, and C’ChôColat respectively. Here it can be noted that all have a unique yet modern-French aesthetic, solely based on the surrounding culture. This may be more difficult to achieve with a foreign business coming into the city from another location or country.
 

Conclusion
In summary, as stated throughout this proposal, Montréal can be acknowledged as one of the best locations for The Cheesecake Factory. Generally, Canada has countlessly shown itself to rank highly among numerous aspects of the economy and world of business, acting as an appealing location to expand a franchise into. Primarily focusing on Montréal and their success in Canada can be seen through analysing the city’s excellent economy, diverse demographics, and overall benefits that the city is able to provide towards growing businesses, regardless of its industry. As well known as it is, Montréal demonstrates itself to have advantageous benefits with a stable business economy and foundation fit for potential growth and further success as time goes on. As part of an economy that heavily relies on the actions of businesses and consumers, Montréal has everything in its advantage for this location to be successful and to be a competitor within the city’s own restaurant industry. Looking at Montréal’s liveliness, beautiful architecture and numerous tourist attractions makes the very experience of Montréal all the more worthwhile. By investing The Cheesecake Factory as a location in this city will mean having a larger selection of employees available to the business, a large market base, amazing locations to put this particular branch and the ability to share the amazing cuisine and atmosphere. It is a city where the name will be more known than ever imagined, and would be exposed to different cultures and communities. Montréal is a beautiful and welcoming city a corporation such as The Cheesecake Factory are able to successfully flourish among the local population. However, regardless of its expansion into a Canadian city, the many benefits listed above strongly encourage consideration for Montréal, Québec to be the next location for The Cheesecake Factory; with its flourishing tourism, diverse population and ever-expanding economy, it can be said with certainty that Montréal would help make the franchise even more successful.
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