People: The Cheesecake Factory Inc (CAKE.O)

Mr. Laurence B. Mindel is Independent Director of The Cheesecake Factory Inc., since March 2, 2012. Mr. Mindel will serve on the Board’s Compensation Committee (“Compensation Committee”) and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. He has nearly 40 years experience as a restaurant creator, developer and operator and is currently the managing partner of Poggio Trattoria, an award-winning Italian restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1970, he co-founded Spectrum Foods, whose restaurant portfolio included, among others, California-based restaurants Ciao, Prego, MacArthur Park, Guaymas and Harry's Bar. Following the acquisition of Spectrum Foods by Saga Corp. (NYSE) in 1984, Mr. Mindel served as President of Saga's restaurant group where he directed the operations of more than 200 restaurants with combined revenue of over $375 million. Following his departure from Saga in 1986, he founded and served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Il Fornaio, a restaurant company he took public in 1997 (subsequently taken private in 2001) and on whose board of directors he served until July 2011. Mr. Mindel's professional honors include receipt of Nation's Restaurant News "Golden Chain" award, International Foodservice Manufacturers Association "Gold Plate" award, and Food Arts Magazine "Silver Spoon" award. In 1998, he was inducted into the California Restaurant Association's Hall of Fame.