Cake gets big investor

He's billionaire Nelson Peltz, whose Trian Star Trust investment fund has acquired a 10 percent stake in Calabasas Hills-based Cheesecake Factory. Peltz is no ordinary investor - he's the same guy who won seats on the board of H.J. Heinz (he was unhappy with the stock price and wanted the company to spend more on marketing). He's also made his opinions known at Wendy's, Kraft Foods and Cadberry Schweppes – all part of his vast food-related portfolio. Earlier today, the FTC disclosed that it had approved a transaction by Trian Star Trust that related to Cheesecake Factory. The Cheesecake folks have never been very forthcoming about their business, so this should be interesting. The stock was up 10.7 percent on the news. From Bloomberg:

Cheesecake Factory dropped 34 percent in Nasdaq trading last year, and was down 12 percent this year through yesterday. Profit fell 8 percent last year, the first decrease since 1998. Sales climbed 11 percent. Peltz might push the restaurant chain to boost prices, Brian Moore, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles, said in an interview. The chain has raised prices 2 percent to 3 percent a year while California Pizza Kitchen Inc. has put through 5 percent increases, Moore said. "If you look at Cheesecake Factory's chief customers, they are still there enduring very long wait lines on the weekend,."