Cheesecake Factory Opens at Bradley Fair Sept. 29: 290+ Wichita Jobs
WICHITA, KS — The sign went up on Rock Road this summer, and east-siders drove past it for weeks, waiting. The wait is over. The Cheesecake Factory opened its first Wichita restaurant at Bradley Fair on Tuesday, September 29, with a staffing target the company put at more than 290 people.
That is a lot of paychecks for one address. Most of the hiring was built around the opening, so here is what that means for anyone applying now.
Need work now? Skip straight to the job links and start searching →
📍 At a Glance
| Business | The Cheesecake Factory |
| Opened | Tuesday, September 29, 2026 |
| Address | 2020 N. Rock Road, Bradley Fair, Wichita, KS |
| Site | Rebuilt on the pad that held Outback Steakhouse |
| Concept | Full-service restaurant and bakery, 250-plus menu items, 30-plus cheesecakes |
| New jobs | More than 290 (the staffing target for the opening) |
| Industry | Food service and hospitality |
| How to apply | cakecareers.com/wichita |
💼 The Jobs: Nearly 300 of Them, Front and Back of House
The company listed the roles it was filling when it announced the date: servers, hosts, bartenders, line cooks, prep cooks, bussers, cashiers, dishwashers, and dessert finishers and baristas. That was a full build of both sides of the house, not a handful of openings sprinkled on top of an existing crew.
That matters for timing. An opening team hires in bulk to fill a schedule from zero; a restaurant already running replaces one server at a time. The bulk window was the weeks before September 29. Now that the dining room is open, expect hiring to look more like any busy restaurant's: steady turnover, posted as it comes, so check the careers site for what is listed today.
Bradley Fair also sits on one of the busier employment corners in the metro. Rock Road between 21st and Central runs a dense strip of retail and restaurant work. If this one does not land for you, you are still standing in the right zip code.
⚠️ Read This Before You Apply
A few honest notes, because the gap between what has been announced and what people assume is where wasted trips happen.
- No public job fair or walk-in hiring event was announced. The only application channel the company named is its careers site. Do not treat the host stand as a hiring desk.
- The 290-plus figure was the staffing target for the opening, as the company stated it. No one has published how many of those seats are still open, and an opening crew is usually largely in place by the first day.
- The company did not publish pay for the Wichita restaurant. Anyone quoting you a specific hourly rate for these jobs is guessing.
💵 What Restaurant Work Pays Around Wichita
Since the company did not post wage ranges, the useful benchmark is the local market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the mean hourly wage for food preparation and serving occupations in the Wichita metro at $15.46 as of May 2025, against $17.86 nationally. Tipped roles in a high-volume, full-service dining room typically land above that group average, but the restaurant has published nothing specific, so treat the market figure as context and ask about pay in the interview rather than assuming.
On the legal floor: Kansas sets its minimum wage at the federal $7.25, with a tipped cash wage of $2.13 and a requirement that the employer make up the difference if tips fall short. Kansas also bars cities and counties from setting their own wage floors, so Wichita, Derby, Andover and Park City all sit at the same number. That floor is not a going rate. Competition in food service pushed real starting pay well above it here, which is why the market average runs roughly double the legal minimum.
🔎 Where to Aim for Restaurant Work Right Now
Whether or not Bradley Fair works out, fall is a good window for food service hiring across the metro as operators staff up ahead of the holidays. Cast wide, apply to several at once, and keep your availability honest.
Start here:
- Server jobs in Wichita
- Line cook jobs in Wichita
- Prep cook jobs in Wichita
- Bartender jobs in Wichita
- Host and hostess jobs in Wichita
- Dishwasher jobs in Wichita
- Barista jobs in Wichita
- Restaurant manager jobs in Wichita
- Cheesecake Factory jobs in Wichita
- All restaurant jobs in Wichita
📋 How to Show Up Ready
Restaurant hiring moves fast, so the applications that get read are the ones that are easy to say yes to.
- Name the shifts you can actually work. Nights and weekends carry the most weight at a restaurant of this size. Vague availability reads as a maybe.
- Put volume on your resume, not just the job title. "Served a 14-table section on weekend dinner turns" tells a hiring manager more than "server, two years."
- Apply for the role you can start in, not only the one you want. Back-of-house openings on a new crew often move to better stations within months.
Your Next Shift Starts With an Application
The Cheesecake Factory application lives on the company's own careers page at cakecareers.com/wichita. While you are at it, set yourself up to catch everything else opening across the metro this fall: create a free LocalJobPage account and browse every Wichita job on the board in one place.
Employers: hiring a fall crew of your own? Post your openings on LocalJobPage and reach Wichita job seekers who are already looking.
Related Reading
- Wichita Restaurant Jobs 2026: Who's Hiring in Food Service Now
- Fall 2026 Wichita Job Fairs and Hiring Events: Your Complete Guide
- Wichita Entry-Level Jobs 2026: 7 Employers Hiring Now
- Mokas Coffee Keeps Growing in Wichita, Bringing New Cafe Jobs
- Wichita Retail Jobs 2026: Who's Hiring Across the Metro Now
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the Cheesecake Factory open in Wichita?
Tuesday, September 29, 2026, at Bradley Fair on North Rock Road. It is the chain's first Wichita location.
How many people did it hire for the opening?
The company set a staffing target of more than 290, across servers, hosts, bartenders, line and prep cooks, bussers, cashiers, dishwashers, and dessert finishers and baristas.
How do I apply?
Through the company's careers site at cakecareers.com/wichita. Applications for the opening crew opened in July, and no walk-in hiring event was announced. Check the site for what is posted now.
Where exactly is it?
2020 N. Rock Road, in the Bradley Fair center on Wichita's east side, on the pad that previously held Outback Steakhouse.
What does the job pay?
The company did not publish wage ranges for the Wichita restaurant. For context, the Bureau of Labor Statistics put the Wichita metro mean for food preparation and serving occupations at $15.46 an hour in May 2025. Ask for specifics in your interview.
Do I need restaurant experience?
The company has not stated experience requirements. Restaurant crews usually mix entry-level roles such as busser, dishwasher and host with experienced server and cook hires, so apply for what fits.
Bradley Fair has been the east side's front porch for a long time, and it does not add 290 jobs at one address very often. The dining room is open now; if you have been circling that corner of Rock and 21st looking for a way in, check the careers site for what is still posted and keep the rest of Rock Road on your list.
