menu had expanded and the restaurant offered additional fast-food and short-order items. Expansion beyond Southern California The 1990s saw the opening of the first Cheesecake Factory restaurant outside of Southern California. The new restaurant was located in Washington, D.C. The Cheesecake Factory was incorporated in 1992 and went public in September 1993. David Overton planned to open 3–4 units a year in the hopes of generating 25% a year increase in sales. The company began changing its menu twice a year and added items including steaks, seafood, and vegetarian dishes. The company continued to open new restaurants and by 1995 was ranked 11th in the United States. As of April 2013, The Cheesecake Factory operated 162 restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory name in 36 states. Plaza Las Américas in San Juan, Puerto Rico, opened its first Cheesecake Factory on August 28, 2013. The company used to operate one self-service, limited-menu express food service operation under The Cheesecake Factory marque inside DisneyQuest at Disney Springs in Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. was opened in 1998 and it was closed in 2017. International expansion The Cheesecake Factory has expanded into international markets by both licensing agreements for other companies to operate franchises, and by corporate ownership. The first store outside the United States was opened at The Dubai Mall in August 2012 as a franchise via a licensing agreement. On January 25, 2011, the company expanded into the Middle East in a partnership with Kuwaiti retail franchising company M.H. Alshaya Co. The 300-seat restaurant opened on August 16, 2012, at The Dubai Mall. This is The Cheesecake Factory's first location outside the United States. In May 2014, The Cheesecake Factory announced that they would open the first Cheesecake Factory in East Asia. The first East Asian Cheesecake Factory opened in Disneytown in Pudong, Shanghai, China on June 16, 2016. Also in 2014, the first Cheesecake Factory in Mexico opened its doors in Guadalajara. As of May 2018, The Cheesecake Factory has eleven restaurants in the Middle East: four in Dubai (Dubai Mall, Mall of Emirates, Jumeirah Beach Residence and Dubai Festival City Mall), three in Kuwait (Arabella, Sidra, and Avenues Mall—which was the 160th Cheesecake Factory opening), two in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh and Jeddah), and lastly one in the Yas Mall and one in The Galleria in Abu Dhabi. On December 1, 2015, The Cheesecake Factory opened its