Cheesecake Factory – the chain restaurant known for its huge menu and “weird” interiors – has been hit with a lawsuit over a dish that was allegedly “smothered” in peanut sauce and served to a customer with a peanut allergy.
According to an exclusive report from The Independent, 22-year-old Caylin Tucker was at dinner with her parents at a Cheesecake Factory location in the Houston, Texas, area last June when the alleged incident occurred. Per the lawsuit, Tucker told their server about her peanut allergy and they told her that her order could be made without peanuts.
Peanut allergies are one of the most common causes of a life-threatening allergic reaction to food, according to the Mayo Clinic. In people with peanut allergies, the body’s germ-fighting immune system reacts to peanuts as a threat, a system known as anaphylaxis. Results of a 2025 study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Biology indicate that approximately 4.6 million U.S. adults have peanut allergies.
When Tucker’s order arrived, she took a bite. She “immediately noticed” that the food was “smothered in peanut sauce,” said the complaint. It also said that the allergic response also began – Tucker’s tongue and lips started to swell and her throat started to close up, the onset of anaphylaxis.
“As Tucker struggled to breathe, she broke out in hives, the complaint continues,” said The Independent’s report. “Cheesecake Factory employees began apologizing to Tucker upon realizing the gravity of the situation, according to the complaint.”
Tucker then “required emergency medical treatment and incurred substantial medical expenses,” per the complaint. She also suffered “physical pain, mental anguish, emotional distress, physical impairment, inconvenience and other damages,” it added.
“The complaint does not specify the dish that Tucker ordered, or whether or not the peanut sauce was visible to her before she started eating. It also does not say if she had an EpiPen with her – a self-administered dose of epinephrine, which can buy precious time for someone in anaphylaxis – or if she was taken to the hospital,” The Independent said.
A search of the menu listed on the Cheesecake Factory website this Saturday showed 21 results for the search term “peanut,” including Asian Chicken Nachos, Thai lettuce wraps, multiple salads, Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp and specialty deserts. Today, there are more than 300 Cheesecake Factory locations around the world, and the restaurants have more than 250 menu items.
Santa Clarita, California- A view of the Cheesecake Factory location at the Valencia Town Center mallGetty Images“Tucker’s attorney did not respond on Monday to messages seeking further details,” said The Independent. In the lawsuit, Tucker’s legal representation is listed as Johnson Garcia LLP. She is seeking a money judgement for past and future medical costs as well as other alleged hardship caused by the incident.
While the Cheesecake Factory is a popular dining destination, with YouGov data released earlier this year showing that it is particularly popular among Gen z and millennial diners, The Independent noted that this isn’t the first time that the company has faced a lawsuit over illnesses related to food it has served. For example, it cited a Wisconsin man was awarded $14,000 after he contracted scombroid poisoning from an apparently spoiled piece of mahi mahi at a Cheesecake Factory near Milwaukee.
