Death of American staple as CEO tanks her own company's stock by announcing they're 'not as relevant' anymore

Daily Mail ^

[algore]

An iconic American eatery's stock has plummeted in recent week after the company's CEO said the restaurant is no longer 'relevant'.

Cracker Barrel, the Southern country-themed restaurants with 662 locations across the nation, has been diminishing in popularity over the past decade - with its loyal clientele of elderly people failing to return after the pandemic.

The business tanked even more when its chief executive Julie Felss Masino told investors, 'We're just not as relevant as we once were.'

While speaking on an investor call, Masino, who took over the CEO position nine months ago, admitted, 'Some of our recipes and processes haven't evolved in decades.'

Since the call, the 54-year-old company's shares fell by nearly 20 percent.

On Thursday, Cracker Barrel traded as low as $45.35 - a 52-week low that marked its lowest level in over a decade.

The stock closed today at $45.67 - down 2.1 per cent since Masino's comments.

Cracker Barrel's yearly dividend was slashed from $1.30 per share to just 25 cents.

Last Thursday, the Southern eatery announced plans to spend $700 million over the next three years to drive up its popularity.

The restaurant rose to prominence after it was founded in 1969 as patrons flocked to its all-American dishes, like biscuits and gravy and fried chicken.

[SaveFerris]

(The reason the menu hadn’t changed in decades is because people LIKED it!)

Yes, when something is working, don’t “fix it”

[j.havenfarm]

With glasses like that she must be really smart

[MinorityRepublican]

Silly lady. As a CEO, learn not to stick your foot in your mouth.

Not her fault. Like you said, "silly lady".

[waterhill]

I cook and eat at home 95% of the time. Going to my local diner or TexMex joint is a treat.

[Bullish]

I’m in SoCal, never even been to Sacramento and I hear I ain’t missing much.

[Rockingham]

Cracker Barrel would do well to identify and expand gluten free menu items and add salmon so as to cater to health concerns of their older patrons. In addition, they could add vitamin and mineral supplements to their menu and store, along with health books and magazines.

[HIDEK6]

My thought.

[A strike]

BULLScheiff

[FrankRizzo890]

*sigh*
Born and raised in Nashville, Cracker Barrel is a middle Tennessee business. I’ve gone to them all my life, and I love them. I’ve been to one as far north as York Pennsylvania, and as far south as Port Charlotte Florida. I ate at one in Boise a couple of years ago, and at the one in Vegas last year. There were 3 in the Portland area but paying $10k a month for security to keep the homeless from emptying the “store” and harassing the customers was too much so they closed them. My ex-wife was a waitress at one in the 90’s, and a cashier at a different one in the 80’s. I had my order down to a “T”. The waiter at my local one (Bryan) didn’t have to ask what I wanted anymore until they changed the menu. I had seen this change coming though, as I saw it down in Florida. They took away a BIG swath of the breakfast meals and replaced them with a scheme that I likened to a Chinese restaurant menu. “1 from column A, 2 from column B”. But I adapted and just moved up the country boy breakfast. The biscuits and grape jelly remind me of the ones my grandmother used to make. This place was my link to having breakfast with her in my early teen years.

Over the years lots of things have came and went, but the CORE was always the same until the “Chinese menu” happened. Also, my local Portland locations started serving alcohol! “Would you like a mimosa with your scrambled eggs?” I knew some idiot was in charge, now I know who it is.

I pray she gets replaced before she kills my all-time favorite restaurant, and it’s associated links to my childhood.

Oh! Also guys, as you can tell I’ve eaten at MANY of them, and there’s something that I’ve noticed. The NEWER they are, the better the food is. I ate at an ANCIENT one in Florence South Carolina a couple of years ago and it wasn’t good. So I’m not blind to the fact that some of them can suck.

[HIDEK6]

One of the problems with restaurants now days is they are expensive, food is crap and in small amounts, and the service is nonexistent or poor.

I used to eat out for most of my meals. But tonight, after choir practice, I thought, “Do I really want to deal with a surly waitress who demands a 30% tip?”

I thought not and cooked at home.

[wardaddy]

Went downhill after Evins family sold it

Woke and all

[bondjamesbond]

She looks like the new prototype CEO you find in the center of the wreckage of many once great companies.

[wardaddy]

I’m sure she’s woke but I don’t see black roots myself

[wardaddy]

I doubt she keeps her position

[ArcadeQuarters]

“We are excited to celebrate Pride Month with our employees and guests” — Cracker Barrel

[Zhang Fei]

[BULLScheiff]

---

Maybe you’re the target customer. How often did you go before wokeism, circa 2019? Afterwards? Last time I went was 30 years ago. It’s good, but easily replicated by home cooks. When I eat out, I want stuff that’s hard to prepare at home. For me, that’s sushi, Mediterranean standards and French cuisine, not chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy. I get the impression it caters to nostalgia - it’s essentially food prepared like home cooking from a bygone era, back when full-time homemakers spooned out fairly bland fare. Today, people eat out a lot and partake of all kinds of cuisines. The repeat customer volumes are tanking because the customer base for the same food, day in and day out, is dying out.

[alexander_busek]

July, 2023: Julie Felss Masino, Taco Bell’s international president, succeeds Sandra Cochran, who served as CEO and president of Cracker Barrel since 2011. [...] Masino has about two decades of experience working with restaurant companies, most recently serving as Taco Bell International president for over three years. In that role she oversaw the growth of the division to over 1,000 restaurants across 32 countries, according to the press release. She also spent two years as the chain’s North America president. While at Taco Bell, she partnered with franchisees and teams to open over 800 new units across the U.S. and internationally. Most of Masino’s restaurant career was spent at Starbucks, where she held several positions over 12 years. Her roles included interim CMO of Starbucks China, VP of strategy Americas and EMEA, VP of global beverage and VP of global merchandise and packaged food.

She looks remarkably young to have already had such a career.

Regards,

[alexander_busek]

I think that the following statement was from 2023:

Masino, age 52, has had a long and successful career driving innovation and growth for globally loved and recognized restaurant and retail brands.

Again: Remarkably young-looking!

Regards,

[cva66snipe]

Several Tennessee restaurant chains over the years even before COVID had started becoming their own worst enemy. Cracker Barrel is trying to appease the FREAKS whom 20 years ago was accusing corp of FREAKS EMPLOYEE rights violations. With that said quality has diminished in the food preparation and they need to return to their original menus. Also alcohol sales cost them customers. They are a family restaurant. But they talk about Seniors? LOL OK I can address that one. When families go out to eat together one thing done is engaging in conversation which in a Cracker Barrel dining area is almost impossible. The seniors opt out for a quieter environment where they can hear.

Another Tennessee based restaurant called Shoney's gets worse by the day. Shoney's is a company that has been around long before Cracker Barrel and had a huge amount of regulars especially weekends. They had steaks, sea food, you name it. Now they have a hot bar with food warmed over several hours in their so called Hot Bar. It's sad when they can't even handle a decent salad bar anymore. Their Breakfast Bar also used to pack in customers late Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. It too is now horrible.

These places think they can serve mediocre quality food and keep customers happy. When customers start not coming back because of it they don't have enough good business sense to go back to what worked.

[ifinnegan]

Generic careerist CEO’s that have never built anything in their lives but take over successful corporations and ride on momentum but never provide energy of acceleration.