This Is Why Cracker Barrel Is So Successful

Mashed ^ | 2/3/23 | Eve Vawter

[DallasBiff]

The first Cracker Barrel opened in 1969 in Lebanon, Tennessee, complete with gas pumps, a concept founder Dan W. Evins hoped would help expand his family's oil business and better serve tourists who were traveling down the interstates and highways. Eventually, all the gas pumps were phased out and the restaurant focused on what it had become known for: down-home country cooking with a southern flair. And it's been a success ever since.

Fans are very passionate about Cracker Barrel. They've won the "Best Family Dining" restaurant award time and again, and people make comments on Yelp like, "Great home environment, outstanding daily deals! [...] First and foremost, amazing customer service. They really act and treat you like family. Everyone is always friendly, always accommodating. The food is home cooking delicious!"

The restaurant serves up menu items that appeal to both adults and children, and even the pickiest eaters. It serves breakfast all day long, which is always a plus. It looks like the inside of your grandma's house if your grandma was some old-fashioned Southern lady who lived on a farm and when she wasn't making you biscuits she was out antiquing. They are famous for their hospitality. And that's not all... there are plenty of other reasons Cracker Barrel has been so successful for the last 50 years.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: crackerbarrel; dei; liberals

[DallasBiff]

An article from 2 and 1/2 years ago. Cracker Barrel has gone the BudLight DEI route and ruined there reputation and business.

I have my own experience at a place that was very successful and where I worked, but brought a hell bent DEI liberal manager and everything went to hell afterwards.

[ponygirl]

Me too. They brought in a bunch of California MBAs to destroy it piece by piece. I quit last year after being there 18 years. Damn shame, as it had a 75 year history.

[alloysteel]

DEI - Deadly Enterprise Immolation.

I miss Uncle Herschel already.

[Leaning Right]

What made Cracker Barrel refreshingly different was the atmosphere (of course).

So, hey. Let’s get rid of that atmosphere, and turn it into just another generic restaurant.

Idiots.

(They probably should have changed the name, too. Maybe something like “Boring Barrel”.)

[philman_36]

Is vs Was.

[FreedomForce]

This doesn’t seem like DEI to me. It just seems like someone who doesn’t understand Cracker Barrel’s customer base. CB isn’t Taco Bell.

[MinorityRepublican]

“was”

[4Runner]

The left has been trying to kill off anything rooted in or supported by Whites and White culture. That’s what all this is about. You’re just not permitted to have a White country or culture anymore. It’s against the laws of diversity.

[MinorityRepublican]

This doesn’t seem like DEI to me.

Umm...look at the CEO.

[libh8er]

The presence of an ‘older white man’ in their logo was not being in with the times per Cracker Barrel and their investors, and had to be gotten rid of. And who better to carry that message than some leftist chick who is their DEI CEO.

[MinorityRepublican]

They probably should have changed the name, too.

Crackers & Cheese.

[Mr.Unique]

What made Cracker Barrel refreshingly different was the atmosphere (of course).

Partly. But the food and service were the pull for me. CB's food (menu options and prep) and service have fallen waaaaaaaaaaay off in the past 10 years.

That's what the CEO should have attacked.

[cgbg]

She is a female superhero—slashing the heads off of white male cisgender colonizers....

as well as her corporation.

[FreedomForce]

I’ve looked at her. She looks DEI, but what she’s doing to Cracker Barrel looks more like modernization than DEI. The problem is that Cracker Barrel customers don’t want modernization.

[navysealdad]

Agree. Service have fallen waaaaaaaaaaay off in the past 10 years.

[discostu]

A year after this article came out the bottom dropped out of Cracker Barrel. They went from making $90 million in FY23 to $41 million in FY24. When 50% of your revenue disappears in 12 months changes must happen. BIG changes.

[stanne]

Knowing what makes them successful only contributes to the CEO’s wanton destruction of the brand

She is most likely getting subsidized to move in and destroy another piece of American culture

Same w all the other mysterious recent self-smashdowns

The NFL, the entire NFL, Budweiser, Target, statues, Columbus, renaming military bases, the Ivy League. The entire Ivy League

All gone. The people perpetrating these destructions stand to gain

That’s all.

[Tommy Revolts]

The Board of Directors is responsible for hiring this idiot.

[jroehl]

LGBT policies
In early 1991, an intra-company memo called for employees to be dismissed if they did not display “normal heterosexual values”. According to news reports, at least 11 employees were fired under the policy on a store-by-store basis from locations in Georgia and other states.[6][13] After demonstrations by gay rights groups, the company ended its policy in March 1991 and stated it would not discriminate based on sexual orientation.[86][87] The company’s founder, Dan Evins, subsequently described the policy as a mistake.[6] From 1992 onward,[88] the New York City Employees Retirement System, then a major shareholder, put forward proposals to add sexual orientation to the company’s non-discrimination policy. An early proposal in 1993 was defeated, with 77 percent against and only 14 percent in support, along with 9 percent abstaining.[89] It was not until 2002 that the proposals were successful; 58 percent of company shareholders voted in favor of the addition.[86]

Between 2008 and 2021, Cracker Barrel raised its rating in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index from 15 to 80 by adding sexual orientation non-discrimination policies and training programs.[90][91][92] Beginning in 2016, the company adopted a pro-LGBT stance, developing an internal diversity council which included LGBT members. Since 2017, the company has sponsored Out & Equal, a workplace-equality non-profit organization.[93]

[SaxxonWoods]

I remember being told in business classes that image is very important. The rest is just mechanics. Bud Light. Coke. Tiger in the Tank. Winston tastes good like a cigarette should. 4 out of 5 doctors smoke Camels.