Posted on 08/23/2025 8:34:01 AM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at mashed.com ...
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I haven’t had a decent meal at CB in over 7 years. Stale, poorly prepared garbage held under heat lamps in the back.
Service sucks, too.
“An article from 2 and 1/2 years ago. Cracker Barrel has gone the BudLight DEI route and ruined there reputation and business.”
They hired a woman. Their problems before feminizing were due to the post-Covid economy, where mid-level restaurant chains are in a terrible situation, as their labor costs are through the roof (and the labor costs of their suppliers), yet they don’t have the critical mass for automation like the McDonald’s can now do to greatly lower their lower costs. On the other side, mom and pop joints can hire people off the books, often family members, but others too, and not have to risk big headlines if they’re caught.
They should have realized the situation, buckled-down, and ride it out while closing some locations, but NEVER messing with their customer base. But instead they hired a woman, and thus they were force to let her “change things”.
They phased out the gas pumps. To go along with their new image, they should put in electric charging stations at all their parking spots.
She was successful at Taco Bell, but as i said earlier in the thread, Cracker Barrel isn’t Taco Bell. What they’re doing to CB isn’t going to work.
I could care less that CB ruined their image. The fact that their food is mediocre is their more compelling problem.
Someone said this earlier....
Fast Food on a Plate.
“She looks DEI”
***********
I’ve never seen anyone that looks like her eating at a Cracker Barrel so its hard to understand the company going with someone who is visually the epitome of a DEI liberal. They must not care about their stock price.
Yup—they are “out and equal”....
Hopefully down and out and equal with the rest of the dying or dead woke corporations.
About a year ago we were served cold coffee. Absolutely no excuse for that.
LOL. How true.
” They went from making $90 million in FY23 to $41 million in FY24. “
What I found said FY2024 Revenue was $3.47 Billion. But we might be looking at different things.
What made it attractive was that it was an OLD country store! You walked through the myriad charming rows of merchandise to get to the restaurant.
Obviously, that model can’t expect to show blockbuster growth, since there are fewer and fewer of the elderly every day.
That’s what it was. Trying to make it a slick, modern restaurant with the name “Cracker Barrel” will fail. Maybe the new ceo should have considered opening a new chain of restaurants that would appeal to the young, and downsizing Cracker Barrel as needed.
Cracker Barrel without the dude on the logo sounds like the name of an insane asylum.
Recently listened to a theory that said hedge funds often buy companies, strip them dow significantly, lay off many, and squeeze every last penny out of it, destroy its reputation for good service and policy, and leave it a mediocre entity before selling it off. Only time will tell the true motive here with CB.
90% of what you read and 100% of what you hear is bullshit.
I just looked again. You found total. I found net. I thought I found total, so you are right. Not much gross revenue growth though, and serious profit margin shrink.
If somebody reads to you then 190% is BS.
“90% of what you read and 100% of what you hear is bullshit.”
What I learned and followed allowed a great retirement by age 60.
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