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Seniors Have Stopped Eating at Cracker Barrel, Olive Garden — And It’s Not Clear When They’ll Come Back
New York Post ^ | https://nypost.com/2023/09/22/seniors-have-cut-back-on-dinners-at-cracker-barrel-olive-garden/ | Lisa Fickenscher

Posted on 09/22/2023 7:08:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway

click here to read article


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To: FarCenter
Salt does do that, but...

https://foodanswers.org/is-butter-fattening/

I’m not a dietician but saying butter is not fattening, well many would disagree. Moderation in everything of course.

61 posted on 09/22/2023 7:50:43 PM PDT by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: nickcarraway

My city has had several local diners the seniors always frequented. Unfortunately a few of them are gone. Not sure where they go now.


62 posted on 09/22/2023 7:52:22 PM PDT by peggybac (My will is what I wanted. God's will is what I got.)
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To: HereInTheHeartland

I pretty much use the drive thru and get a croissant or bagel to go with my homemade espresso. Greek salad or breakfast bagel sandwiches otherwise. Some stuff is overpriced, but high quality. Very good staff.


63 posted on 09/22/2023 7:53:04 PM PDT by jjotto ( Blessed are You LORD, who crushes enemies and subdues the wicked.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Agree, 100%.

And, it’s like half of the country is in a trance, as to what is happening, now :-(


64 posted on 09/22/2023 7:54:01 PM PDT by Jane Long (What we were told was a conspiracy theory in ‘20 is tnow fact. Land of the sheep, home of the knaves)
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To: for-q-clinton
"Seniors love routine."

I resemble that remark.

65 posted on 09/22/2023 7:55:47 PM PDT by buckalfa (Gut feelings are your guardian angels)
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To: nickcarraway

Having been in a couple of those places since the pandemic, mostly the people wanting to go there the most are *really* old. One possibility is that the senior contingent that really loved eating there simply died in the interim.


66 posted on 09/22/2023 7:58:11 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: nickcarraway

On the other hand, I was at a fish fry at a tavern in far south Chicago tonight which looked like the dining hall at a retirement community. It was full of customers.


67 posted on 09/22/2023 7:58:28 PM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican (The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog. )
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To: nickcarraway

It’s the high prices. Secondarily, it’s the realization that these joints are starch central.

When times were a tad looser, these folks could go for a $10 meal and escape for $15 beverage, tax and tip.

Now that most of these restaurants have skipped right over the $15 price point for a meal and gone to $18-$20 and the escape price is bordering on $24-$30 all-in for truly unremarkable food, it’s turned into a dumb decision.

I could count on one hand the number of times I’ve eaten at an actual restaurant in the last 2-3 years. And I am no kind of cook, I can work a Geo Foreman grill. There was a kind of Mediterranean kebab burger joint that had a very good $10 burger near me that I liked. That burger today is $18.50. I cannot physically make myself walk into the place, sit down, and order a burger.


68 posted on 09/22/2023 7:59:43 PM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (The Democrat breadlines will be gluten-free. )
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To: nickcarraway

This is no knock on Olive Garden (well, maybe a little), but if you have a local Italian restaurant, try to eat there. They could use the business, too.


69 posted on 09/22/2023 8:02:02 PM PDT by csn vinnie
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To: Jane Long

Stupid comment .

….


70 posted on 09/22/2023 8:03:07 PM PDT by Mears
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To: nickcarraway

Let see in the US people have exhausted their saving and credit over the last 3 year due to the underreported real Biden created inflation. When people have to spend all they got just to make ends meet, there no money for “extras” like eating out. You see all dozens of social media posts daily by people saying how broke they are. I never use to see these prior to Bidenomics.


71 posted on 09/22/2023 8:05:10 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (Biden Regime delenda est)
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To: PeaRidge
That's why I quit going to Texas Roadhouse. But now I have noise canceling headphones so now maybe I'll go back.

😃

CC

72 posted on 09/22/2023 8:07:10 PM PDT by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV.)
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To: nickcarraway

Cracker Barrel doesn’t want the senior crowd. They have tried to rebrand by offering alcohol and getting rid of the old favorites that seniors liked and replacing them with crap that they think will attract a younger crowd. With the current conditions in Bidenistan they’ve had to raise prices and cut corners on what was already pretty plain fare. And they pay crap, so they can’t keep cooks and are constantly training new ones.

It’s not working. The younger folks that wouldn’t be caught dead in a CB still aren’t coming, and a lot of us older folks have either reduced visits to CB or stopped altogether. Used to be a decent, value meal - now overpriced and inconsistant.


73 posted on 09/22/2023 8:07:33 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite its unfashionability)
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To: nickcarraway

Another thing people miss is how inflation creates disaster in the supply chain.

Restaurants have to pay much higher costs for everything from food to lighting to wages. The short sighted corporate response is often to start cutting corners on the quality of the food. Doesn’t take very many poor quality meals to lose the senior crowd.


74 posted on 09/22/2023 8:11:34 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (Biden Regime delenda est)
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To: Mears

Yes, your comments typically are stupid....so, there is that.

I happen to know elderly folks who loved going to Cracker Barrel, on a regular basis, and, no longer can....thanks to adverse effects of the jabs.

I’m sure they are NOT alone.

So, kindly stuff it in your pie hole.


75 posted on 09/22/2023 8:15:41 PM PDT by Jane Long (What we were told was a conspiracy theory in ‘20 is tnow fact. Land of the sheep, home of the knaves)
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To: MNJohnnie; nickcarraway

Restaurants have usually absorbed the cost of carryout containers and bags but those items can easily add about 5 - 10% to the cost of materials.

Since carryout was their bread and butter during the pandemic persecution they understandably don’t want to charge a “carryout fee” but...


76 posted on 09/22/2023 8:16:35 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: DouglasKC

It is odd because during covid I found that I could go in a restaurant, sit down, take my mask off and eat, and I tricked the covid virus good because it couldn’t tell I took off my mask. Then I had to put that mask back on because I knew that old covid would find me walking to the door.

/sarcasm


77 posted on 09/22/2023 8:18:27 PM PDT by dforest
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To: Some Fat Guy in L.A.

I think you’re on to something there. The Crackle Barrel brand is not healthy regardless of politics and likely headed for deep stagnation.


78 posted on 09/22/2023 8:19:09 PM PDT by lodi90
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To: Some Fat Guy in L.A.

I think you’re on to something there. The Crackle Barrel brand is not healthy regardless of politics and likely headed for deep stagnation.


79 posted on 09/22/2023 8:19:11 PM PDT by lodi90
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To: nickcarraway

Nonsense. Covid has little to do with declining business at these restaurants. The economic downturn during the Covid scam was, first and foremost, self-induced. The teacher’s unions wanted everything forever locked down, as did many other socialist Democrats.

All that notwithstanding, I sense a cultural shift. Whether permanent or not I don’t know, but it’s combination of factors.

Let’s be honest, first, people are just not as happy as they once were, are generally more grumpy, and go out less. Second, the economy is a driving factor regardless of how great the media keeps telling everyone the economy is. Third, let’s face, a lot of things, including dining out, has become a chore. A lot of retail places are woefully understaffed making almost everything in daily life much more difficult than the way most of us remember. People have less money. People are not as carefree cheerful. Retail transactions have often become much more hit-or-miss with every retail worker now begging for tips.


80 posted on 09/22/2023 8:33:22 PM PDT by Obadiah
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