I doubt my husband ever fired anyone for giving away mayonnaise - although it may have been the more costly and delicious tartar sauce - not all the facts are in.
Could be wrong, he generally worried more about the employees stealing the liquor - now that’s a huge problem and it’s hard to catch waiters and bartenders at it.
Some here might not understand that rules for restaurants are different from place to place-maybe they think those muffins can be put out to serve for several days.
I’m not familiar with the rules other city health departments use regarding cooked food left over at closing time-last time I had a friend who owned a restaurant in the city near here-SA-anything left over that had been cooked there and had already been put out-like bread items-had to be tossed at closing time-she and her kids took home some leftovers, but the rest had to be 86’d or she’d get fined.
If the rule at that Cracker Barrel is the same, isn’t giving it away more sensible-not to mention more charitable-than wasting perfectly good food?