Posted on 09/22/2023 7:08:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Retirees have lost their appetite for Cracker Barrel and Olive Garden since the pandemic — and it’s not clear when they’ll come back, according to the chains’ top brass.
No amount of biscuits and gravy or unlimited pasta refills seems to be enough to entice the 65-and-older crowd as they continue to pinch pennies amid high inflation and duck the coronavirus, according to Rick Cardenas, chief executive of Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden.
“I do believe that they were a little bit more spooked on the COVID side,” Cardenas told analysts on a Thursday conference call. “We’d love to see them come back more frequently.” Indeed, seniors are heading to the budget-friendly pasta chain less often than they had before the pandemic, added chief financial officer Raj Vennam on a conference call on Thursday with Wall Street analysts.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Went there years ago.I was surprised at how ‘not good’ they were. Won’t go back.
It is frustrating these places that serve food that the bill always turns out to be half a hundred and is not much above a frozen dinner.
I’ve noticed the Cracker Barrel here isn’t nearly as busy as it used to be. I think it’s a combination of them pricing themselves out of their market and people catching on to the lackluster food.
I’ve actually seen their parking lot nearly empty on a weekend. If you lose the weekend traffic you’re in deep doo doo.
“It is frustrating these places that serve food that the bill always turns out to be half a hundred and is not much above a frozen dinner.”
Ain’t it though.
But as long as foolish people patronize such establishments nothing will improve. Sometimes it’s just people having to go to the “in” place that someone is crazy about. Other times, they’re just damned fools.
“We prefer locally owned restaurants for sit down, not chains”
Same here, and we have lots of good places in Panama City, FLA.
I’m so sorry for your loss. My brother died young and I saw what my parents went through. They’re together now, and that gives me peace. God bless you and your family.
1. Renaming the restaurants "Dixie Chicks"
2. Hiring Dylan Mulvaney as the new face on all commercials
3. Offering 1/2 price on Bud Light.
What could possibly go wrong?
Biscuits and gravy = slopping wet flour on top of a lump of dry flour. Yum. s/
I’ve never cared for Cracker Barrel, food quality has never ever been high enough to justify their price point.
But yes, if you aren’t hopping as a breakfast joint on a Sunday morning after church, you are in trouble.
I suspect, covid lockdowns have also affected overalll attendance of church, like all things, and they are probably still down to below their pre pandemic levels, and this is likely cascading down to restaurant attendance in general on Sunday mornings..
Olive Garden is a lot of things, but authentic Italian it is most definitely not.
I put Cracker Barrel and Applebees in the same category....YUCK.!
My wife and I enjoy Olive Gardens unlimited Soup Salad and breadstick specials.
Same here and on departure you can order a couple of their five dollar specials that usually last us two or three meals at home.
This Senior is capable still of cooking. Just fewer meals. A meatloaf for 2, is 3 days of supper. Bacon, eggs, and biscuits are 2 meals. Eggs are provided by my hen’s Deep yellow yokes. A pot of beans is 5 meals if extras are added as it is used, and side dishes changed out. The bread machine makes the bread for most of the week. Only Hub uses milk on kiddie cereal. I cook with half and half. Spaghetti is 3 meals.
We did BDs with a butcher shop steak and corn on the cob. Anv. was a BOGO rack of ribs from the 4th and potatoes, 2 meals.
The only thing from the frozen aisle is the occasional pizza, 2 meals.
Well stocked pantry of sales items.
Avoid Marco’s pizza, lousy product.
If the economy wasn’t headed south like a scalded dog they might be doing better. But I’ve noticed here in my community people aren’t out and about the way they were pre-covid.
At my mom’s church they used to go out after services one Sunday a month. Covid cut that out and they have no plans to restart.
Before I stopped going to Olive Garden, our group would bet on how many olives were in the salad...we would guess less than three and were usually correct. Many times there were just one olive in the entire bowl of salad. Olive Garden?
I am so sorry to hear about your son. Depression is a horrible thing. When people think they don’t matter any more and everyone would be better off without them, they couldn’t be more wrong. It’s a crushing blow to those who remain. I remember spending a year on the phone almost every night with the sister of a man who ended it; can’t even imagine the parents’ grief. Take your time and know it was not about you. There is so much “out there” affecting people these days—we’re no longer in “Mayberry” surrounded by people we grew up with. Cling to the good memories. God bless you and give you peace.
Cracker Barrel breakfast is excellent, the rest of the menu is meh.
Then they changed the breakfast menu to make it more ala carte and it seems far more expensive.
I travel a ton for work. CB isn’t on my list anymore.
Cracker Barrel has become a freak show, no way will I eat at a place that hires freaks. That includes soy boys, dykes with rings in their nose and ears and the ones that don’t know what sex they are.
It was a nice place to eat and had a cool gift shop but the fools ruined it.
As far as Olive Garden goes, I ate there once back in the 80’s and the the customers were mostly loud mouthed over weight and very rude broads from New Jersey. Never went back.
So funny! My husband and I ate at OG yesterday following a Dr's appt. I had the soup and salad and my husband had the 10.99 lunch special (shrimp scampi) and iced tea. There were 3 olives in the salad. (I hunted for more).
My husband ate the shrimp (6) and about a third of the spaghetti plus my second bowl of soup. Total bill was $25.00 and change including a 20% tip. We each got 4 mints (had to ask for them) on our way out. We like OG.
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