Posted on 09/09/2025 11:57:28 AM PDT by xxqqzz
It’s not just Cracker Barrel’s ill-fated logo change that has been irking customers — as corporate bean counters this year quietly forced the chain to serve up day-old biscuits and microwaved meatloaf, The Post has learned.
The unsavory menu staples at the folksy restaurant — including biscuits that arrived at tables “hard,” “rubbery” and “like a rock” — were the result of a nonpublic February directive that prioritized “cost savings” and “efficiency” over customer satisfaction, multiple employees told The Post.
Instead of making biscuits fresh each day as Cracker Barrel’s kitchens had done for years, the chain’s 650 locations were ordered to bake them a day in advance and freeze them — then reheat them in hot boxes the next day, one veteran cook told The Post.
“They thought that we’d be faster and out sooner if we weren’t rolling out bread,” the source said.
“People want biscuits to be buttery and soft,” she added. “The most common complaint we’ve gotten is that our biscuits are sometimes like a rock.”
Likewise, Cracker Barrel’s signature meatloaf was cooked the day before and tossed into a microwave for just over a minute before being served — another stealthy measure to save money, according to sources.
“Before, we cooked it in our oven and the cook would cut it up still in the pan, which was in our steam line,” the cook said. “It was fresher.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I got somebody’s leftover meatloaf during a visit to a Cracker Barrel in Arkansas. I knew this because of the macaroni noodles stuck to the underside of it. I didn’t order macaroni.
And they think we’ll never notice
Don’t let your accountants make culinary decisions!
Corporate got busted.
I think the humble bread is just about the most upfront indicator of what quality dinery you are in.
>serving day-old biscuits
That just ain’t right! To use the vernacular.
Eewwwwwwwww!!!!
...directive that prioritized “cost savings” and “efficiency” over customer satisfactionAnd what will their next cost savings tactic be after customer satisfaction with the food goes into the toilet? Skip the janitorial services? Reduce the dishwasher water temperature? Put in dim bulbs? Or fire the dim bulbs on Mahogany Row?
Part of CB’s charm was that the cooking tasted more like down home.
That began to change with cost cutting steps like this. You want your customers back? Cook like you used to.
What’s it going to add...a buck a plate? Folks will pay that.
I second the motion.
I bet the CEO doesn’t know how to make a meatloaf and I bet the original owner does. They don’t teach how to really understand your business at Harvard or Yale. They know where the closest stylish coffee is.
Absolutely.
I have been a customer of few establishments that went “Corporate” and within months the quality took a nose dive, the cost cutting measures where overtly obvious, and I was compelled to go somewhere else.
It's pretty much the standard business model for chain restaurants.
Cracker Barrel food was dead to me about ten years ago.
Well bless their hearts.
Because at that point the restaurant was only there to make enough money each month to pay the rent and the financing - customers and employees be damned.
They're investment vehicles, not restaurants.
CEO didn’t go the Harvard or Yale or have an MBA. She has Bachelors in Communication from University of Miami.
I’m surprised that they told the wait staff to just wipe off the plates and silverware with a cloth ( thanks for the idea Hillary). Also forget about washing cups and glasses! Nobody will notice once they are filled
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