Cracker Barrel is going through fundamental changes.

I don't eat at diner/breakfast places much but all I know is IHOP is way better than Denny's! First time I had IHOP a few years ago and their breakfasts are much better.
Goddamn right they are! Just don't get the healthy harvest combo in an attempt to lose weight.....take it from someone who did that right before shipping off to basic training and just barely passing the weight to get in. It might be healthy, but it's not low cal, lesson learned. Got me all bloated, I literally had a drill sergeant walk by and see me in line, he says "you're gonna have a hard time here man". I was so embarrassed lol.

Worth it.
 
Your projecting your fears dude. I see black regulars at the local Cracker Barrell all the time. Like 30 percent of there regs are black and probably around 20%+ non white.

Some of yall just seem afraid of anywhere old white people frequent.
It's because some people never interacted with white peoples much. They watch TV and see political propaganda or reruns of Archie Bunker and think that's what old white people are like.
 
Maybe Deaf is right. They're not doing enough to give us the full racist experience we deserve. Make one half of the restaurant fancy dinnerware, and the other troughs and latrines
 
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Ya ain't kidding brother. Part of the problem is I love seafood, and I make a decent little lower middle class income, so while I'm not wealthy, I always used to feel that we pretty much ate what we wanted and bought what we wanted within reason. The past three years, that has changed on a massive level. We don't go out to eat anymore except for special events, like our anniversary, her birthday, or my daughter's birthday. We don't even go out for Father's and Mother's Day anymore, just make each other something at home :/. Pretty lame.....
I like picking up sushi every time I hit up Sam's Club. It's cheap and you get more than you do at other grocers.
 
Goddamn right they are! Just don't get the healthy harvest combo in an attempt to lose weight.....take it from someone who did that right before shipping off to basic training and just barely passing the weight to get in. It might be healthy, but it's not low cal, lesson learned. Got me all bloated, I literally had a drill sergeant walk by and see me in line, he says "you're gonna have a hard time here man". I was so embarrassed lol.

Worth it.
The third time I went (I think it was third), the server made a mistake. She forgot to bring me hash browns as part of the combo platter. I told her and she apologized and brought me TWO blocks of hash browns!
 
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Your projecting your fears dude. I see black regulars at the local Cracker Barrell all the time. Like 30 percent of there regs are black and probably around 20%+ non white.

Some of yall just seem afraid of anywhere old white people frequent.


Like I said, I've been a few times and the staff was nice. I ALSO said I know of other POC who had bad experiences. Had nothing to do with them being uncomfortable around white people
 
Rebranding is nothing new. If a company is losing business, a new logo and/or rebranding is about as easy as it can get, in terms of potential solutions.
It almost certainly won't work - but why not try?


If they really want to start making money, though, they need to fix their food, then heavily-advertise that they've done so.
The market has shifted, at this point. People want something genuinely-delicious, like they see on social media.
If they're spending restaurant-level money, they don't want something equal to fast food, which is what Cracker Barrel currently is.
Cracker Barrel's current menu is the plainest of plain food, meant for people who have never experienced any halfway-decent food (Much less good food.).


My wife's family and extended-family absolutely love Cracker Barrel. They use the nearest location as a meeting point for basically any get-together, pretty much regardless of where they are.
To be clear, they're Mormons.
Like... hardcore Mormons.
These people put a single teaspoon of salt into the entire bowl of mashed potatoes. These folks remove the skin and boil chicken thighs. These fools don't trust themselves to not set the house on fire when using a grill; so they don't own grills.
They think black pepper is, 'Just a bit too spicy.'


They love Cracker Barrel.


If you actually think Cracker Barrel is good food, I implore you to expand your horizons.
 
Like I said, I've been a few times and the staff was nice. I ALSO said I know of other POC who had bad experiences. Had nothing to do with them being uncomfortable around white people
Relax DF.

It's a chain with tons of wooden tables and chairs, and all kinds of random knick knacks on the walls and in the gift shop. It seems to specialize in breakfast platters and pub food.

Don't worry. None of the decor, $12 food combos or older aged customers are going to get you.
 
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Rebranding is nothing new. If a company is losing business, a new logo and/or rebranding is about as easy as it can get, in terms of potential solutions.
It almost certainly won't work - but why not try?


If they really want to start making money, though, they need to fix their food, then heavily-advertise that they've done so.
The market has shifted, at this point. People want something genuinely-delicious, like they see on social media.
If they're spending restaurant-level money, they don't want something equal to fast food, which is what Cracker Barrel currently is.
Cracker Barrel's current menu is the plainest of plain food, meant for people who have never experienced any halfway-decent food (Much less good food.).


My wife's family and extended-family absolutely love Cracker Barrel. They use the nearest location as a meeting point for basically any get-together, pretty much regardless of where they are.
To be clear, they're Mormons.
Like... hardcore Mormons.
These people put a single teaspoon of salt into the entire bowl of mashed potatoes. These folks remove the skin and boil chicken thighs. These fools don't trust themselves to not set the house on fire when using a grill; so they don't own grills.
They think black pepper is, 'Just a bit too spicy.'


They love Cracker Barrel.


If you actually think Cracker Barrel is good food, I implore you to expand your horizons.

Right!

I'm reminded of this restaurant in Atlanta that COULD have just had a straight, cracker barrel like milquetoast menu... But they basically elevated southern cuisine. They have DELICIOUS southern food with one or two changes. Some with a twist!

I'm of the opinion CB needs that type of menu
 
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I like picking up sushi every time I hit up Sam's Club. It's cheap and you get more than you do at other grocers.
I do the same damn thing bro, do it for shrimp and crab cakes too lol. Store delis are far, far better than they were when we were kids, they're honestly pretty damn comparable to a decent little spot these days. I'm gonna pay three times the price just to sit down somewhere and eat? Nah. I'll grab some drinks, grab some lime and lemon, get some yum yums at the deli, and I'm setting up at the house, and we're gonna have a better time for far less.

......can't smoke a joint at a restaurant anyway lol.
The third time I went (I think it was third), the server made a mistake. She forgot to bring me hash browns as part of the combo platter. I told her and she apologized and brought me TWO blocks of hash browns!
Bradley Cooper Applause GIF by The Academy Awards


That's the best fucking feeling dude lol.
 
It's a lame rebrand. I'm curious what the store looks like. Half of the appeal to Cracker Barrell is the overly cluttered store filled with crap no one wants that my half senile grandmother would fill her house with.

The restaurant itself looks unappealing, sterile, and lame.
 
I've been to Cracker Barrel a few times. To me it didn't feel "home-y". It felt like I went back in time when I wouldn't have been able to sit with white people. The staff were nice, tho.

But I know of other POC who had bad experiences in a CB.
^ This is exactly why many people assumed the change was motivated by wokeness
 
I've been to Cracker Barrel a few times. To me it didn't feel "home-y". It felt like I went back in time when I wouldn't have been able to sit with white people. The staff were nice, tho.

But I know of other POC who had bad experiences in a CB.
My black grandparents go to Cracker Barrel whenever they want, and have never complained about mistreatment. It's just a restaurant, not a Jim Crow reenactment center!
 
Look up Buttermilk Kitchen in Atlanta. It's home-y and they have the traditional southern cuisine
Locations that only have one or a handful of locations have an expectation of being better for locals than a chain. Their menu is tailored for a local audience, where as a chain is aimed as a familiar dining experience no matter where you go. If a tourist from Arizona is in Georgia or Minnesota and they're on a budget but hungry, they know what they like at Chili's. Local dining is hit or miss for tourists and it sucks to drop $40 on a meal you didn't like and may have not finished.

One trip I had to Georgia a local recommended a pizza place to me and I found that shit to be disgusting. $30 pizza I barely touched, then went to Waffle House afterward because I was still hungry.
 
My black grandparents go to Cracker Barrel whenever they want, and have never complained about mistreatment. It's just a restaurant, not a Jim Crow reenactment center!
Good to hear there's Black people who arent afraid of restaurants with wooden tables and chairs. lol

And for those who dont know, the name Cracker Barrel actually has to do with that in a literal sense. Long time ago piles of soda crackers were sold in barrels. It has nothing to do with Cracker meaning poor white people.
 
I never really liked the food from Cracker Barrel, but I did like the ambiance/decorations. Felt old school farm house. I don't care for the new look at all, and probably still won't like the food.
 
This is what every company on earth is doing...
Boring logo... boring interiors

Not sure why Cracker Barrel of all things pushes people over the edge.

I mean.. have you been in a Mcdonalds lately?
Its basically a kiosk in building form. The newest ones don't even let you order at the counter.


Look at Pizza Hut. In the 80s this was an actual restaurant. People born after 2000 don't fucking get it. They used to give you pitchers of Soda. When was the last time a restaurant gave you a pitcher of Soda?
Even the poors in America used to live like kings.

Now even upper middle class eats food out of a glorified vending machine for 5x the price.

No, no, don't get in the way of the Twitter grifters blaming gay people for this instead of corporate capitalistic greed !!

They gotta get those clocks somehow, and it ain't by being informational.
 
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In college my black RA and I ate at a Cracker Barrel weekly. I don't think he felt unwelcome. This was 2000 - 2002.

Maybe people looking for problems and offense find it every where. Those that don't have a good time.

You are once again discounting and dismissing experiences because it's not your experience.

"Must be false because they're snowflakes"
 
We didn't realize how good we had it back in the 80s through late 90s when it came to chain/themed restaurants. We had Ponderosa Steakhouse, Steak & Ale, Po'Folks and early Cracker Barrel, the unapologetically in your face TGIFriday's, Fuddruckers, the mega rise of celebrity joints like Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood, cheap all-you-can-eat buffets like Shoney's and Ryan's and Kettle…

Now most of those places are either out of business, have turned into shells of their former selves, or blew up into mega brands (like Hard Rock) to the point where they lost their luster.

I don't want to go out to eat at chain restaurants anymore, not just due to price but because they all FEEL the same. Same sterile design, same inoffensive decor, no real thematic elements, and the food rarely stands out.
 
You have never been alive during a time where you could not sit with white people. If you think that the problem is you.

Maybe he was born before 2004?


Specifically, the complaint alleges that Cracker Barrel:

- allowed white servers to refuse to wait on African-American customers;

- segregated customer seating by race;

- seated white customers before African-American customers who arrived earlier;

- provided inferior service to African-American customers after they were seated; and

- treated African-Americans who complained about the quality of Cracker Barrel's food or service less favorably than white customers who lodged similar complaints.

The Justice Department's investigation revealed evidence of such conduct in approximately 50 different Cracker Barrel restaurants in seven states: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
 
The only problem i had with cracker barrel was that with all that shit on the wall dust piled up. Lots of times there would be fishing reels, model cars, and other small trinkets doting the walls on shelves that were never cleaned.

But that peg board game on the table is iconic. Just a brain dead change.
 
How long before they gonna remove Colonel Sanders logo from KFC?
Is he ever in the adverts anymore? It won't be long…

In the UK we get adverts with stupid 20 year old somethings dancing to some shit music I've never heard of with 'believe in chicken' as the strap line.
 
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This is what every company on earth is doing...
Boring logo... boring interiors

Not sure why Cracker Barrel of all things pushes people over the edge.
I think because again the company itself has a very distinct spin - Southern cuising with country atmosphere and decor. This is the same as that Jaguar fiasco - misreading what majority of your audience wants from your company because you are chasing different clientele.
 
We use to have the coolest 50s McDonald's that I worked at in high school. It is now a generic McDonald's. It had a 57 Chevy in the lobby and tons of memorabilia. I hated that they changed it.
IIRC McDonalds basically had to rebrand themselves after the backlash they received from movies like Supersize Me and claims that they were advertising their food to children.
Good to me. Shame it didn't do anything to avoid the epidemic.
 
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