Cracker Barrel
From Free net encyclopedia
- This article is about the American restaurant-and-store chain. For the unrelated company marketing cheeses bearing the "Cracker Barrel" trademark, see Kraft Foods, Inc.. The operator of a chain of Louisiana convenience stores, Cracker Barrel Stores, Inc., is also unrelated.
Template:Infobox Company$2.06 billion USD (2004) |
products = Homestyle country food/gifts | homepage = www.crackerbarrel.com
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Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., is a chain of 537 "Old Country Stores" as of 2005, each combining a retail store and a restaurant. The chain serves traditional American Comfort food, including grits, and their outlets have traditionally been located along interstate highways, though the company policy on this appears to be changing. There are two menus, one for breakfast and one for lunch/dinner, but breakfast is available all day. The outer patio of a Cracker Barrel store has rows of rocking chairs for guests to enjoy before or after eating, and there is usually a fireplace and a checkers table within the dining area for an added country feel. The retail store carries mainly nostalgic merchandise, collectibles, housewares, crafts, toys, classic candies, and items used in making Cracker Barrel entrees.
Though Cracker Barrel does not offer specifically vegetarian or vegan dining options, they do offer an egg substitute which may be suitable for some vegetarians.
Corporate overview
Cracker Barrel opened its first location in Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1969, and the corporation is still based there, though the original location has closed. Cracker Barrel operates in forty-one U.S. states, namely the lower 48 with the exceptions of California, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBRL Group, Inc.[1] There are no franchise operations.
Public relations
Early in the 2000s Cracker Barrel faced accusations including a pattern of racial discrimination in its treatment of customers. After national press attention to these accusations, the company announced explicit policies intended to address the charges, and the most prominent critics have not repeated their criticisms. Stores now display a sign in their front foyer clarifying this policy, as has become the policy after a similar incident involving Denny's restaurants. In March 2006, Cracker Barrel agreed to pay $2 million to settle class allegations of sexual and racial discrimination brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC v. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.).
In 1991, Cracker Barrel instituted a policy requiring employees to display "normal heterosexual values which have been the foundation of families in our society." The company refused to change their policy in the face of protest demonstrations by gay rights groups, but in 2002, the company's stockholders voted to rescind the practice after ten years of efforts by the New York City Employees Retirement System, a major shareholder.
Cracker Barrel is one of eight companies indicted and accused of making alleged illegal campaign contributions to the Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee, started by Tom DeLay.