Watch out... you're insulting a member of the "boss-ship" of the forums....for his reference since he wouldn't know Southern speak from German, that's the way we say ruler....lol
Cracker Barrel
- Thread starter Ransom
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The business model for CB probably doesn’t work well today. Their standard model building has a lot of square footage (wasted space). Their attached stores mostly contain nostalgic candies and items that harken back to the 50s and 60s. Unless you are in your 70s or 80s, most items are probably meaningless, but twenty years ago, those same people were middle aged and spending money there.
If they want to survive, they’ll probably need to shrink their footprint, modernize their store inventory, and change their menu. I also know so many Yankees have moved to the South, and many of them probably aren’t digging the menu. It might seem unfair, but it is what it is.
If they want to survive, they’ll probably need to shrink their footprint, modernize their store inventory, and change their menu. I also know so many Yankees have moved to the South, and many of them probably aren’t digging the menu. It might seem unfair, but it is what it is.
It just leads to another Southern based company going down the tubes. Let this generation have the slop they eat, Jack's, McDonald's, Burger King, Whataburger, Taco Bell, Wendy's, and Dairy Queen...for what you pay for that garbage you can still get a decent ( or one used to be able to until this current administration took over) meal at CB....
It’s hard to beat CB’s biscuits and gravy. I’d love to see them reimagine their restaurant and somehow not lose their culture and menu. Maybe lose the store, cut the square footage in half, etc. Hopefully there’s a middle ground somewhere.
Think of going to the Hard Rock Cafe and finding the vibe to suddenly have nothing to do with rock nostalgia.
The vibe is the thing. Down home, old-fashioned cookin' in a down home, old fashioned environment, barrels being the usual shipping containers for things like sugar, salt, pickles and crackers, etc. to the rural general stores of the late 19th early 20th centuries.
Another franchise, local to me, goes by the name "Country Kitchen."
It's not a controversy as much as the usual clientele's derision of the execs' glaring disconnect, and well-earned, I might say.
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Something I never thought I’d say but Ekk is correct!
I could care less.
They are focused on everything except their menu... their food is not competing.
They are focused on everything except their menu... their food is not competing.
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This made me laugh out loud
I haven't been following, but would there have been much of a fuss if they'd just announced the closing of Cracker Barrel and the reopening of, say, Metrosexual's?
This does seem to be a kind of in-your-face thing.
This does seem to be a kind of in-your-face thing.
We have had Cracker Barrel here in Pittsburgh, PA for several decades now, I remember Cracker Barrel in NW Indiana back in the early 90's. That's when I first saw CB. Not just a Southern thing. In fact, I remember a CB opening up in Mayfield, KY, less than 10 years ago, which is a lot more Southern than where I live.
We had "Country Kitchen" in Illinois, and there was one in Augusta Georgia when I moved there in 1983. But, it closed in the late 80s. We ate at one in Kentucky a few years back on a trip to Indiana. My father said that outside of Waffle House his favorite restaurant was CC..
I can understand the derision.
Cracker Barrel has always represented something of the past, a bygone innocence of a sort.
You could go in there eat and your ears not be assaulted by the latest of what is called music.
It was a slice of the past, low key, decent food, a fire place, relics of the past on the wall, a country store that wasn't appealing to the latest ideologies.
Kind of like sitting in your favorite easy chair (no matter how old or what kind of condition it is in.)
Sitting back in that easy chair and just going, 'ahhh'.
Some of that charm began to fade when they started serving alcohol.
To be honest, I've never seen anyone drinking alcohol there even after they started serving it.
And I guess the fact that it is another well known company that seems to be giving into an ideology that is just an affront to a lot of people (like it or not, the last election kind of proved that).
I don't think the clientele that eats at CB asked for this change.
Some people think that their food quality has lessened and wish they would improve on it...
But I just ate there two weeks ago and had one of their camp fire meals.
Aside from being a little more expensive than I wanted to pay, it was absolutely delicious.
I'm not all up in arms about what they are doing, (there are a whole lot more pressing problems to attend to) but I am saddened as to the direction they are taking.
Their change of venue will have some influence as to whether I go back there or not,
Believe it or not, the style of venue was an attraction for going there.
Now, it's just another 'diner'.
Cracker Barrel has always represented something of the past, a bygone innocence of a sort.
You could go in there eat and your ears not be assaulted by the latest of what is called music.
It was a slice of the past, low key, decent food, a fire place, relics of the past on the wall, a country store that wasn't appealing to the latest ideologies.
Kind of like sitting in your favorite easy chair (no matter how old or what kind of condition it is in.)
Sitting back in that easy chair and just going, 'ahhh'.
Some of that charm began to fade when they started serving alcohol.
To be honest, I've never seen anyone drinking alcohol there even after they started serving it.
And I guess the fact that it is another well known company that seems to be giving into an ideology that is just an affront to a lot of people (like it or not, the last election kind of proved that).
I don't think the clientele that eats at CB asked for this change.
Some people think that their food quality has lessened and wish they would improve on it...
But I just ate there two weeks ago and had one of their camp fire meals.
Aside from being a little more expensive than I wanted to pay, it was absolutely delicious.
I'm not all up in arms about what they are doing, (there are a whole lot more pressing problems to attend to) but I am saddened as to the direction they are taking.
Their change of venue will have some influence as to whether I go back there or not,
Believe it or not, the style of venue was an attraction for going there.
Now, it's just another 'diner'.
I always thought of CB as a Southern thing because that's where I first encountered it. Don't know how long they've been in Coeur d'Alene... I never paid attention to it. Hmmm.
I was in Osh Kosh a few weeks ago, and I was surprised that there was not a Cracker Barrel there either, but there was missing a lot of other restaurants that I frequent as well.
It was funny that Wal Mart sold gift cards to a lot of restaurants that were not open in Osh Kosh.
Being there was like going back about 20 years in life.