Up next in 10
Weird History Food is talking about the history of Cracker Barrel. We're pulling off on the next exit because we saw a billboard for the Cracker Barrel. Originally built as a filling station, we're going to show you how Cracker Barrel built its empire and explore why you see so many Cracker Barrels off the interstate. Let's not forget to visit Cracker Barrel's antique store as well.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
If you're into home-style country food or eating entirely too many biscuits in the middle of a road trip
0:05
then odds are you know about Cracker Barrel. Yes! But not everyone has heard the story behind this famously nostalgic old country store
0:15
or about all the trouble they've gotten themselves into over the years. So today, we're going to take a look at the country-fried history of Cracker Barrel
0:23
Okay, grab that bowl of sawmill gravy and browse some of America's finest kitsch while we tell you all about the barrel
0:35
Dan W. Evans was born October 11, 1935, in Tennessee. As he got older, he attended military school, joined the Marines, and served in the Korean War
0:45
After the war, Evans worked as an aide for his uncle, Congressman Joseph L. Evans
0:49
then as a teller at a bank owned by his brother, and finally as a sales representative for an oil company founded by his grandfather
0:56
In business, it isn't who you know, but how many companies your family owns
1:01
It was while he was at this last job that Dan noticed that many of the stations he worked with
1:05
had lost traffic after being bypassed by new highways. To combat this situation, Evans decided to try something new
1:12
He would build a gas station that also functioned as a gift shop and restaurant
1:16
On September 19, 1969, Dan Evans opened his first location on Highway 109 in Lebanon, Tennessee
1:24
He called the business Cracker Barrel. Why? Because they served nothing but saltiness by the pound
1:30
Actually, the name Cracker Barrel has a double meaning. The term Cracker Barrel, which originated in the 19th century
1:37
was a direct reference to the literal barrels of crackers that used to be standard fare in country stores
1:43
But Cracker Barrel is also an adjective, which, according to Merriam-Webster, is suggestive of the friendly homespun character of a country store
1:52
Kind of feels like they added that definition after trying Grandpa's country fried breakfast
1:59
Cracker Barrel's business plan was to target tourists traveling the interstates. Evans reasoned that if the whole chain served the same reliable comfort food
2:08
travelers would learn to look for the franchise wherever they may be. The strategy was a huge success
2:14
Evans got out of the gas business to focus solely on the carb-loaded franchise he had created
2:20
Today, a full 40% of Cracker Barrel's customers are travelers, and a whopping 83% of their restaurants are located off interstates
2:28
In February of 1970, Evans incorporated Cracker Barrel and went on an expansion tear
2:33
building new locations by gas stations off busy interstate roads. The effort paid off big time
2:39
And by 1981, the company went public. If you ever been to a Cracker Barrel or seen a picture of the inside of one then you know that the walls are decorated with all sorts of vintage signs photographs tools and toys like a Depression bat cave
2:56
While it would be natural to assume these are just cheap reproductions used to flavor the decor
3:01
the fact is they're all 100% real antiques, which is another way of saying they're all probably haunted
3:08
When Dan Evans was getting the very first Cracker Barrel ready to open
3:13
he hired local antique store owners Don and Kathleen Singleton to help him achieve the rustic, country store feel he was going for
3:20
They did such a bang-up job, the position has become something of a family business
3:25
Today, their son Larry is now in charge of stocking Cracker Barrels with area-appropriate antiques
3:30
meaning you won't find any team photos of the Cincinnati Red Stockings on the walls of a Kentucky Cracker Barrel
3:36
It's a legitimately huge job. Cracker Barrel headquarters in Tennessee even includes a
3:41
massive warehouse that contains nearly 100,000 such antiques, each meticulously restored and
3:47
prepared for the day it hangs on the wall of a Cracker Barrel. In addition to the antiques
3:52
each location also comes with a few standard features. For one, every Cracker Barrel has a
3:57
horseshoe and ox yoke hanging over its front entrance. There's also always a deer head on
4:02
the wall over the mantle, display a cook stove in the retail area, and a stoplight over the location
4:08
of the restrooms, which implies the bathroom sees a lot of foot traffic. Listen, if you don't make a
4:13
mid-meal trip to the john to make room for more Cracker Barrel, you're not really eating at Cracker
4:19
Barrel. Cracker Barrel is primarily a restaurant, but it derives a full 20% of its revenue from
4:27
retail sales. The chain accomplishes this by taking advantage of the fact that patrons waiting
4:32
for a table are essentially a captive audience with nothing to do but browse the barrel's wares
4:38
including branded food, music apparel, games, and toys. And their online store has pretty much
4:43
anything you can think of, with entire departments devoted to things like clothing
4:48
furniture, personal care, and even something called nostalgic electronics. So like a Game Boy
4:54
holding a copy of its high school yearbook? The strategy is so effective that Cracker Barrel
4:59
makes an astounding $2.7 billion a year in retail. That breaks down to about $415
5:06
for every square foot of retail space, which according to The Motley Fool
5:10
is about as well as Walmart does. Their best-selling item, rocking chairs
5:15
When Dan Evans opened the very first Cracker Barrel, he placed two rocking chairs on the porch
5:20
Since then, Cracker Barrel locations have always kept rocking chairs out front. The chairs Evans selected were made
5:25
by the Hinkle Chair Company of Springfield, Tennessee, and the same company still makes every chair
5:30
for every Cracker Barrel Hinkle a family company that has been in the furniture business for somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 years makes roughly 200 chairs a year for Cracker Barrel
5:41
Cracker Barrel sells those chairs for $219.99. If you do the math, and don't worry, we'll do it for you
5:48
that's just about $44 million a year in rocking chairs. Not bad for an old country store
5:54
And that's not even counting those sweet sock monkey profits. Speaking of toys, Cracker Barrel does
6:00
not want anyone getting antsy while waiting for their food to arrive. So to help customers pass
6:05
the minutes, there's a peg game on every table. For the uninitiated, the peg game is a wooden
6:10
triangle with 15 holes drilled into it. Every hole except one is filled with a peg. To play
6:15
you just jump one peg over another and into an open space. Then you remove the peg that got jumped
6:21
Repeat until, hopefully, just one peg remains. Seems easy, right? Well, it's not. In fact
6:28
If you manage to pull it off, you are, at least according to the game, a genius
6:32
Or you're someone who looked up one of the many How to Beat the Cracker Barrel peg game in one minute videos
6:38
you can find all over the internet. Ah, YouTube. You were the genius all along
6:45
As if the rocking chairs weren't enough, Cracker Barrel is also making a pretty penny selling country music albums
6:51
that are exclusive to their stores. And Cracker Barrel ain't messing around either
6:56
The chain has recruited bona fide country superstars like Winona Judd, Alan Jackson, and even Dolly Parton to record for its label
7:04
In fact, in 2012, Parton's two-disc set entitled An Evening With, Dolly, even went gold for Cracker Barrel's in-house label
7:12
Hopefully, Dolly eats for free at every Cracker Barrel. You know, if she didn't already
7:17
Among many others, Cracker Barrel's exclusive label has also released albums by Alabama, Charlie Daniels, Alison Krauss, and Kenny Rogers
7:26
That's a decent lineup for any country music label, let alone one belonging to a roadside mashed potato dispensary
7:35
Cracker Barrel is truly great at making nostalgic comfort food for weary travelers
7:40
The only thing they're better at than slinging rocking chairs and chicken fried steak is getting themselves into trouble
7:45
In 1991, Cracker Barrel announced that it would no longer employ anyone
7:50
whose sexual preferences failed to demonstrate normal heterosexual values. The company's policy, which was personally instituted by Dan Evans, explained that those
8:00
lifestyles were inconsistent with the values of their customers and shareholders, or so
8:05
they thought. Turns out, the new policy caused a public uproar and generated some massive backlash
8:10
from those very customers and shareholders, and the company eventually reversed the policy
8:15
You'd think Evans would have learned his lesson. But instead he spent the next decade publicly and privately advocating for discrimination against females and minorities And in 2001 shareholders booted Evans from his position as president and CEO of
8:30
Cracker Barrel. His severance package presumably included a peg game and a rocking chair
8:35
However, apparently the problem ran deeper than just Evans. In 2004, Cracker Barrel was sued by
8:41
21 individuals who claimed the company racially discriminated against them. The plaintiffs asserted
8:46
that Cracker Barrel had a habit of seating people of color in sections separate from white customers
8:51
and giving slower service to black customers and sometimes outright refusing to seat them
8:56
It was not a great look. Cracker Barrel eventually settled the case for just under $9 million
9:01
The company has also been accused of discriminating against the disabled, underpaying its employees in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act
9:08
selling decorative pineapples that were slicing people's fingers, serving a customer a glass of kitchen cleaner instead of water
9:15
and serving another customer a burger with a razor blade in it. And before you ask, no, razor blades are not traditionally offered as a side
9:23
Then in 2013, Cracker Barrel ran into some trouble when it licensed its name to a line of supermarket meat products made by Smithfield Foods
9:32
Problem was, Kraft Foods had been selling its own brand of Cracker Barrel cheese in supermarkets since the mid-1950s
9:39
Kraft was worried customers would get confused, which makes sense. We're pretty confused
9:43
So they filed a trademark infringement suit against Cracker Barrel restaurants in 2013
9:49
Once all the dust had settled, Cracker Barrel was left using the name CB Old Country Store
9:54
for its supermarket products, which now includes things like baking mixes, bacon, and deli meats
10:00
More recently, Cracker Barrel stirred controversy by giving customers the option of substituting
10:04
plant-based impossible sausage for the usual meat-based sausage. That may seem harmless, but you don't know the barrel
10:12
The thought of Cracker Barrel offering a non-meat sausage genuinely outraged some patrons
10:18
Apparently, they thought they would be forced to eat it or something. Good news for those who were in favor of the new product
10:24
Cracker Barrel essentially ignored the criticism, and the impossible sausage remains on the menu
10:31
Given how much Cracker Barrel's business model depends on travelers, it makes sense that the company uses billboards as its primary means of advertising
10:40
In fact, Cracker Barrel has over 1,600 billboards in the U.S., accounting for approximately 40% of its entire marketing budget
10:48
The company has even described itself as being among the top billboard advertisers in the restaurant industry
10:54
a distinction we assume it uses to bully other restaurants. The bottom line is that those billboards are doing their job
11:02
As of 2023, the company has 665 locations spread out over 45 states
11:08
That is a lot of rocking chairs