Plans For Cracker Barrel Closings in 2022

Joel Eisenberg

Longstanding rumors of deep financial troubles for the perennial chain appear unfounded, and have been addressed.

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Cracker BarrelShutterstock

Author’s Note

This article is based on corporate postings and accredited media reports. All linked information within this article is fully-attributed to the following outlets: Wikipedia.org, ScrapeHero.com, RestaurantClicks.com, Snopes.com, and Investor.CrackerBarrel.com.

Introduction

According to Wikipedia.org: Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., doing business as Cracker Barrel, is an American chain of restaurant and gift stores with a Southern country theme. The company was founded by Dan Evins in 1969; its first store was in Lebanon, Tennessee. The corporate offices are located at a different facility in the same city. The chain's stores were at first positioned near Interstate Highway exits in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States, but expanded across the country during the 1990s and 2000s.

Though the company has been successfully operating within seven decades, they have also been the target of myriad controversies and lawsuits, primarily in the 90s and early-2000s, for various forms of alleged employee and customer discrimination. None of the lawsuits, however, have had a lasting negative impact on their business. It should be noted that Cracker Barrel had suffered a degree of image damage as a result, but has long since passed sweeping company-wide rules and regulations in favor of equal rights.

For further information on said lawsuits and controversies, the above Wikipedia entry includes an overview of those matters.

Regarding current business matters, ScrapeHero.com states the following, which represents the resilient chain, in fact, at a business peak: There are 665 Cracker Barrel locations in the United States as of June 06, 2022. The state with the most number of Cracker Barrel locations in the US is Florida, with 60 locations, which is 9% of all Cracker Barrel locations in America.

Let us explore current business matters further, which has included substantial online chatter about the company permanently closing its doors due to issues unrelated to the above.

Cracker Barrel, 2022

RestaurantClicks.com directly addressed long-standing rumors regarding Cracker Barrel going out of business. The trade website’s March, 2022 article, “The Truth Behind Rumors of Cracker Barrel Closing,” states: While Cracker Barrel was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic like many other restaurants were, the good news is that Cracker Barrel is as healthy a choice as one of its home-cooked vegetable dishes, or maybe even healthier. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store saw revenue growth year over year of more than 11 percent and total revenue of $862.26 million. Wall Street analysts rate its stock, CBRL, a hold. That doesn’t sound like a company that’s closing.

When examining how the rumors started, the company referenced this Snopes fact-check from the prior year: In June 2021, a misleading advertisement appeared to claim that the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store American restaurant chain was closing… Cracker Barrel never ended up appearing anywhere in the 35-page slideshow article that resulted from clicking the ad. According to a news release from May 2021, the company was nearing 2019 levels of revenue after closing some dining rooms during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The report mentioned nothing about closing stores “across the nation.”

The RestaurantClicks.com and Snopes.com articles, as verified by the company itself, elucidated the reason for the widespread rumors while perpetuating word of the company’s contemporary financial strength.

Conclusion

Per Investor.CrackerBarrel.com, company revenues remain strong: The Company reported total revenue of $2.81 billion for fiscal 2021, representing an increase of 11.8% compared to fiscal 2020 and a decrease of 8.2% compared to fiscal 2019.

Cracker Barrel is not going away anytime soon, and the rumors have proven yet again that a lack of discretion continues to be an issue when it comes to reading online articles to the contrary.

To the title of this piece, there are, as of now, no plans for any permanent company closures in 2022.

Thank you for reading.

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I am an award-winning author, screenwriter for film and television, and producer. My mission on News Break is to share socially important perspectives on both culture and pop-culture. Member of PEN America, and the WGA.

Northridge, CA
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