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Cracker Barrel

National country-style restaurant chain.

Headquarters:
PO Box 787
Lebanon, TN 37088
Employees: 70,000
CEO: Michael Woodhouse
Stock Symbol: CBRL

Website: http://www.crackerbarrel.com

Cracker Barrel is a national chain of country-style restaurants offering breakfast, lunch and dinner menus that feature home-style comfort foods and a retail store that offers a wide selection of gifts, music and packaged foods.

There are currently 588 Cracker Barrel Old Country store restaurants in 41 states. Menu items are moderately priced and include country ham, chicken n' dumplins, meatloaf, fish, roast beef, beans, turnip greens, vegetable plates, salads, sandwiches, pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage and grits. The restaurants do not serve alcoholic beverages.

Each restaurant serves an average of 7,350 guests per week with $4.18 million in annual sales per location.

The stores are constructed in a rustic, country store design and feature a separate retail area offering a wide variety of decorative and functional items specializing in hand-blown glassware, cast iron cookware, toys, apparel and wood crafts as well as various old fashioned candies, jellies and other foods.

Every Cracker Barrel unit is open seven days a week with hours Sunday through Thursday, 6 a.m. - 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 6 a.m. - 11 p.m.

The company had revenues of $2.38 billion in fiscal 2008 and net income of $65.5 million.

History

In the late 1960s, Dan Evins worked as a Shell Oil "jobber" in rural Tennessee. Driving from town to town, he would spend hours thinking of new ways to sell gasoline to folks traveling on the highways and interstates. All that time driving helped him understand people needed a place they could trust when they travel. So in 1969, Evins brought his latest idea to life when he and a local contractor scratched their building plans in the dirty on Highway 109 in Lebanon, TN. This dusty blueprint marked the spot of the original Cracker Barrel Old Country Store location.

1969 - First Cracker Barrel Old Country Store location opens in Lebanon, Tenn.; features a gas station
1980 - Company goes public; named one of 12 "stocks to pick" by Money magazine
1991 - 100th location opens
1994 - 200th location opens
1997 - 300th location opens
1999 - 400th location opens
2004 - 500th location opens & 35th anniversary

Benefits

For hourly workers, Cracker Barrel offers three pay raises in your first year, flexible scheduling, and paid vacations. Workers don't share tips and wages are on-par with the best in the industry. There's also training, performance-based pay and benefits, and eligibility for 401K savings plans. Hourly workers get a 50% discount off meals during their shift.

Updated July 27, 2009