Sometimes you just can’t make up the things you see in the news. A few weeks ago, while on the cross-Montana leg of my journey, my phone started exploding with notifications about a well-known American restaurant chain. Turns out they tried to make some proactive strategic moves, but one of them bit them in the hind quarters.
Cracker Barrel has become a highway mainstay the last 30 years, with more than 600 restaurants in nearly every US state. They have been fabulously successful using about one-third of their store to sell country-themed merchandise and candy, which customers are forced to peruse while they wait for a table. And once seated, the menu features a wealth of homespun comfort foods that is more hearty than healthy, appealing to an unpretentious middle class market segment.
The company suffered greatly during COVID, and was struggling to find new ways to kickstart itself. They added beer and wine, a few premium items, and a build-your-own breakfast option in an effort to attract Millennials as well as those from higher income brackets.
Oh, and they also added Impossible Sausage, the plant-based sausage alternative from the folks who make the Impossible Burger. And you would have thought the sky were falling to read the online reactions of loyal Cracker Barrel customers. Cue the head explosions.
Turns out those loyal customers rather like eating at a place that has long belligerently turned its nose at fat and cholesterol. While it was technically possible for someone to dine vegetarian at Cracker Barrel, going vegan was tough. Think dry toast, or grits without butter or milk. This is not your old hippie cafe across from the university.
It’s just that some of those loyal customers are now threatening to boycott their favorite place, all because they don’t want any of those healthier options (or maybe I should graciously say “less unhealthy”) and implicitly, the people who eat them. Ouch. Some even said that Cracker Barrel had become “woke,” showing how little they understand about the word.
Thus far, Cracker Barrel has held its ground. They have long needed to broaden their appeal, even pre-dating COVID. Their target audience is getting old and cranky, and you have to evolve along with your customers. I did check their beer list, but it is decidedly pedestrian, just the kind of thing I would have expected from Cracker Barrel. It’s a step in the right direction, though, although I was surprised that some of Cracker Barrel’s more churchy customers would be off-put.
But herein lies the gist: No one is making anyone eat these faux sausages, just like no one is making anyone drink beer or wine with their meal. Don’t want it? Don’t order it. Pretty simple.
I’ll be honest. I gave up on Cracker Barrel years ago. I doubt I would ever back, unless they did a serious overhaul of the menu. I don’t care what other people eat, as it is their business. But what I eat is MY business. It probably helps explain why I gravitate toward Thai and Indian restaurants, where I know how things are prepared. And old hippie cafes across from the university. Not my university, mind you, as this is cattle country. But when I am on travel, I also gravitate toward college towns filled with profs and students. They’re my tribe.
It’s just too bad that Cracker Barrel had to see its customers’ real stripes, for they are stripes of self-righteous low-brow snobbery, pride, and intolerance. Turns out those are precisely the kinds of people I really don’t wish to dine with. There is one thing I cannot tolerate, and it is intolerance.
Stand strong, Cracker Barrel. Maybe those people will get over themselves.
