Dive Brief:
- Cracker Barrel is working to regain customer trust with an emphasis on improved food and customer experiences, reinstating older back-of-house processes along the way, executives said on a Q1 2026 earnings call Tuesday.
- The company attempted to simplify processes inside restaurants in the third quarter of 2025, but the effort “made consistent execution more challenging for our operators and impacted the consistency of our food,” President and CEO Julie Felss Masino said.
- In October, the restaurant retrained all of its managers, kitchen production staff and grill cooks on Crack Barrel’s core recipes and holiday dishes in order to ensure workers are prepared to deliver consistent food and guest experiences, according to Masino.
Dive Insight:
Cracker Barrel is under heightened scrutiny following backlash to its logo revamp and store renovations this summer, and the company is working to get customer trust and confidence back on the trajectory it followed earlier in fiscal 2025, according to Masino.
“We wake up every single day thinking about how to drive traffic,” Masino said. “What we are really focused on is doing that one guest at a time with great experiences in store, amazing food, great hospitality, attentive service.”
Cracker Barrel still has work ahead on its road to recovery. Comparable restaurant sales were down 4.7% year over year, while comparable store retail sales, associated with the chain’s gift shops, were down 8.5% year over year, according to an earnings report. Revenue fell 5.7% year over year to $797.2 million.
Traffic was down 1% year over year in the first half of August and about 9% year over year for the remainder of the quarter, according to Masino. Cracker Barrel rolled out its controversial logo change in late August.
Cracker Barrel started a corporate restructuring effort in this quarter, with plans to accelerate and expand the process during the second quarter, according to Masino. The process is “necessary to navigate current headwinds” and ensure the company can invest in its food and guest experience.
The restaurant chain also removed a layer of management with the promotion of Doug Hisel to SVP of store operations in October, according to Masino. In the months since Hisel assumed his new role, the company’s Google star ratings, which correlate with traffic, reached their highest level since 2020.
Other customer measurements are on the rise as well, according to Masino. Metrics for food taste, service, value and experience all improved between 3% and 4% year over year in October, with larger improvements in November.
Cracker Barrel Rewards was another bright spot for the company. The loyalty program added 1 million members during the quarter, reaching over 10 million members who now account for 40% of tracked sales, Masino said.
Cracker Barrel Rewards is shaping the company’s strategy through the Front Porch Feedback program, which launched in September. Front Porch Feedback lets loyalty members comment on aspects of their feedback.
“This feedback, in addition to extensive guest research we conducted during the quarter, has been instrumental in guiding our action plan to improve food and experience and to reinforce guest perception of our strong value proposition,” Masino said.
