Cracker Barrel Clarifies Employee Dining Policy After Backlash
Do Cracker Barrel employees have to eat at Cracker Barrel when they're traveling for work? The short answer is no, but the longer answer is more complicated.
After a January 30 report in The Wall Street Journal said Cracker Barrel was pushing employees to only eat at its locations while traveling, the chain came out and said that's not exactly what the policy says.
"The policy for employees to dine at Cracker Barrel while traveling for business, whenever practical based on location and schedule, is not new. Also, it is not the only place that our employees may eat when on the road, as previously reported," Cracker Barrel said in a recent statement.
So it's encouraged "whenever practical," not required. There's a difference, apparently.
The company also mentioned it recently changed employee travel guidelines to "further limit reimbursement of alcoholic beverages under the policy." So employees can eat elsewhere, but the booze reimbursements got tightened up.
This Comes After a Rough Few Months
Cracker Barrel's been going through it lately. In August 2025, the company announced a rebrand that included changing its Old Timer logo. Customers lost it. The backlash was immediate and loud enough that Cracker Barrel reversed course days later and said it wouldn't change the logo after all.
That whole mess tanked sales. For the financial quarter between August 1 and October 31, 2025, revenue dropped 5.7% compared to the same quarter the year before. Comparable store restaurant sales fell 4.7%. Comparable store retail sales dropped 8.5%.
During the December 9 financial results call with investors, Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino admitted the chain had a "difficult" few months.
"While many of our guests are enjoying our improved food and guest experience, we certainly have more work to do to regain the trust and confidence of others who have been slower to return," she said.
The Takeaway
So, Cracker Barrel employees traveling for work are encouraged to eat at Cracker Barrel when it makes sense, but it's not mandatory. The policy isn't new, just misreported. And the company's still trying to recover from a logo controversy that sent sales into a nosedive late last year.
Basically, Cracker Barrel's had better years.
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