Cracker Barrel’s sign hasn’t changed. But the food should | Opinion
If Cracker Barrel wants to go back and start over, it needs to go way back.
Absolutely nothing has changed lately about the signs or decor at local Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores. That’s despite a nationwide panic that the restaurant chain was going to disrupt America by not acting its age — 56 years.
The Great Cracker Barrel Goes Woke Scare is over. The company has reversed its steps and announced that, by golly, the sign and decor and company symbols “Uncle Herschel” McCartney (1915-1982) and his rocking chair aren’t going anywhere.
But the food itself seems like a far cry from “aigs,” “griddle cakes” and “ ‘lasses [molasses] and homemade biscuits” or “red eye gravy.”
That’s what Cracker Barrel served Nashville-area diners in 1969, when it was an intentionally corny cafe built to draw customers to a gas station-gift shop, more like a Buc-ees than a Denny’s.
Since then, Cracker Barrel has become a cookie-cutter corporate chain, steadily losing its Southern flavor.
Just look at the current menu
Does anyone in Nashville eat “hash-brown casserole shepherd’s pie”?
And what is the contradictory “smokehouse grilled chicken”?
I decided to take another look at Cracker Barrel after the recent national flap about the restaurant’s affirmative action hiring policies and redecorating plans.
Folks, the problem is not the sign, the decor or the politics.
I’’ll say up front that the famous Cracker Barrel buttermilk biscuits were still on-target. On two visits, they were warm, soft and buttery — better than any fast-food biscuit and many finer restaurants’.
I know some readers go just for the biscuits, and I see why.
But a side salad seemed prepackaged. In particular, the bacon bits were chilled and all stuck together in one big, congealed lump along the inside of the bowl.
Some Eats Beat readers also swear by the Barrel’s chicken-and-dumplings.
The bowl is big, almost as wide across as a soccer ball. But in a sea of dumplings, I only found six tiny shreds of chicken, and only two were as large as a “nugget.”
I’ll stick to River Oaks Cafe or West Side Cafe for chicken and dumplings.
Cracker Barrel’s chicken tenders, a must on modern menus, carried little flavor. A room-temperature, gluey hash-brown casserole made me long for the other Southern icon, Waffle House.
Having said that, I know lots of readers love Cracker Barrel and eat there regularly. I just don’t think the food is as good as it used to be.
The gift shop is still the same, though.
If your family goes to Cracker Barrel for Christmas shopping, you’ll still find your favorites.
And the decor is still the same paneled walls with old-time ads for Nehi and Cepacol.
(Heaven forbid Cracker Barrel redecorate to look younger, like the Magnolia Table cafe in Waco or something from the Chip and Joanna Gaines school.)
I understand all the worry about Cracker Barrel changing.
I’m here to report that it hasn’t changed nearly enough.
But — those biscuits.
Bud Kennedy is an opinion and food writer for McClatchy and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
This story was originally published September 9, 2025 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Cracker Barrel’s sign hasn’t changed. But the food should | Opinion."
