Cracker Barrel Announces a NEW Strict Dining Rule For Employees

Did you hear about this new dining rule at Cracker Barrel?

It was just revealed that there is a new rule at Cracker Barrel, specifically for employees who are traveling! When employees are looking to grab a meal when on the road, the company wants them to stick to its own restaurants.

According to The Independent, it was heard from an internal message that the company said “employees are expected to dine at a Cracker Barrel store for all or the majority of meals while traveling, whenever practical, based on location and schedule.”

On top of that, the company won’t be reimbursing alcohol purchases on business trips unless workers pay out of pocket or get pre‑approval for special occasions from senior leadership.

The travel meal policy comes as “Cracker Barrel continues efforts to trim expenses amid sagging traffic and revenue growth that has slowed in recent years.” In December, regular goers complained about recent menu changes, including batch‑made cookies instead of freshly rolled dough and green beans and sides prepared in ovens rather than on the stovetop. Crazy enough, some customers have even brought their own maple syrup to the restaurant because they didn’t like the new offerings.

All the backlash the chain was getting started with a “botched” rebrand that caused Cracker Barrel to lose an estimated $94 million in market value in a ONE DAY! Around the same time, “Cracker Barrel also announced plans to modernize the interiors of its more than 650 locations, which critics claimed stripped away the chain’s nostalgic identity.”

The company acknowledged the backlash in a statement, “If the last few days have shown us anything, it’s how deeply people care about Cracker Barrel. We’re truly grateful for your heartfelt voices,” the statement read. “You’ve also shown us that we could’ve done a better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be.”

This will be an interesting thing to see how it plays out, especially the rule for the employees. For more food news, make sure to stay tuned to AllEars!

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What are your thoughts on this new rule? Let us know in the comments!