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As of September 16, 2020, we operated 663 Cracker Barrel stores in 45 states. Our stores are not franchised. Our stores are intended to appeal to both the traveler and the local customer, and we believe they have consistently been a consumer favorite."
More About Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc is principally engaged in the operation and development of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® concept (“Cracker Barrel”). We are headquartered in Lebanon, Tennessee and were originally founded in 1969. We are organized under the laws of the State of Tennessee.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBRL), established in 1969 in Lebanon, Tenn., provides a friendly home-away-from-home in its old country stores and restaurants. Guests are cared for like family while relaxing and enjoying real home-style food and shopping that’s surprisingly unique, genuinely fun and reminiscent of America’s country heritage…all at a fair price. The restaurants serve up delicious, home-style country food such as meatloaf and homemade chicken n’ dumplins as well as our signature biscuits using an old family recipe. The authentic old country retail store is fun to shop and offers unique gifts and self-indulgences
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBRL), established in 1969 in Lebanon, Tenn., provides a friendly home-away-from-home in its old country stores and restaurants. Guests are cared for like family while relaxing and enjoying real home-style food and shopping that’s surprisingly unique, genuinely fun and reminiscent of America’s country heritage…all at a fair price. The restaurants serve up delicious, home-style country food such as meatloaf and homemade chicken n’ dumplins as well as our signature biscuits using an old family recipe. The authentic old country retail store is fun to shop and offers unique gifts and self-indulgences
Stores Of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
As of September 16, 2020, we operated 663 Cracker Barrel stores in 45 states. Our stores are not franchised. Our stores are intended to appeal to both the traveler and the local customer, and we believe they have consistently been a consumer favorite. We pride ourselves on our consistent quality, value and friendly service. Store Format: The format of our stores consists of a trademarked rustic old country-store design offering a fullservice restaurant menu that features home-style country food and a wide variety of decorative and functional items such as rocking chairs, holiday and seasonal gifts, toys, apparel, cookware and foods. All stores are freestanding buildings and consist of approximately 20% of gift shop space with the remainder dedicated to our restaurant, training and storage space. Our stores have stone fireplaces and are decorated with antique-style furnishings and other authentic and nostalgic items, reminiscent of and similar to those found and sold in the past in traditional old country stores. The front porch of each store features rows of the signature Cracker Barrel rocking chairs that we invite guests to use while waiting for a table in our dining room or after enjoying a meal and they are a popular item sold by the gift shops.
Products Sold By Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
Our restaurants, which generated approximately 80% of our total revenue in 2020, offer home-style country cooking featuring many of our own recipes that emphasize authenticity and quality. Our restaurants serve breakfast, lunch and dinner daily and offer dine-in, pick-up and delivery services. Menu items are moderately priced. Beginning in 2020, certain of our Cracker Barrel restaurants began serving a limited assortment of beer and wine. Breakfast items can be ordered at any time throughout the day and include juices, eggs, pancakes, fruit and yogurt parfaits, meats, grits, and a variety of biscuit specialties, such as gravy and biscuits and country ham and biscuits.
Lunch and dinner items include southern fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, chicken pot pie, chicken fried chicken, meatloaf, country fried steak, pork chops, fish, country fried shrimp, steak, roast beef, ham, vegetable plates, sandwiches and a variety of salads. We also offer multi-serving takeout family meal baskets. Additionally, from time to time, we feature new items as off-menu specials or on test menus at certain locations to evaluate possible ways to enhance customer interest and identify potential future additions to the menu.
We offer weekday lunch specials, which include some of our favorite entrées in lunch-sized portions. Our menu also features weekday and weekend dinner specials that showcase a popular dinner entrée. There is some variation in menu pricing and content in different regions of the country. The average check per guest during 2020 was $11.13, which represents a 2.7% increase over the prior year. We served an average of approximately 5,200 restaurant guests per week in a typical store in 2020.
We also offer items for sale in our gift shops that are featured on, or related to, the restaurant menu, such as pies, cornbread mix, coffee, syrups and pancake mixes. Our gift shops offer a wide variety of decorative and functional items such as rocking chairs, seasonal gifts, Our typical gift shop features approximately 3,700 stock keeping units. A selection of the food items are sold under the “Cracker Barrel Old Country Store” brand name. We believe that we achieve high retail sales per square foot of retail selling space (approximately $353 per square foot in 2020) as compared to mall stores both by offering appealing merchandise and by having a significant source of customers who are typically our restaurant guest
Lunch and dinner items include southern fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, chicken pot pie, chicken fried chicken, meatloaf, country fried steak, pork chops, fish, country fried shrimp, steak, roast beef, ham, vegetable plates, sandwiches and a variety of salads. We also offer multi-serving takeout family meal baskets. Additionally, from time to time, we feature new items as off-menu specials or on test menus at certain locations to evaluate possible ways to enhance customer interest and identify potential future additions to the menu.
We offer weekday lunch specials, which include some of our favorite entrées in lunch-sized portions. Our menu also features weekday and weekend dinner specials that showcase a popular dinner entrée. There is some variation in menu pricing and content in different regions of the country. The average check per guest during 2020 was $11.13, which represents a 2.7% increase over the prior year. We served an average of approximately 5,200 restaurant guests per week in a typical store in 2020.
We also offer items for sale in our gift shops that are featured on, or related to, the restaurant menu, such as pies, cornbread mix, coffee, syrups and pancake mixes. Our gift shops offer a wide variety of decorative and functional items such as rocking chairs, seasonal gifts, Our typical gift shop features approximately 3,700 stock keeping units. A selection of the food items are sold under the “Cracker Barrel Old Country Store” brand name. We believe that we achieve high retail sales per square foot of retail selling space (approximately $353 per square foot in 2020) as compared to mall stores both by offering appealing merchandise and by having a significant source of customers who are typically our restaurant guest
Product Development And Merchandising Of Cracker Barrel
We maintain a product development department, which develops new and improved menu items either in response to shifts in customer preferences or to create customer interest. We use a formal development and testing process, which includes guest research and in-store market tests to ensure products brought to market have a greater likelihood of meeting our goals. Menu-driven growth is built through three areas: enhancements to our current core menu offerings, the addition of new core menu offerings and limited time offer promotions we call seasonal events. 9 Our merchandising department selects and develops products for our gift shop. We are focused on driving retail sales by converting those customers who come to us for a restaurant visit. Our assortment includes core and seasonal themes. Our seasonal themes are designed to create interest and excitement in our stores by providing our guests with additional choices
Store Management And Quality Controls Of Cracker Barrel
At each store, our store management typically consists of one general manager, four associate managers and one retail manager. Our store management is responsible for an average of 101 employees operating two shifts. The relative complexity of operating one of our stores requires an effective management team at the individual store level. To motivate managers to improve sales and operational performance, we maintain bonus plans designed to provide managers with an opportunity to share in the profits of their store. The bonus plans also reward managers who achieve specific operational targets. Each store is assigned to both a restaurant and a retail district manager who each report to a regional vice president. To ensure that individual stores operate at a high level of quality, we focus significant attention on the selection and training of store managers. The store management recruiting and training program begins with an evaluation and screening process. In addition to multiple interviews and verification of background and experience, we conduct assessments designed to identify those applicants most likely to be best suited to manage store operations. Candidates who successfully pass this screening process are then required to complete a training program. We believe that our training programs develop managers who effectively deliver a great employee and guest experience through the leadership and execution of our operating systems. We provide our managers and hourly employees with ongoing training through various development courses taught through a blended learning approach, including a mix of hands-on, traditional classroom, written and cloud-based training. Each store is equipped with dedicated training computers and cloud-based proprietary eLearning instruction programs. Additionally, each store typically has an employee training coordinator who oversees the training of the store’s hourly employees
Purchasing And Distribution Of Cracker Barrel
We negotiate directly with food vendors as to specification, price and other material terms of most food purchases. We have a contract with an unaffiliated distributor with custom distribution centers in Lebanon, Tennessee; McKinney, Texas; Gainesville, Florida; Elkton, Maryland; Kendallville, Indiana; Rock Hill, South Carolina; and Shafter, California. We purchase the majority of our food products and restaurant supplies on a cost-plus basis through this unaffiliated distributor. The distributor is responsible for placing food orders, warehousing and delivering food products to our stores. Deliveries are generally made once per week to individual stores. Produce is purchased through a national program and is delivered three times a week through a network of approximately fifty independent produce suppliers. Fluid dairy is delivered three times a week through approximately fifty regional dairies, the majority of which are under the ownership of two separate companies. The following table highlights the five food categories which accounted for the largest shares of our food purchasing expense in 2020:
Percentage of Food Purchases in 2020
Each of these categories includes several individual items. The single food item within these categories that accounted for the largest share of our food purchasing expense in 2020 was chicken breast at approximately 4% of total food purchases. Dairy, fruits and vegetables are purchased through numerous vendors, including local vendors. Eggs are purchased through five vendors. We purchase our pork through six vendors, poultry through nine vendors and beef through nine vendors. Should any food items from a particular vendor become unavailable, we generally believe that these food items could be obtained, or alternative products substituted, in sufficient quantities from other sources at competitive prices to allow us to avoid any material adverse effects that could be caused by such unavailability.
We purchase the majority of our retail items (approximately 60% in 2020) directly from domestic and international vendors and warehouse, or crossdock, such items at our retail distribution center in Lebanon, Tennessee, which we lease. The distribution center fulfills retail item orders generated by our automated replenishment system and generally ships the retail orders once a week to the individual stores by a third-party dedicated freight line. Certain retail items, not centrally purchased and warehoused at the distribution center, are drop-shipped directly by our vendors to individual stores. Approximately one-third of our 2020 retail items were purchased directly from vendors in the People’s Republic of China. We have relationships with several foreign buying agencies to source product, monitor quality control and supplement product development
Percentage of Food Purchases in 2020
- Beef 13%
- Dairy (including eggs) 12%
- Fruits and vegetables 12%
- Poultry 10%
- Pork 10%
Each of these categories includes several individual items. The single food item within these categories that accounted for the largest share of our food purchasing expense in 2020 was chicken breast at approximately 4% of total food purchases. Dairy, fruits and vegetables are purchased through numerous vendors, including local vendors. Eggs are purchased through five vendors. We purchase our pork through six vendors, poultry through nine vendors and beef through nine vendors. Should any food items from a particular vendor become unavailable, we generally believe that these food items could be obtained, or alternative products substituted, in sufficient quantities from other sources at competitive prices to allow us to avoid any material adverse effects that could be caused by such unavailability.
We purchase the majority of our retail items (approximately 60% in 2020) directly from domestic and international vendors and warehouse, or crossdock, such items at our retail distribution center in Lebanon, Tennessee, which we lease. The distribution center fulfills retail item orders generated by our automated replenishment system and generally ships the retail orders once a week to the individual stores by a third-party dedicated freight line. Certain retail items, not centrally purchased and warehoused at the distribution center, are drop-shipped directly by our vendors to individual stores. Approximately one-third of our 2020 retail items were purchased directly from vendors in the People’s Republic of China. We have relationships with several foreign buying agencies to source product, monitor quality control and supplement product development
Marketing Of Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores
We employ multiple media to reach and engage our guests. Outdoor advertising (i.e., billboards and state department of transportation signs) is the largest advertising vehicle we use to reach our traveling and local guests. In 2020, we had over 1,600 billboards and this expenditure accounted for approximately 40% of total advertising spend. We continue to develop our use of non-billboard media as we look to build market awareness for our brand. This includes broadcast television, national cable, internet, mobile, social media, email and search marketing. We continued to increase our efforts in the digital space to drive preference and engagement with our brands’ dine-in and off-premise offerings. We continue to evolve our presence on social media sites, our own brand sites and an e-commerce platform. Our exclusive music program drives awareness for the brand and builds cultural relevance and affinity with our guests.
Competition Of Cracker Barrel
The restaurant and retail industries are intensely competitive with respect to the type and quality of food, retail merchandise, price, service, location, personnel, concept, attractiveness of facilities, availability of carryout and home delivery, internet and mobile ordering capabilities and effectiveness of advertising and marketing. We compete with a significant number of national and regional restaurant and retail chains, some of which have greater resources than us, as well as locally owned restaurants and retail stores. We also face growing competition from the supermarket industry, which offers “convenient meals” in the form of improved entrées and side dishes from the deli section; fast casual restaurants; quick-service restaurants; and highly promotional casual and family dining restaurants. In addition, improving product offerings at fast casual restaurants and quick-service restaurants and expansion of home delivery services, together with negative economic conditions, could cause consumers to choose less expensive alternatives. We expect competition to continue in all of these areas.
The restaurant and retail businesses are also often affected by changes in consumer taste and preference; national, regional or local economic conditions; demographic trends; traffic and weather patterns; the type, number and location of competing restaurants and retailers; and consumers’ discretionary purchasing power. Factors such as inflation, increased food, labor and benefits costs and the lack of experienced management and hourly employees may adversely affect the restaurant and retail industries in general and our stores in particular. We believe we compete effectively and have successfully differentiated ourselves from many of our competitors in the restaurant and retail industries through a unique brand and guest experience, which offers a diversified full service menu and a large variety of nostalgic and unique retail items
The restaurant and retail businesses are also often affected by changes in consumer taste and preference; national, regional or local economic conditions; demographic trends; traffic and weather patterns; the type, number and location of competing restaurants and retailers; and consumers’ discretionary purchasing power. Factors such as inflation, increased food, labor and benefits costs and the lack of experienced management and hourly employees may adversely affect the restaurant and retail industries in general and our stores in particular. We believe we compete effectively and have successfully differentiated ourselves from many of our competitors in the restaurant and retail industries through a unique brand and guest experience, which offers a diversified full service menu and a large variety of nostalgic and unique retail items
Employees Of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
As of July 31, 2020, we employed approximately 55,000 people (as compared to approximately 73,000 employees as of August 2, 2019), of whom approximately 500 were in advisory and supervisory capacities, approximately 3,500 were in-store management positions and 42 were officers. Many store personnel are employed on a part-time basis. Our employees are not represented by any union, and management considers its employee relations to be good.
Cracker Barrel (CBRL) stock price chart over the last 5 years
The image below shows the stock price chart of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL) over the last 5 years. And its not been a good time for Cracker Barrel stockholders. Over the last 5 years the stock of Cracker Barrel decreased by 3.4%. No investor would want see those kind of returns.
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