Cracker Barrel

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., is a chain of 557 "Old Country Stores" (as of 2007), each combining a retail store and a restaurant in 41 states across the United States, based in Tennessee.



Overview
The Cracker Barrel chain serves traditional Southern comfort food. Their outlets have traditionally been located along interstate highways, though the company policy on this appears to be changing. Breakfast is served all day, though the breakfast menu is kept separate from the one for lunch and dinner. Both menus include a low-carb section.

The outer porch of a Cracker Barrel store has rows of rocking chairs for guests to enjoy before or after eating, and there is usually a fireplace and a checkers table within the dining area for an added country feel. The interior walls of the dining area are decorated with antiques such as photographs, advertisements, and household items. The retail store carries mainly nostalgic merchandise, collectibles, housewares, crafts, toys, classic candies, and items used in making Cracker Barrel entrees.

Controversy
In 1991, Cracker Barrel instituted a policy requiring employees to display "normal heterosexual values which have been the foundation of families in our society." During the 1990s Cracker Barrel reportedly fired at least 11 gay workers. The company refused to change their policy in the face of protest demonstrations by gay rights groups. However, in 2002, the company's stockholders, in a proxy vote of historic proportion, voted 58% to rescind the practice after 10 years of efforts by the New York City Employees Retirement System, a major shareholder. While a formal shareholder vote was never taken, immediately after that, the board of directors added sexual orientation to the company's nondiscrimination policy.

In the early 2000s and again in 2006, Cracker Barrel has faced accusations including a pattern of racial discrimination in its treatment of customers. After national press attention to these accusations, the company announced explicit policies intended to address the charges, and the most prominent critics have not repeated their criticisms, but still they did end up paying $2 million for race and sexual harassment at three Illinois restaurants. Stores now display a sign in their front foyer clarifying this policy, as has become the policy after a similar incident involving Denny's restaurants. In March 2006, Cracker Barrel agreed to pay $2 million to settle class allegations of sexual and racial discrimination brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC v. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.). In October of 2006, Rose Rock, the mother of popular comedian Chris Rock, threatened legal action after she claimed that she and her daughter were discriminated against at the company's Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, restaurant due to not being served for over an hour. She said when she asked the manager about the delay, the manager did not try to find the cause of the delay, but told Rock that they could have a free meal, which she refused.

Cracker Barrel was one of eight companies indicted and accused of making alleged illegal corporate campaign contributions to the Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee (TRMPAC), started by Rep. Tom DeLay. Less than five months later, however, all charges against Cracker Barrel were dropped. In dismissing the charges on February 2, 2005, the District Attorney stated that "there was no intent on the part of (Cracker Barrel) to violate any laws," and stated that the company "has demonstrated to the District Attorney that it has a history of good citizenship and high ethical standards." For its part, Cracker Barrel admitted no wrongdoing, and agreed to make a charitable contribution of $50,000 to support a "nonpartisan, balanced and publicly informative program" at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin, with the intent of reinforcing what it called its "longstanding commitment to good corporate citizenship and proper participation in the political process".

In May 2007 Cracker Barrel temporarily removed hamburgers from its menu at most locations after a patron ate a metal fragment resembling part of a razor blade in her hamburger at a restaurant in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.