Cracker Barrel kitchens in turmoil as chain fights – Business News
Cracker Barrel is scrambling to repair its image and win back prospects following scandals over frozen biscuits and microwaved meatloaf — however fixed flip-flopping from management has thrown its kitchens into chaos, The Post has realized.
As reported by The Post, the Tennessee-based chain – ripped final month by critics together with President Trump for scrapping its longtime brand that featured mascot “Uncle Herschel’ – in the meantime had ditched the cost-cutting observe of reheating its meatloaf in microwaves after baking it the night time earlier than.
The microwaving maneuver earlier this 12 months had marked a change from its longtime observe of baking meatloaf recent every day. But in latest weeks, bosses as soon as again informed workers to keep utilizing microwaves exterior of the weekends, sources mentioned.
A new company brand that eradicated the company’s “old timer” image was rapidly scrapped. Getty Images
“We were told meatloaf will be fresh every day,” one veteran cook mentioned. “Then they said cold portions will be on Monday through Thursday.”
On Wednesday’s earnings call, Chief govt Julie Felss Masino admitted there’s work to do. “We must continue improving our food,” she mentioned, including Cracker Barrel is “placing an even bigger emphasis on the kitchen.”
As reported by The Post, prospects had likewise complained Cracker Barrel’s Southern-style biscuits have been being served “hard as a rock” after a cost-cutting measure shifted manufacturing to a day in advance, with biscuits frozen and reheated.
After admitting the transfer was a mistake earlier this month, management has now swung the opposite approach, ordering that biscuits be flawless or thrown out – regardless of the unique concern that too many biscuits have been going to waste.
Biscuits “need to rise about two inches, be fluffy and not baked ‘too brown’ or ‘too white,’” one Cracker Barrel cook informed The Post, recounting orders from a supervisor final week.
Julie Felss Masino is featured in a common video that goes out to workers, however has recently been lacking. FOX News
Cracker Barrel’s meatloaf is reheated in microwaves on much less busy days of the week. Cracker Barrel
“I honestly feel like [management] is floundering to see what they can get away with, what they need to change and what they can keep and not be noticed,” one veteran cook mentioned of the conflicting orders.
“We are focused on the kitchen and our guests’ plates and serving up generous portions of craveable food with Cracker Barrel’s warm country hospitality,” the company mentioned in a assertion to The Post, with out particularly addressing questions concerning the meatloaf and biscuits.
The turmoil is lingering after Cracker Barrel revealed this week that buyer visitors at its eating places – already down 1% in early August – dropped by 8% after the brand uproar on Aug. 19. The company now expects visits to fall by as a lot as 7% in fiscal 2026.
Cracker Barrel’s signature biscuits now need to be “perfect” or they’re thrown out, staffers informed The Post. Cracker Barrel
The 55 year-old restaurant chain has just lately been branded as “woke.” Getty Images
As reported by The Post, Cracker Barrel’s meatloaf attracted social media consideration final month when a TikTokker posted a video that presupposed to have been taken inside one of the chain’s kitchens.
“We throw it in a microwave and then we serve it to you,” in line with the video, which panned to stacked trays allegedly crammed with pre-packaged meatloaf. “And sometimes it’s still cold.”
Meanwhile, workers have been whispering concerning the future of Felss Masino herself. Ahead of this week’s earnings call, some employees have been speculating she had been ousted, pointing to the disappearance of her common inside video updates for staffers companywide.
Cracker Barrel denied the rumor, saying its management “communicates with team members across the Company through a variety of channels, including in person meetings, videos and emails.”
