Cracker Barrel History
Traveling the highways of America, you drive through the places where most folks in this country still live: small towns. One of them, just off the stretch of I-40 that runs through Tennessee, is a place called Lebanon.
Now, unless you're a hunter and collector of antiques, odds are you haven't heard of Lebanon. But no matter, folks in Lebanon like it just the way it is. Comfortable. Friendly. A great place to come home to. No wonder a fellow named Dan Evins thought it was just the place to start something that would someday turn out to be anything but small.
The original Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
located off of Hwy 109 near Lebanon, TN. |
While working in the family gasoline business back in the late 1960s, Dan began thinking of ways to better meet the needs of folks on the road. You see, the interstate system was still young. Goods and services were sparse and often not to be trusted. What's more, with the rise of fast food, the little places that served up some of the real flavor of America seemed to be getting pushed out. Fast food might be a good business idea, Dan thought, but it sure wasn't such a hot eating idea. Truth is, Dan always saw mealtime as special -- a time to catch up with your family, your friends, or your thoughts. Meals weren't meant to be swallowed down in three bites with a squirt of ketchup.
Dan began to think about all the things that would make him feel comfortable if he was far from home. Things like big jars of candy and homemade jellies. Pot-bellied stoves. Folks that let you take your time. Simple, honest country food. And a store where you could buy someone a gift that was actually worth buying.
What Dan had in mind was the kind of place he'd been to hundreds of times as a boy. It was a place called the country store, something every small community once had. And maybe, Dan figured, just what these big new highways might take to.
As luck would have it, Dan's company owned a nice parcel of land on the outskirts of town. So with the help of a friend, Tommy Lowe, plans were drawn up, and on September 19, 1969, the first Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® opened.
Of course, building a country store isn't the same as being one. A lot of things would have to be just right, the two most important being what was served, and who was serving it. So the corn bread came from cornmeal and an old country recipe, not a mix. Quality mattered, along with prices that wouldn't break folks. And thanks to the people who worked there, a trip to the original Cracker Barrel Old Country Store was a lot like a friendly visit to a neighbor's home.
|
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store today.
|
Well, people liked the Old Country Store and word got around. Pretty soon, folks were waiting in lines for turnip greens, biscuits and gravy, and all the other good country cookin' that Cracker Barrel had to offer.
Naturally, it didn't take long for Dan and his investors (most of whom were local friends and associates) to see a whole lot more interstate ahead of them, and by 1977 there were 13 stores, from Tennessee clear to Georgia.
Now you might not have known it, but the early stores also offered gasoline. But when the oil embargo of the mid-seventies hit, new stores were built without filling stations. And today, they're out of the gasoline business altogether. So if you're pulling in to a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, make sure it's just your stomach that's on empty.
As time marched on, so did Cracker Barrel, and in 1981 the company went public with its stock. That same year, it was cited in Institutions Magazine as one of the nation's foremost growth chains, while Money Magazine listed the company as one of the top ten stocks in America. Suddenly flush with praise and the loyalty of guests who seemed to have an insatiable appetite for home style cooking, the company's expansion had even more drive behind it.
Between 1980 and 1990, eighty-four stores opened across the country. By the end of July 1996, there were 260 Cracker Barrels. And today, there are 594 stores in 41 states. All owned by a company that has no plans for franchising.
In fact, even though the company has had to "adjust" to the size of the business, the important things have all stayed pretty much the same. Dan has always said the mission for every Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is pleasing people® (a simple "mutual respect" concept). So even now, the mashed potatoes are scratch-made every day. Scratch biscuits come served with real butter. And every item in the gift shop is a genuine value.
Things are likely to stay that way, too. Call it nostalgia if you want, but the goal isn't simply to recreate to a time gone by. It's to preserve it. Because the way we see it, the lifestyles of rural America isn't about where you live. It's about how you live.
|
