Lebanon, TN — Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRL) announced that the name of its 660 restaurants and shops would be changed to All Lives Barrel immediately. All Lives Barrel, which opened in 1969, serves “traditional” Southern cuisine in an atmosphere reminiscent of an old-fashioned general store. According to the corporation, the switch to All Lives Barrel will take about eight months and cost more than $42 million. Over 42 restaurants have already made the switch.
“We recognize that some of our guests will be perplexed,” said Bethany Millbright, spokesperson for All Lives Barrel. “But, like everyone else, we see the writing on the wall, and we must stick to and preserve our southern roots.”
This isn’t the first time the popular chain has been chastised. During the early 1990s, founder and then-CEO Dan Evins implemented an official business policy forbidding hiring anyone whose “sexual inclinations fail to exhibit conventional heterosexual norms.”
As if that weren’t enough, Cracker Barrel continued to stir controversy over the next decade due to Evin’s public and private support of discriminatory tactics against female and minority employees. These actions violated the company’s non-discrimination policy.
This is considered a continuation of the tradition.
Some regular customers were ambivalent about the shift, but many of its more conservative clients frequently ranted in jibberish about their approbation of All Lives Barrel.
“Take a look at this. I understand why black people are upset about getting beaten. “Jasper K. Trains spoke on the makeover of his neighborhood eatery in Knoxville, Tennessee. “But now my Aunt Jemima is leaving, and the liberals are taking down sculptures and such. So as I pulled into my Cracker Barrel parking lot, I was stunned and in tears. They were right there. They were replacing the sign with a new one. I was ecstatic. I was.”
Cracker Barrel issued this announcement on Twitter and Instagram after getting criticism on the Internet, with many accusing the restaurant of being racially insensitive.
“We respect all Americans’ rights and believe that ethnicity should not influence your ability to have a decent dinner with your family. With this in mind, we have decided to allow a Popeye’s Chicken to construct and operate a restaurant across the street from any of our great, civilized restaurants.”
Following the announcement, CBRL is down 16% on NASDAQ.
