CRACKER BARREL REDUX -- MAYBE

My wife and I ate at the local Cracker Barrel in Gulfport, just off Highway 49,  this Friday, reasons being we hadn’t eaten there in a while, we didn’t feel like cooking on a Friday night, and we were curious about the hullabaloo in the news with the company’s rebranding and changing the logo and the blah, blah, and the world might end and such.

As we entered the parking lot we saw the old logo was still front and center and hadn’t been changed yet. Rebranding takes time, I suppose. Parking, it was obvious that there weren’t as many cars in the parking lot as we typically see on a weekend evening. This was interesting but not necessarily telling. But this observation was confirmed inside when we were seated. Very sparse crowd.

Inside, the feel was certainly some kind of different as we gazed around. Interestingly, there were no saws, shovels, hammers or washboards on the wall. There were no irregular lines on the walls. The artsy, rustic look and feel had been removed–totally. In its place a much more clean look--sharp horizontal and vertical lines comprised of deftly placed framed ads and posters of some nostalgic items, and some not so nostalgic items.

But unlike some videos seen on the news channels, the furniture, the wooden chairs and tables were as they have been for decades. Wooden and noise making when moved around. On the tables were the traditional peg-game thing. The menu was brand-spanking new with the brand-spanking new logo on front/top. All of the same Southern-Country-dishes and options were still there. Interestingly, in the new laminated menu (no more paper stuff) was the option to have alcohol beverages of various sorts. We didn’t see any old folks boozing it up in our section, but we can presume the company wishes to attract a younger crowd. Besides, they got rid of the old man sitting by the barrel on the old logo.

Our waitress was fairly prompt at the table and promptly took our orders. She wasn’t wearing the four-star apron thing that waitresses have usually worn, so I presumed this was something being phased out so that no one would be offended since the star aprons denoted or identified the senior/veteran waitress from the rookie (rising star). Evidence perhaps of a Woke thing. But she was polite and efficient.

It took perhaps a few minutes longer than usual to have our meals brought to the table and I didn’t know if this was a good thing or bad thing, thinking that maybe a new chef was taking longer to learn and cook the meals, or perhaps the old chef was still here but maybe distracted talking to his girlfriend waitress.

When our meals were served, our wondering if it would be the same or different-looking than our last visit’s meals was satisfied. It certainly looked the same. We ordered, for me, the chicken and dumplings with meatloaf, green beans, and carrots on the side. For the lady, she had grilled rainbow trout, and sides.

Everything in these two meals were the same as they’ve been before. My meatloaf was a bit dry, but not by much. It was tasty and good, as was the dumpling dish.  But the biscuits served before the entrees were served were way too floury and packy. Big difference. So we can assume the old biscuit-maker has been replaced. 

The total for our bill was maybe a couple bucks more than we usually pay. But hey, when you’re rebranding, somebody’s got to cough it up. And on the way out, the store section of the restaurant still sells the same assortment of folksy, quirky, uncommon, gifty, and candy stuff.

Overall, while the interior decor has definitely changed the feel one has, or the ambience of the place, the meals themselves have not changed much at all if any, this being our first visit since the hullabaloo started.

Some big critics have associated the changes with the Cracker Barrel’s new DEI policies and their acquiescing to the homosexual community. But during our visit we did not see evidence of this–at least not at this location, or this visit. If, as some predict, there are changes coming down the pike where we will see evidence of homosexual favoritism, homosexual flags, trans flags, and toys and such with rainbows this, that and the other, then for sure that will be the death Nell of the restaurant, in my opinion. Even just the thought that visible signs and/or public announcements or affirmations of the homosexual community’s support is ever evident, then I think you can take it to the bank that the restaurant will go the way of the Bud Light adventure.

So, while those who are supposedly in the know are clamoring and prophesying the demise of this long entrenched American icon of a restaurant, I say you might not want to hold your breath. I predict that as long as the food remains the same, and they don’t change the chef or the quality and type of meals, and they avoid the urge to draw attention to what people don’t wish to pay attention to, then they got a crack at making a better go at it. Because, really, how many people go to a restaurant for the ambience and not the food--besides forlorn lovers whose visit to a restaurant is merely a stepping stone for the evening to something later that night–if you know what I mean. 

Most people, like us, go to a restaurant, as we did this particular Friday, because of the quality or type of food they serve, hoping it will be the same as it was the last time we ate there. While I’ve been wrong before (Lord knows) I would venture to think that most normal folks, Southern and Northern, are thinking the same way. May God bless the restaurant, its customers, and the Southern way of life.

And if that old barrel man did something wrong, then may he too live in infamy.