All-day breakfast has always been a big draw at Cracker Barrel. Last week, the 660-unit family-dining chain expanded and upgraded the choices, offering more menu flexibility, the chance to customize and even the option of plant-based Impossible Sausage for the first time.
“The new Build Your Own Homestyle Breakfast format is a way to showcase breakfast in a clearer way on the menu,” said Sarah Breymaier, Cracker Barrel’s director of menu strategy. “And it allows the value perception of breakfast to shine through.”
It’s also a way for Cracker Barrel to shed its “old country store” image for a hipper vibe.
Two new sides—Impossible Sausage patties and spicy chicken sausage—join the menu, at an upcharge of $1.69. Other premium sides are also available, including sirloin steak, fried chicken, fresh seasonal fruit and hashbrown casserole tots. And guests can now order two pancakes as a side all day long, with any meal. These sides can add upwards of $2.99 to the check.
The base price for the build-your-own breakfast is $8.99, entitling customers to two eggs any style, biscuits and gravy, a standard meat choice and a side. Thick-sliced bacon, smoked sausage patties, ham, hashbrown casserole, fried apples, coarse ground grits and tomato slices all fall under that price point.
“We started introducing premium sides at dinner to enhance the experience and guest satisfaction and are now extending the idea to breakfast,” said Breymaier.
Plant-based sausage is a bit of a departure for a chain with a meat-heavy menu, but consumers see it as a “better-for-you” option. Cracker Barrel’s goal is to offer more flexibility to attract new and younger guests and increase visitation, she said.
“We tested Impossible Sausage before the launch, and the response was very positive,” Breymaier said. “Customers can now utilize it as an option at breakfast or as an addition to other meals.”
For those seeking a more indulgent option, Breymaier also added a Stuffed Cheesecake Pancake to the all-day breakfast menu. It features buttermilk pancakes stuffed with creamy cheesecake filling, topped with fresh fruit and powdered sugar and served with strawberry syrup. These can double as a dessert.
“The strawberry syrup is a new item too, and it’s available for customers to use in any other menu application as well,” she said.
Menu innovation as a path to growth
Cracker Barrel is betting on menu innovation to spur sales and profits, which failed to meet expectations in the third quarter of 2022. Although same-store sales rose 10.7% year over year, total revenue fell short by about $10 million, Cracker Barrel reported. And operating income dropped to 3.9% of total revenue, from 7.4% in 2021.
Compared to 2019, Cracker Barrel’s total system sales were down 4%, according to the 2022 Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report.
During its earnings call in early June, CMO Jennifer Tate confirmed that Cracker Barrel is looking to attract millennials and higher-spending customers to help drive traffic and boost check averages.
To achieve that goal, Breymaier and her team have been busy innovating other sections of the menu besides breakfast.
“We’re growing the category of all-day shareables, to have as appetizers or add-ons,” she said. Biscuit Beignets, for example, are made with deep-fried biscuit dough tossed in cinnamon sugar and served with a dip of butter pecan sauce. “These can be an add-on for breakfast or ordered as a shareable before lunch or dinner,” said Breymaier.
Ditto for the shareable loaded hashbrown tots, which come topped with cheese and bacon. “Guests are using them in a variety of ways, including as an all-day snack option,” she said.
Cracker Barrel began adding beer, wine, sangria and mimosas to the menu during the pandemic, and is now expanding that category. Jack Daniels Lynchburg Lemonade and the Rocket Pop Mimosa—a strawberry mimosa topped with a popsicle—are summer LTOs. Seasonal beers and wines are coming next, said Breymaier.
Offering alcohol not only attracts millennials—avid brunch-goers who enjoy drinks with dinner, too—but also pits the family-dining chain against on-trend breakfast-lunch concepts such as First Watch and Another Broken Egg.
Cracker Barrel projected that beer, wine and sangria will eventually generate about 2% of a unit’s sales. The chain is “making great progress” toward a 2% dine-in sales mix for alcohol and will continue to put marketing dollars behind the program, Tate said during the June earnings call.
The culinary team is innovating non-alcoholic beverages, too. Watermelon Lemonade is the latest.
“These types of drinks increase meal satisfaction and boost checks,” said Breymaier.
The menu developers are also paying attention to hot beverages. Seasonally changing lattes and premium hot chocolate are designed to pair with all-day breakfast or enjoy on their own.
Coming down the pipeline next are premium entrees, said Breymaier. Although she wouldn’t reveal what they would be, they will cover all three dayparts: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“We’re continuing to look at enhancing customization and expanding premium offerings to drive value and craveability,” she added. “The new items play really well with our current customer base and growth of new guests.”