A first-time visitor to Cracker Barrel’s website might think they took a wrong turn on the Information Superhighway and ended up at the cyber home of a catering hall. That’s before they realized the slew of multi-serving meal options—about 156 selections in all, excluding beverages—are all sold to-go.
The country-store-themed concept has been known for decades as the place to indulge in a hearty homestyle breakfast or meatloaf dinner. Now the brand is building off that base with an ambitious drive to become a catering powerhouse.
The chain has set a goal of boosting catering sales during the fiscal year ending in July by 25%, to $100 million. “We're on track to achieve our target,” CEO Sandy Cochran informed financial analysts during the company’s most recent earnings call.
During the second quarter ended Jan. 27, catering sales jumped 40%, according to CMO Jennifer Tate.
That channel generated 20% of Cracker Barrel’s off-premise sales during the period, Tate said, which in turn accounted for 23% of total restaurant revenues.
Cochran attributed the jump in catering in part to an intensified marketing effort. But the breadth of options offered for larger-sized orders couldn’t have hurt.
The choices range from a full breakfast spread, complete with pancakes or French toast (a 10-person serving for $94.99), to a 20-muffin order of the chain’s signature cornbread ($12.99).
Patrons can get family-sized orders just of sides, as well as hot snacks called Barrel Bites. Other platters feature such finger foods as beignets ($49 for a 10-person order).
Cracker Barrel even has catering LTOs of a sort, the heat-and-serve holiday meals that can be ordered in multiples of 10. The success of the chain’s Thanksgiving and Christmas heat-at-home feasts have turned the chain’s second quarter, from November through January, into its peak season for off-premise sales.
A complete ham Easter dinner for up to 10 people is currently being showcased at a price of $164.99. Customers have to order it ahead of time for pickup by April 9.
The brand not only sells a huge variety of items for catering, but offers them in several serving styles. Some sides are offered in hotel-pan-like casseroles. Some options are available as single servings packed in individual takeout containers.
Some sandwich and breakfast selections are offered as mini-buffets where a catering patron’s guests can assemble their own meals. A platter of fixings for 10 chicken sandwiches is priced at a New York branch for $89.
Patrons can also get mini-buffets of signatures like Chicken Fried Chicken (enough for 10 people, with three sides: $103.99).
Neither desserts nor beverages are overlooked. The after-meal catered treats include a sampler sporting beignets, brownies and cookies ($26.99).
The liquid options include a new strawberry lemonade, which joined such previous offerings as peach tea and sweet tea. The drinks are sold in half-gallon servings at prices ranging from $4.99 to $7.99.
The catering options even include table decorations—a rabbit figurine for the Easter table, for instance, sold as an offshoot of Cracker Barrel’s retail business (every restaurant has a “general store” hawking everything from scented candles to rocking chairs).
And the chain isn’t done with its big-order options. “We continue to enhance our catering menu,” Cochran noted.
Cracker Barrel’s catering success has helped to offset a dip in on-site dining since start of the pandemic. Executives did not reveal how short the chain has come in building back its dine in service.
Overall traffic for the brand was down 1.7% in Q2.
Cochran noted that her charge is also making changes to boost the profitability of its extensive catering operations.
“Catering sales have different labor demands than dine-in, which is different than individual off-premise,” she explained. Cracker Barrel is deploying a new labor-scheduling tool that helps unit managers better match staffing to how much labor is needed at any particular time of day, be it for a dine-in meal or a to-go catering order for 10.
The technology is currently in 300 stores.
Tate noted that the chain is also planning to hire more catering-sales managers and to extend its delivery network so every store in the 665-unit system can provide delivery of catering orders.
Cracker Barrel also operates the 56-store Maple Street Biscuit Co. breakfast-and-lunch chain. It, too, has a catering menu, but the listing is tiny compared to the lineup offered by its big sister. The growth brand features biscuit “bars,” or biscuits served with the customer’s choice of gravy or jam, and eight-serving biscuit-sandwich bundles.
At least that’s what Maple Street offers for now.