The Secret History Inside of Cracker Barrel

On this episode of Our American Stories, with its classic “old country” theme, Cracker Barrel has been an American favorite for many decades. But many people don’t know that the decor you find on the walls and throughout the stores are all authentic pieces of American history.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we're back with our American stories. Cracker Barrel has
been an American favorite for many decades with its classic
old country theme. There are currently over six hundred and
sixty stores throughout the country, the first one having been
born in Lebanon, Tennessee. But many people don't know that
the core you find on the walls and all throughout

(00:32):
the restaurant are unique and authentic antique items that have
been handpicked for each store. You're to tell a story
of how the idea of this restaurant came to be.
Is Joe Stewart, the decor manager of Cracker Barrel Old
Country Store.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Dan Evans was the founder of Cracker Barrel Country Store.
The spot that was determined where the Cracker Barrel was
going to be built him and some contractors actually used
a stick and kind of drawed it out in the dirt.
Back in nineteen sixty nine, the interstate was expanding and
there was really no place for people to have a

(01:19):
relaxing time to get off the interstate or a place
to eat. So he had a vision to build an
old country store to meet that need. The name Cracker
Barrel came from where crackers were sold in a barrel.
You know, there was a lot of things back in
the day that were sold in barrels, like pickles, candy,
different things. The cool thing about the cracker barrel is

(01:40):
that once the crackers were empty, that was usually flipped
over and a checker board was usually placed on top.
The reason that we have a checkerboard in our stores.
The first store actually opened on September nineteenth, nineteen sixty nine,
and it was located off of I forty, the interstate
here on Highway one on nine eleven, so that was
kind of how it was born. There was actually a

(02:04):
couple in town who had an antique store. Their names
were Don and Kathleen Singleton. Their son's name was Larry Singleton,
and around that time in nineteen sixty nine, Larry was
probably around twelve years old and he used to go
hunting and picking and buying different things with his parents.
So Danny asked them if they would supply them to
Core for the first store, which was right up their alley,

(02:26):
since that's what they did. You know, they specialized in vintage,
retro antique items. Our store was always built on a
mission of pleasing people with not just a great meal,
but you know, serving the guests with warmth. You know,
the old country store theme is just scattered throughout our
building about you know what used to happen in an
old country store, about you know, the conversations that was had,

(02:48):
the things that were on the wall, the things.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
That we sell.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
There's a lot of different stuff that in cracker barrel,
you name it, a country store had it. So that's
kind of how we built our decor around. So in
a country store you could find toys, you could find
farming equipment, hunting equipment, sporting equipment. There was jewelry, candy
is one real big thing, the vintage metal signs, things

(03:14):
like that. So it's more about trying to put together
designs with you know, everything in anything a country store
would sell. We have a twenty six thousand square foot
warehouse and it is full. It's got about one hundred
thousand pieces in it currently and it's full of just
everything you can possibly imagine that's related to a country store.

(03:38):
So there's a process people don't realize, but there's a
process to this decor, from procuring.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
It to installing it.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Ninety nine point nine percent of all the decor that
we have in the stores and currently in our warehouse
was bought by the Singletons. You know, they got this
role naturally because that's what they did for a living.
When Don and Kathleen could no longer do purchasing, and
whenever they retired, their son Larry kind of took over.
So he took over probably around nineteen eighty four eighty

(04:10):
five from his mom and dad.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
So I started in nineteen eighty nine.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
And the fun part about starting in nineteen eighty nine
was that Larry Singleton took me under his wing. So
the first three weeks I was working here, him and
I went to shows, went to a lot of flea markets,
antique shows, and he gave me the first hand knowledge
of what to look for.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
How to buy.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
There was one particular event that happened probably in the
mid nineties. Larry and I went to an advertising auction
up in Cleveland, Ohio, and there was multiple multiple items
for sale, and the auctioneer wound up putting Larry into
each bid automatically because Larry was buying so many things. Well,

(04:56):
everybody was coming to me because I was loading everything,
asking if they could purchase a sign, you know, or
get one of these, because that's why they came to
the auction, well, of course, you know, I said no,
and you know we're buying for Cracker Barrel.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
They're gonna be used in Crackerberel stores.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
But the one thing about that is that everybody that
asked if they could buy a sign wound up becoming
a vendor that sells to Cracker Barrel. So our warehouse
is pretty expansive, so we have quite a few pieces,
and the fun thing about doing an individual Cracker barrel
is researching the area that we're going to and trying

(05:34):
to find the pieces that are in our warehouse that
fit that area. And you come across some interesting facts
and fines in some of the towns that you're going to.
Fort Payne, Alabama. When you research Fort Payne, even to
this day, it'll say it's the sock capital of the world.
So Fort Payne, Alabama had factories there that produce probably

(05:56):
about half the world socks.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Back in the nineteen hundreds.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
So in that store, since that was called the sock
capital the world, we thought that in one particular spot
of that store, we should design it with socks, with clothing,
with knitting machines, sock stretchers. Bakersfield California was a recent
store that we opened Bakersfield, California. When you do the research,
it says it's the second birthplace of country music. It's

(06:23):
where they introduced the electric guitar. So there's one wall
dedicated to nothing but music. There's country music ads, advertising,
and there's a shadow box with an electric guitar. So
that's kind of how we do our decord. That's how
we choose, that's how we install. I travel a little
bit and I go to Cracker Barrel and it's always

(06:44):
really fun to notice that the people when they sit down,
they start pointing to our decor. And I've even heard them,
you know, ask each other, you know, what is this piece?

Speaker 3 (06:52):
What did it used to do?

Speaker 2 (06:54):
So there's a lot of conversation to be had with
our decord. We had a tendency not to, you know,
give anything away or sell our decor, and it's still
true today.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
We do not sell any of our decor.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
But I guess I've got a soft spot for people's
family stories. It happened not too long ago where there
was a sign in one of our Wisconsin stores and
it was the name of it was Peeler's Farm, and
it had a man's name on there of David Chapman,
an eighteen year old son was I think he was

(07:26):
actually hunting in Wisconsin and he saw this sign and
knew that that was his grandfather, so he showed a
picture to his grandfather. His grandfather said, yeah, I used
to work at that farm. That was the one I ran.
It was a dairy farm in North Carolina. So he
contacted me several times and wanted to know if we
know what he could do to get this sign for

(07:49):
his grandfather. And it happened to be that his grandfather
was ill, was sick, so I thought that this should
probably be something that comes back to this family because
it was him. They had pictures that they showed me
of whenever this man was in the business of the
dairy farm. So it all worked out about six months

(08:09):
later that I met three generations of this family. They
came to the warehouse to get the sign, and the
stories they had were absolutely amazing. It's becoming interesting about
what people are seeing and what they're finding out there.
There's a few calls on occasion where people are saying,
this is my grandmother's birth certificate or their grandmother's diploma,

(08:34):
or even their picture. So that old country store, that
relaxed atmosphere and the sense of nostalgia was something where
we felt that guests, you know, would make them feel
at home. And it's wonderful that I see a lot
of people have conversations about things that.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Are on the wall.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
I don't think much has changed, you know. Our mission
was pleasing people, you know, having that place to come in,
you know, off an interstate exit, to have a good meal,
to see things on the wall that remind them of,
you know, a simpler time or remind them of something
that they did as a child. I'm partial to toys,
so I try to buy as many toys as possible

(09:12):
because I think everybody was a kid at some point, right,
so they see a toy on the wall that kind
of reminds them of their childhood.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
One time someone told.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Me that they thought that each store was a mini
museum of American history, which kind of resonated with me
because you know, some of that's probably true in a sense.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
So I think that the concept is still alive.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
And a terrific job on the production by our own
Madison Derricott, and a special thanks to Joe Stewart who
was a core manager of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.
And what a mission to have, Pleasing people, serving people
with warmth. What a beautiful story about a beautiful company,
The story of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. Here on
our American Stories