March 25, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, with its classic “old country” theme, Cracker Barrel has been an American favorite for many decades. However, many people don’t know that the decor on its walls and throughout its stores consists of authentic pieces of American history.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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. Here 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 checkerboard 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 and eleven, so that
was kind of how it was born. There was actually
(02:04):
a 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
(02:25):
up their alley, 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,
(02:46):
the conversations that was had, the things that were on
the wall, the things that we sell. 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,
(03:07):
sporting equipment. There was jewelry, candy is one real big thing,
the vintage metal signs, things 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.
(03:29):
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. So there's a process
people don't realize, but there's a process to this decor
from procuring it to installing it. Ninety nine point nine
(03:50):
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 five from his mom and dad.
(04:12):
So I started in nineteen eighty nine. 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, how to buy. There was one particular event
(04:35):
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, everybody was coming to
(04:58):
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. They're going to be used in Crackerbrel stores.
But the one thing about that is that everybody that
asked if they could buy a sign wound up becoming
(05:19):
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
to find the pieces that are in our warehouse that
fit that area. And you come across some interesting facts
(05:42):
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
about half the world socks back in the nineteen hundreds.
So in that store, since that was called the sock
(06:02):
capital the world, we thought that in one particular spot
of that store, we should design it with socks with
clothing with knitting machine 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 where they introduced the electric guitar. So there's one
(06:26):
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
really fun to notice that the people when they sit down,
(06:47):
they start pointing to our decord. And I've even heard them,
you know, ask each other, you know, what is this piece?
What did it used to do? 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. We do
not sell any of our decor. But I guess I've
got a soft spot for people's family stories. It happened
(07:12):
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 actually hunting in Wisconsin
and he saw this sign and knew that that was
his grandfather, so he showed a picture to his grandfather.
(07:35):
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 you know, what he could
do to get this sign for his grandfather. And it
happened to be that his grandfather was ill, was sick,
so I thought that this should probably be something that
(07:58):
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 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
(08:22):
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, or even their picture.
So that old country store, that relaxed atmosphere and the
sense of nostalgia was something where we felt that guests,
(08:43):
you know, would make them feel at home. And it's
wonderful that I see a lot of people have conversations
about things that are on the wall. 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,
(09:04):
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 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. One time someone told me
that they thought that each store was a mini museum
(09:25):
of American history, which kind of resonated with me because
you know, some of that's probably true in a sense.
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
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. Here 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 checkerboard 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 and eleven, so that
was kind of how it was born. There was actually
(02:04):
a 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
(02:25):
up their alley, 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,
(02:46):
the conversations that was had, the things that were on
the wall, the things that we sell. 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,
(03:07):
sporting equipment. There was jewelry, candy is one real big thing,
the vintage metal signs, things 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.
(03:29):
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. So there's a process
people don't realize, but there's a process to this decor
from procuring it to installing it. Ninety nine point nine
(03:50):
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 five from his mom and dad.
(04:12):
So I started in nineteen eighty nine. 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, how to buy. There was one particular event
(04:35):
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, everybody was coming to
(04:58):
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. They're going to be used in Crackerbrel stores.
But the one thing about that is that everybody that
asked if they could buy a sign wound up becoming
(05:19):
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
to find the pieces that are in our warehouse that
fit that area. And you come across some interesting facts
(05:42):
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
about half the world socks back in the nineteen hundreds.
So in that store, since that was called the sock
(06:02):
capital the world, we thought that in one particular spot
of that store, we should design it with socks with
clothing with knitting machine 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 where they introduced the electric guitar. So there's one
(06:26):
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
really fun to notice that the people when they sit down,
(06:47):
they start pointing to our decord. And I've even heard them,
you know, ask each other, you know, what is this piece?
What did it used to do? 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. We do
not sell any of our decor. But I guess I've
got a soft spot for people's family stories. It happened
(07:12):
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 actually hunting in Wisconsin
and he saw this sign and knew that that was
his grandfather, so he showed a picture to his grandfather.
(07:35):
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 you know, what he could
do to get this sign for his grandfather. And it
happened to be that his grandfather was ill, was sick,
so I thought that this should probably be something that
(07:58):
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 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
(08:22):
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, or even their picture.
So that old country store, that relaxed atmosphere and the
sense of nostalgia was something where we felt that guests,
(08:43):
you know, would make them feel at home. And it's
wonderful that I see a lot of people have conversations
about things that are on the wall. 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,
(09:04):
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 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. One time someone told me
that they thought that each store was a mini museum
(09:25):
of American history, which kind of resonated with me because
you know, some of that's probably true in a sense.
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
Host
Lee Habeeb
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