It’s not just Cracker Barrel’s ill-fated logo change that has been irking customers — as corporate bean counters this year quietly forced the chain to serve up day-old biscuits and microwaved meatloaf, The Post has learned.
The unsavory menu staples at the folksy restaurant — including biscuits that arrived at tables “hard,” “rubbery” and “like a rock” — were the result of a nonpublic February directive that prioritized “cost savings” and “efficiency” over customer satisfaction, multiple employees told The Post.
Instead of making biscuits fresh each day as Cracker Barrel’s kitchens had done for years, the chain’s 650 locations were ordered to bake them a day in advance and freeze them — then reheat them in hot boxes the next day, one veteran cook told The Post.
“They thought that we’d be faster and out sooner if we weren’t rolling out bread,” the source said.
“People want biscuits to be buttery and soft,” she added. “The most common complaint we’ve gotten is that our biscuits are sometimes like a rock.”
Likewise, Cracker Barrel’s signature meatloaf was cooked the day before and tossed into a microwave for just over a minute before being served — another stealthy measure to save money, according to sources.
“Before, we cooked it in our oven and the cook would cut it up still in the pan, which was in our steam line,” the cook said. “It was fresher.”
Shortly after last month’s logo backlash, the company scrapped its penny-pinching strategies for food prep, sources told The Post. Both edicts came down after embattled Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino — who sent the company’s stock tumbling last year when she admitted the chain was “just not as relevant as we once were” — axed prep cooks and more recently cut workers’ hours, according to sources.
“The changes [to how food is prepared ] were to account for the labor shortage in the kitchen,” said the veteran cook.
As reported by The Post, Cracker Barrel’s meatloaf attracted social media attention last month when a TikToker posted a video that purported to be taken inside one of the chain’s kitchens.
“We throw it in a microwave and then we serve it to you,” according to the video, which panned to stacked trays allegedly filled with pre-packaged meatloaf. “And sometimes it’s still cold.”
It’s not just biscuits and meatloaf that have suffered. Bacon has been similarly pre-cooked as of this year and stored in a hot box until its served, employees told The Post.
“Our green beans, and pinto beans, turnips, corn and carrots used to be cooked in big pots on the stove, but now we put them in pans in the oven the day before,” she said.
“They think its more efficient, but the corn and carrots lose their taste when you bake and add too much water,” the source added. “I feel like it’s overcooked.”
Before the cuts, Cracker Barrel’s kitchen staff was making biscuits fresh on as-need basis, but could still crank out dozens in nine minutes, according to one employee.
“They’re made almost to order,” the staffer told The Post. “Really, we go through them so fast.”
Nevertheless, management got concerned that too many biscuits — sometimes as many as four trays totaling nearly 100 — were being thrown out at the end of the day, the cook added.
“This will be a mistake. People can heat up frozen biscuits themselves at home,” according to a Reddit post earlier this year in a thread entitled “No more fresh biscuits?”
Likewise, a meatloaf that’s been cooked and kept warm can’t be served the next day, so the kitchen frequently tossed one or two a day, the cook explained.
The chain’s customers have noticed the drop-off in quality.
“The last two times I’ve eaten there the biscuits have been absolutely disgusting,” another diner recently posted on Reddit. “The other food was not the usual quality either.”
Cracker Barrel did not respond for comment.
Felss Masino landed on the hot seat last month after the 55-year-old company scrapped its folksy logo featuring mascot “Uncle Herschel” and replaced it with a more sleek, minimalist design that outraged customers.
The company was accused of being “woke” and eventually announced that it would bring back the “Old Timer” image — shortly after President Trump weighed in on the matter.
On Aug. 19, a day after the logo was revealed, sales slowed across the chain and fell off a cliff a week later as the controversy grew, according to a data-crunching firm. That’s after a year of steady same-store sales growth on Felss Masino’s watch through the May quarter.
Staffers are also upset as the chain has slashed hours and imposed a new point system for servers based on their ability to upsell items like soda, alcohol, appetizers and desserts.
A server at a Texas restaurant said she earned $40 during a recent shift, compared to her usual haul of about $150. Scoring low on pushing up the tab has also resulted in getting fewer tables for her to cover, she added.
“If I can’t sell those items, I’ll get two tables instead of four,” the server said.
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