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Cracker Barrel teases its ‘largest menu revamp’ ever. Where can you get a first taste?

Cracker Barrel says it’s testing a new menu featuring 20 new items.
Cracker Barrel says it’s testing a new menu featuring 20 new items. Photo by Cracker Barrel

Cracker Barrel is revamping its menu, and only select cities will get to try it first.

The restaurant, best known for its down home Southern cooking, is testing nearly two dozen new items at locations across Texas, according to the Tennessee-based eatery.

It’s part of the “largest menu revamp” in Cracker Barrel’s history, featuring an optimized design and 20 menu additions, the restaurant said in a news release.

As of June 25, customers can find and try the new offerings at 14 restaurants in:

  • Abilene
  • Allen
  • Amarillo
  • Arlington
  • Benbrook
  • Cypress
  • Houston
  • Kingwood
  • Lubbock
  • Midland
  • Weatherford
  • Wichita Falls

“For nearly 55 years, guests have known and loved us for our authentic, homestyle cooking, and that’s not going away,” Cammie Spillyards-Schaefer, senior vice president of operations at Cracker Barrel, said in the release.

Cracker Barrel’s new chicken and rice and hashbrown casserole shepherd’s pie are part of the restaurant’s menu revamp test in Texas.
Cracker Barrel’s new chicken and rice and hashbrown casserole shepherd’s pie are part of the restaurant’s menu revamp test in Texas. Photos by Cracker Barrel

“We’ve only added more flavor and crave to the menu and made it easier to navigate.”

The test includes a slate of new items for customers to choose from, including a hash brown casserole shepherd’s pie, green chile cornbread, chicken n’ dumpling soup, cinnamon bread French toast and banana pudding for dessert.

Daily specials are also getting an overhaul, Cracker Barrel said. This includes the lemon pepper trout n’ classic turnip greens, Southern barbecue ribs and chicken n’ rice.

In May, Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino teased plans to lure customers back to the once popular restaurant.

“We’re just not as relevant as we once were,” Masino said on a conference call, adding that the restaurant needed “a transformation” to win customers over, CBS News reported.

“(W)e are not leading in any area,” Masino said, according to the outlet. “(T)he reality is we’ve lost some market share, especially at dinner.”

Cracker Barrel customers have until Aug. 5 to try the new menu before it’s gone.

The restaurant didn’t say if or when the new offerings will be rolled out nationwide but said it hopes to gain “valuable feedback” from guests and employees.

Find your nearest Cracker Barrel here.

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This story was originally published June 26, 2024 at 12:55 PM with the headline "Cracker Barrel teases its ‘largest menu revamp’ ever. Where can you get a first taste?."

Tanasia Kenney
Sun Herald
Tanasia is a service journalism reporter at the Charlotte Observer | CharlotteFive, working remotely from Atlanta, Georgia. She covers restaurant openings/closings in Charlotte and statewide explainers for the NC Service Journalism team. She’s been with McClatchy since 2020.
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