Company read
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
CBRL · Restaurants — casual dining · Signal led filing by 84 days →
Direction score
was 35 · -4 vs prior scan
31
▼ Falling
Customer Sentiment 40%
25
Workforce 30%
31
Leadership 20%
35
Product / Ops 10%
46
Components are live; families with no completed source are excluded and weights renormalize.
The read
What we found, why it matters, what it changes — synthesized from this scan only · 16d ago
1
Customer dissatisfaction is intensifying across a 655-location, 43-state footprint: fresh Trustpilot signals rose to 59 from 54 while the rating stayed at 2.1 stars.
Why it matters The combination points to worsening guest-experience pressure that is broad enough to matter beyond an isolated store.
What it changes Expect the next scan to strengthen the operating-pressure thesis if fresh signals remain above 54, or weaken it if they fall below that level.
Trustpilot · Company sitemap
2
Complaint velocity is again the leading business signal: 59 fresh Trustpilot signals have arrived 76 days into the cycle versus a measured 84-day lead before the last filing.
Why it matters Customer complaints are appearing within the same lead-time window that previously preceded an official filing, making them an early read on the next report.
What it changes Treat complaint velocity as a lead indicator into the expected 2026-09-08 report and compare the filing against whether fresh signals continue accumulating.
Trustpilot · SEC EDGAR
3
Workforce pressure has worsened alongside a 2026-07-27 officer change: the workforce score fell from 42 to 31 while SEC filings, 12mo, held at 107.
Why it matters A leadership transition occurring as workforce conditions deteriorate raises execution risk even though filing activity is stable.
What it changes The next scan should resolve whether the workforce score stabilizes after 2026-07-27 or continues to fall during the leadership handoff.
OSHA inspections and incidents · discovered · SEC EDGAR
This cycle
76 days since the 2026-06-09 10-Q anchor; next report expected 2026-09-08 in 14 days
▼ Downward pressure
Expect customer-experience pressure to remain visible into the expected report because this cycle has 59 fresh complaint signals by day 76, the last complaint cycle led the filing by 84 days, and the prior cycle also ended with a CEO departure and successor announcement.
Early signals The freshest dated signals are Trustpilot complaints on 2026-08-21 and 2026-08-18 about removed selections, the biscuit and cornbread basket, and poor coffee, followed by a 2026-08-16 complaint about fried chicken quality.
What moved since the last scan
vs scan of Aug 24 · 16 days ago
Signal
Move
The evidence behind it
Nothing moved between the last two scans — that is itself a read.
Counted at scale
Enumerated live from the company’s own infrastructure, counted in code.
Menu prices by location
Denver, CO · Country Fried Steak$19.49
Denver, CO · Grandpa's Country Fried Breakfast$17.99
Denver, CO · Hashbrown Casserole$3.99
Denver, CO · Meatloaf$16.49
Denver, CO · Momma's Pancake Breakfast$13.99
Lebanon, TN · Chicken n' Dumplins$9.49
Lebanon, TN · Grandpa's Country Fried Breakfast$14.79
Lebanon, TN · Hashbrown Casserole$3.09
Lebanon, TN · Meatloaf$9.49
Lebanon, TN · Momma's Pancake Breakfast$10.99
Locations by state
655 locations
FL60
TX56
TN50
GA45
NC40
KY37
VA32
AL31
OH31
IN28
PA24
SC24
edgar filings
107 filings, 12mo
Officer change filed 2026-07-27 (8-K Item 5.02), 28 days ago.
store locations
655 locations
655 locations across 43 states — live sitemap enumeration
trustpilot
2.1 stars
Average TrustScore is 2.1 out of 5 stars based on 597 reviews, rated as Poor
probe osha inspections and incidents
1 OSHA inspection
One inspection lists three serious violations and $58,000 in current penalties; the most recent listed violation issuance date is 2025-05-01.
menu basket median
1,649 cents, median basket item
1 sampled store(s), 5 priced items — read by browser agents
Supporting evidence, verbatim
Every quote links to its source and its scrape.
Quote
Source
Date
Scraped
“Our favorite selections were gone. Also gone was the biscuit and cornbread basket. The coffee was awfull!”
Aug 21
16d ago
“The fried chicken we ordered tasted and looked it had been cooked for hours. It just had that "leftover" taste. Was not hot...”
Aug 16
16d ago
“Today was the last straw with poor quality food and terrible service. Goodbye for good as you've lost my business permanently.”
Aug 16
16d ago
“We were greeted by a smiling face, acknowledged within minutes, had drinks and food within 20 minutes. Charisma was a fantastic server.”
Aug 15
16d ago
“The food was cold, the burgers were missing the bacon, the steak was rubbery and you could barely chew it.”
Apr 25
16d ago
“Our order was incomplete (missing items, including the pecan pie)”
Apr 14
16d ago
“1. | **01001** | Repeat | 19100132 D01 I | 05/01/2025 | 05/19/2025 | $38,500”
May 1
16d ago
“2. | **02001** | Serious | 338.31(1)(A) | 05/01/2025 | 05/19/2025 | $7,000”
May 1
16d ago