Troubled Cracker Barrel saw sales decline again in the first three months of 2024.
Restaurant revenues fell by 1.5 percent, despite prices being increased by 4 percent. Normally, higher prices increase sales.
It means it has lost hundreds of thousands or even millions of customers across its more than 600 outlets.
The chain also saw turnover in its stores fall by 3.8 percent. In addition to the restaurants, it also has small supermarkets.
Cracker Barrel has promised to revamp its stores and menus, but has closed four stores this year. There is fear that declining sales will lead to more.
Announcing quarterly results on Thursday morning, Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Masino said: “As we indicated in our recent business update, our third quarter results fell below expectations due to lower traffic than we originally expected, which underlines the importance of carrying out our strategic transformation.
Cracker Barrel is renovating its stores
“Our teams are fully committed to bringing these plans to life, while continuing to deliver an exceptional guest experience and managing our business every day and every shift.”
Revenues fell to $817.1 million for the quarter.
It made a loss of $9.2 million.
Cracker Barrel hopes that spending $700 million on revamping its restaurants can save the dying chain.
The six-point plan includes a makeover for stores with brighter colors to make them less dated, a new logo and new menus.
New items on the simplified menu include cornbread with green chiles and shepherd’s pie with hashbrown casserole. Two stores have already been renovated and ten others are testing a new menu.
But CEO Julie Masino said prices will rise in many stores.
Southern country-themed restaurants, with 662 locations across the country, have lost more than a sixth of their customers in just four years — and the trend is continuing.
Falling customers have led to stores being closed and bosses developing a plan to turn the tide.
But when Masino released those plans last week, she told investors that the chian was “not as relevant as it used to be” — causing the company’s shares to plummet.
