Q1 2026 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc (CBRL) has made key operational leadership changes, including promoting Doug Hisel to Senior Vice President, Store Operations, which has led to improvements in guest metrics.
- The company has reinstated prior processes in their back-of-house operations to ensure consistent food quality and guest experience, showing adaptability and commitment to quality.
- Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc (CBRL) has seen improvements in guest experience metrics, including food taste, service, value, and experience, which improved between 3% and 4% in October and even more in November.
- The Cracker Barrel Rewards Loyalty Program continues to grow, now accounting for 40% of tracked sales, providing a direct communication channel with guests.
- The company is focusing on bringing back popular menu items and introducing new ones, such as the Breakfast Burger, to enhance guest satisfaction and drive traffic.
- Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc (CBRL) reported a 5.7% decrease in sales compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2025, with a significant traffic decline of 7.3%.
- The company's adjusted EBITDA was significantly impacted, dropping to $7.2 million from $45.8 million in the prior year, reflecting challenges in topline performance.
- The company faced challenges with the rollout of Phase 1 of their back-of-house initiative, which impacted food consistency and required a rollback to previous processes.
- Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc (CBRL) has reduced its advertising spend by $12 million to $16 million for Q2 through Q4, which may impact its ability to attract new customers.
- The company is experiencing a more challenging macroeconomic and industry backdrop, with consumer sentiment softening and overall industry traffic declining.
Good day, and welcome to the Cracker Barrel fiscal 2026 first-quarter conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Adam Hanan, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to Cracker Barrel's first-quarter fiscal 2026 conference call and webcast. This afternoon, we issued a press release announcing our first quarter results. In this press release and on this call, we will refer to non-GAAP financial measures such as adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter ended October 31, 2025. Please refer to the footnotes in our press release for further details about these metrics. The company believes these measures provide investors with an enhanced understanding of the company's financial performance. This information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net income or earnings per share information prepared in accordance
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