Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/528948
racker Barrel, the restaurant-and-store chain that calls up images of old-timey america, has never been a company in much of a hurry, it seems. In these fast- driving times, a new eatery concept may put up 50 restaurants in one year, or 250 within five, but cracker Barrel keeps growing at about the pace of a nice, leisurely stroll down Main Street. the chain opened its first restaurant and gift store in lebanon, tenn., back in 1969 and now counts about 600 units across 42 states — that works out to fewer than 14 units per year, on aver- age. Of course, one must take into account that all these units are company owned, not franchised. then, too, the unique require- ments for a 10,000-square-foot site with its own parking, not shared, can make chain expansion as chal- lenging as it makes site access easy. more than six stores per year, but now its managers say they would like to pursue double-digit expansion. cracker Barrel's core consumer base has always been in the Southeast, and the company has ex- panded along the eastern seaboard and then westward through texas and the Midwest. the company has lacked stores in the far West, though: there are no cracker Barrels in california, though there are some in arizona and Idaho. Finally — and this is all somewhat hush-hush — the company is working on a totally new concept. "We have a smaller concept to unveil, a new fast- casual restaurant," said Janella escobar, cracker Barrel's director of corporate communications. "It is going to debut by the end of our fiscal year 2016; we have not made any comments as to where that fast-casual will open, what the name of C rolling out the Barrel CraCker Barrel is piCking up the paCe and planning a new ConCept By Steve Bergsman r e t a i l i n g t o d a y 20 S C t / J u l y 2 0 1 5 Still, this is the 21st century, and so even at cracker Barrel, things do change. historically, the company rarely built