Sample data — illustrative, not for citation
Cracker Barrel
casual-dining · Cracker Barrel Old Country Store · est. 1969
Cracker Barrel is a full-service restaurant and country-store concept serving homestyle Southern food alongside an attached retail gift shop. An operator runs a large roadside restaurant with table service and retail, serving travelers and families.
Cracker Barrel net unit count declined -2.4% from 2023–2025 per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Not enough disclosure
Distress
No verified FDD extraction to judge from. Any figures shown are labelled sample data or independent federal records.
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness
Systemwide units
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 1,254 | 1,235 | 1,218 |
| Opened | 13 | 12 | 12 |
| Transfers | 29 | 27 | 26 |
| Terminations | 20 | 18 | 17 |
| Non-renewals | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 9 | 8 | 8 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 18 | 16 | 15 |
| Outlets at end | 1,235 | 1,218 | 1,205 |
| Net change | -19 | -17 | -13 |
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
To open (Item 7)
$3M–$7M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$0
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
0%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$0
0% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$0
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.
Build a real pro-forma for Cracker Barrel with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 13 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $7K in back wages for 3 workers, including 1 child-labor case. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
13
Back wages owed
$7K
Employees affected
3
Since 2020
3
1 of these cases involved child-labor violations, covering 1 minors across the system's franchised locations.
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Cracker Barrel franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Cracker Barrel itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2025.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
Cracker Barrel Closes 14 Locations (Is Yours One?)
news:FinanceBuzz · 3mo ago
Cracker Barrel-owned chain closes 14 locations
news:Fox Business · 10mo ago
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Cracker Barrel's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →