Gary A. White, President,
P’Chelle International

Sometimes the best concepts walk in through the back door and eventually take over the house. Such was the case with Dan Evins in the late 1960s. Evins faced a growing problem. He worked for Consolidated Oil, the family gasoline distribution business founded by his grandfather. The company’s market was small, rural Shell gasoline stations. More people were buying and driving cars than ever before. This should have been good news for Evins.  Unfortunately, they were taking advantage of the rapidly expanding Interstate Highway System, bypassing once busy rural roads and the gas stations that serviced them.

Up to that time his employment depended on family. After three years in the Marine Corps he worked as an aide to his uncle, U.S. Representative Joseph L. Evins, Fourth Congressional District, Tennessee, considered one of the most influential men in Washington D.C. He then went to work as a teller in his brother’s bank. Now he was working for the family oil business, not striking it rich with a forest of oil derricks pumping black gold, but listening to depressed rural gas station managers singing the blues, wondering “what to do.”

Dan Evins, Founder, Courtesy of Cracker Barrel

Evins knew what to do, at least for him. Break the mold, create a new concept in a business he was familiar with. He was going to open a gas station. A gas station that was different. It wasn’t going to be in rural America, but it was going to be of rural America, incorporating its charms, beauty, romance and fantasy. Evins borrowed $40,000 and opened a Shell gas station on Highway 109 in Lebanon, Tennessee. To be different from his competitors he added a restaurant and gift shop.

A restaurant on an interstate highway was not a novelty. McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Taco Time, KFC, Jack In The Box and an army of others had prospered satisfying the stomachs of hungry travelers crisscrossing America’s freeways. They were fast and cheap, with simple menus and indifferent employees. Evins’ restaurant would be the opposite. It would be “country style” with Southern hospitality, away from the sterile, almost carnival like designs of shiny metal, concrete, plastic and neon to barnwood siding, wooden porches, rocking chairs, rustic wood fences, buckboard wagons, rock fireplaces and employees that said, “Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?”

Original Restaurant,1969, Courtesy of Cracker Barrel

The menu was different, not focused on the fast food fare of hamburgers, hotdogs, French fries, milkshakes and soft drinks. Noooo, this was the kind of food Mama makes, Southern style. We’re talking fried catfish, buttermilk biscuits, chicken pot pies, fried chicken livers, turnip greens, sweet tea, baked sweet potatoes, cornbread dressing, hickory smoked country ham and fruit cobbler with “all the fixins,” much of it made-from-scratch. Now, those are some grits (yes, they serve those too).

The gift shop contained what every Southern country home deemed absolutely necessary from rocking chairs, women’s clothing, folksy home decorating accessories, cook books, quilts and bedding, to, eventually, private labeled food products. It was the place for people to meet, “break bread,” buy supplies, talk about the weather, politics, religion and share family memories. In years gone by such a place would be called a country store. Where people met, talked and played checkers was around an old empty cracker barrel. Consequently, Evins named his new enterprise the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. He had a concept that was different. Would it work?

The answer was a resounding yes! Cracker Barrel was in the black within the first 30 days of operation. This was not entirely surprising. Most restaurants do well initially, folks checking out the “new place in town.” For long term success, the entire package must work: theme, location, service, and most important, the menu and food quality. Cracker Barrel received straight A’s across the board. Within eight years Cracker Barrel dotted the Interstate Highway System with 13 stores from Tennessee to Kentucky to Georgia. In 1981 the company went public to secure funds for expansion. And expand they did. By 2000 there were 420 locations. Today there are 663 restaurants in 45 states. This is impressive growth, especially considering these are all company owned stores, no franchises. With the 1970’s oil embargo and the realization that their future was with the restaurants and gift shops Cracker Barrel started phasing out gasoline sales. Even though Grandpa Evins and his Consolidated Oil might be disappointed, Cracker Barrel was no longer in the gas station business.

Cracker Barrel’s success is based on authenticity: real Southern country food served with real Southern country service in a real Southern country atmosphere. That atmosphere doesn’t just happen. It happens with people who understand the theme and how to capture it. Evins knew just the right people, reaching out to Don and Kathleen Singleton, owners of Spider Web Antiques in Lebanon. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! What became a one store project rapidly developed into a career, decorating up to 50 Cracker Barrel stores per year. To accommodate the demand, the Singleton’s needed to expand the inventory. Initially they stored excess inventory in Grandpa and Grandma Singleton’s bedroom, apparently not being used and very large. As one would expect, no matter how large the bedroom, it eventually proved inadequate.

The answer was the 26,000 square foot Cracker Barrel Décor Warehouse located on the company’s 98-acre headquarters campus in Lebanon, Tennessee. Today that warehouse holds approximately 90,000 pieces of authentic Americana, with another 700,000 pieces in stores throughout the United States. Each store displays an average of 1,000 pieces. Once items are sourced and arrive at the warehouse they are cleaned, restored, barcoded and cataloged. It may not be as comfy as grandpa and grandma’s bedroom, but it is a great deal more efficient.