Cracker Barrel’s Planned Price Increase Sounds Small, but Is It Still Cheaper Than Casual Dining for Tennesseans?
A sit-down meal costs more than it used to, regardless of the restaurant.
Cracker Barrel calls Tennessee home, so Tennesseans may want to know how its latest prices stack up.
Here’s how the chain’s prices compare to the past and with national averages.
Average Check, Then and Now
Cracker Barrel, headquartered in Lebanon, Tennessee, reported an average check per guest of $14.05 in fiscal 2024.
The annual report put that at 5.1% above the year before.
Fiscal 2026 ended July 31.
The average check per guest was $15.58, up 3.7% from the year before.
Compared with fiscal 2024, that’s $1.53 more per guest.
Across those two years, the average check rose about 11%.
The $15.58 sits close to the $16 range the company’s chief financial officer cited on the Sept. 23 earnings call.
If you’re comparing receipts, remember that $15.58 is an average for one guest.
When you eat with three other people, the bill covers four guests, so it can run well above that figure.
Psst! Want to see where Cracker Barrel’s menu moved in two years? Sort the table below by any column.
Menu Price Plan
On the Sept. 23 earnings call, Cracker Barrel’s chief financial officer, Craig Pommells, said total pricing for fiscal 2027 will be approximately 3%.
Pricing will be highest in the first quarter. It will drop sequentially each quarter after that.
Fiscal 2027 began in August.
If you’ve eaten at Cracker Barrel since August, you’re dining in the quarter with the highest planned pricing.
That puts first-quarter pricing at or above the 3% full-year figure.
In the fiscal fourth quarter, pricing was 4.4% and the restaurant average check rose 4.2%.
So the planned bump is smaller than last quarter’s.
The outlook also assumes commodity costs will rise about 3% and hourly wages will rise about 2.5% to 3%.
Check Versus Casual Dining
Pommells put the chain’s check average in the $16 range on the same call.
He compared it with $27 for casual dining and $20 for family dine-in.
Going by those round numbers, the gap is $11 against casual dining and $4 against family dine-in.
Both are broad categories.
That makes $27 and $20 group figures rather than prices at any one place near you.
Analyst Jeff Farmer had asked about lower-income consumers and some younger consumers who aren’t spending as much.
Pommells said the gap positions Cracker Barrel well.
Traffic fell 6.1% in that quarter, when comparable store restaurant sales dropped 2.1%.
If your last receipt for one guest ran near $16, you paid about the company’s stated average.
What 3% Adds to a $16 Cracker Barrel Check
Cracker Barrel’s planned pricing of about 3% adds roughly 48 cents to a check of $16.
The 4.4% pricing from the fiscal fourth quarter would have added about 70 cents to the same check.
For two guests at $16 apiece, the 3% plan comes to about $1 more on the bill.
For a family of four at $16 apiece, it comes to about $1.92 more.
Those figures cover pricing alone. Your check also changes with what you order.
Full-Service Menu Prices
Cracker Barrel’s planned 3% sits below what the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) measured for full-service meals.
Full-service meal prices rose 3.5% in the 12 months through August 2026.
Food away from home overall rose 3.4%.
If you’re weighing a Cracker Barrel check against a casual dining check, you’re comparing a price plan with a national average.
A 3.5% rise on a $27 casual dining check would add roughly 95 cents.
That’s about double the 48 cents the same math gives for a $16 check at Cracker Barrel’s planned pricing.
The base checks differ, though.
Psst! How much do you know about Cracker Barrel’s numbers? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Cracker Barrel Numbers IQ
Answer these questions on Cracker Barrel’s numbers and restaurant prices. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
Which part of the day brought in the largest share of Cracker Barrel’s restaurant sales in fiscal 2026?
Range Behind the Average
The $15.58 average check per guest at Cracker Barrel covers everyone who ate there in fiscal 2026.
Breakfast prices run from $6.99 to $21.99, according to the 2026 annual report.
Lunch and dinner run from $5.19 to $27.49.
Lunch brought in 40% of restaurant sales that year, ahead of dinner at 31% and breakfast at 29%.
If you order from the low end of the lunch and dinner range, your check pulls the average down.
High-end orders push it up.
A 3% increase adds about 21 cents to a $6.99 plate, the low end of the breakfast range.
If you order at the top of the lunch and dinner range, $27.49, the same 3% adds about 82 cents.
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