CBRL Group, Inc. Declines Participation in Proposed Investor Conference Call.

Business Editors

LEBANON, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 7, 2000

CBRL Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:CBRL) today said that it had declined to participate in a proposed investor conference call scheduled by Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette for Thursday, January 6, 2000, at the direction of its counsel and solely because of technical disclosure concerns raised by its advisors. The Company was informed late on Wednesday, January 5, 2000, that the call would involve institutional investors representing over 20% of the Company's outstanding shares, a substantially larger group than anticipated. Because the Company had earlier not been adequately informed of the size of the call and could not provide advance notice of the call to the investment community generally, the Company decided not to participate in the call as scheduled.

Such an investor conference call, by its very size, could appear likely to involve a discussion of material information affecting the Company. Because the Company wanted to avoid any inference that it had engaged in selective disclosure with that limited, but large, investor group, it felt obligated not to participate. The Company's policy is to make regular public releases of information on a quarterly basis. Only occasionally at other times, when it deems it to be appropriate under securities law disclosure rules, will the Company make specific public disclosures of material information.

Headquartered in Lebanon, Tennessee, CBRL Group, Inc. currently operates 414 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store units located in 39 states, 60 company-owned and six franchised Logan's Roadhouse restaurants located in 15 states, and two Carmine Giardini's Gourmet Markets located in Florida.

Except for specific historical information, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results and performance of CBRL Group, Inc. to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. Factors which will affect actual results include, but are not limited to: the availability and costs of acceptable sites for development; the effect of increased competition at company locations on employee recruiting and retention, labor costs and restaurant sales; the ability of the Company to recruit, train and retain restaurant personnel; the acceptance of the Company's concepts as the Company continues to expand into new geographic regions; changes in or implementation of additional governmental rules and regulations; the effects of local or regional Year 2000-related computer failures on utilities and suppliers serving the Company; and other factors described from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, press releases and other communications.