Cracker Barrel President Says The Company's Service Is `Color Blind'.

Business Editors

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 13, 2001

Strongly disputing allegations made against Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc., about racial discrimination, the company's president and chief operating officer, Donald M. Turner, today said the allegations were baseless, and "our service is color blind."

"The allegations made today against Cracker Barrel are simply not true," Turner said. "Cracker Barrel treats its customers with dignity and respect. These baseless allegations are unfair to the thousands of Cracker Barrel employees who work hard to give our guests value and courteous treatment. We take very seriously our commitment to treat all customers fairly. We believe in good service - and good service is color blind."

At a news conference in Nashville, Turner and Norman J. Hill, the company's senior vice president for human resources, said the company would vigorously defend itself against the allegations that African- American customers were treated unfairly because of their race.

"Cracker Barrel has a well-earned reputation as a friendly, warm, inviting place to dine," Turner said. "People in 40 states come to our 443 restaurants because they find not only good food, but also an outstanding family environment that adds up to a truly pleasurable experience."

Turner pointed out that independent surveys had shown Cracker Barrel was rated as the best family restaurant chain in the nation. For example, America's restaurant-patrons voted Cracker Barrel the "best family dining" restaurant for 11 years in a row in a survey by Restaurants and Institutions Magazine.

Turner said the Cracker Barrel served more than 180 million meals this year.

"People keep coming back to see us because they like our food, they like our value -- and they like the way they are treated," Turner said.

Turner said Cracker Barrel trains and evaluates all of its 50,000 employees in good guest relations - good treatment and respect for all customers. The employee performance review process stresses the importance of good service, "and employees who don't live up to our standards are disciplined, even fired," Turner said.

"That's why we believe these claims are so far off base," Turner said. "For a company that serves millions of people each year, we get very few comments that in any way touch on racial issues. When we do, we investigate fully. If something went wrong, we fix it. And if we find that any employee behaves in any manner that is racially offensive, we take immediate action to discipline or even discharge the employee."

Hill said that he could not discuss specific allegations, but he was confident they were without merit.

"As head of our human resources programs, I can personally assure you that good guest relations are at the heart of our business - and at the heart of how our employees do their jobs," Hill said. "All of our employee training programs place the highest priority on ensuring that our restaurant staff treats all guests with dignity and respect. Throughout our nationwide operations the first rule of conduct for all managers and employees is to be helpful, courteous, and friendly to all customers - of all races and backgrounds."

All Cracker Barrel managers and employees get diversity training to ensure that all customers are treated with dignity and respect, Hill explained. When new employees are hired they are all required to read and understand the company's mission statement on courteous service for all customers.

Furthermore, providing good service is a major part of employee evaluations, Hill said. Meeting high standards of customer service is a major part of getting promoted.

The company also has a highly structured Guest Relations program in which all letters, e-mails, and phone calls from our customers with comments about our service get a thorough follow-up, Hill said.

All contacts from guests are logged and any complaints about services are forwarded to the Operations and Employee Relations Departments for prompt investigation and resolution, Hill explained. These departments investigate each and every complaint. The company then takes action to resolve the customer's concerns.

"The charges are untrue," Hill said. "Requiring African-Americans to wait longer to be seated or served simply because of their race is prohibited by company policy - and is simply bad business.

"Cracker Barrel customers are never seated in the smoking section against their wishes," Hill said. "Any employee that denied African- Americans, or any other minority, service on the basis of race or color would be terminated. Any server that refused to serve African- Americans, or anyone else because of their race or color, would be terminated."

"When all the facts are in, we are confident that these allegations will be shown to be totally false," Turner concluded.

Cracker Barrel is a wholly owned subsidiary of CBRL Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBRL).

SOURCE: Cracker Barrel