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By Alice Gibbs
Senior Reporter
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Cracker Barrel has updated an internal travel policy tightening budgets for staff traveling for work, according to a leaked memo seen by The Wall Street Journal.
The guidance asks employees to try and dine at Cracker Barrel locations where possible during trips, and notes that alcohol will no longer be reimbursed. The move comes as the Southern-themed restaurant chain looks to rein in costs during a period of declining sales reported at the end of 2025.
The policy was shared with employees alongside a broader push to reduce travel spending, including guidance to delay nonessential trips until later in the year.
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Why It Matters
The move underscores how companies are increasingly targeting business travel as an area for savings as work trips resume after years of pandemic-related disruptions.
Once considered a modest perk, corporate travel is now being reshaped by tighter budgets and stricter oversight.
Cracker Barrel’s policy has drawn attention because it goes beyond setting reimbursement limits and instead directs employees toward the company’s own restaurants.
What To Know
Under the policy, employees are asked to dine at Cracker Barrel locations where possible while traveling, when practical. Alcohol is no longer reimbursed, unless an exception is approved in advance by senior leadership.
The guidance also arrives amid layoffs at the company heightened scrutiny over the company’s new logo design in August 2025.
Cracker Barrel chain abruptly scrapped a redesigned logo after widespread backlash from conservative commentators and online influencers, some of whom called for CEO Julie Felss Masino to resign.
The original redesign removed the iconic “Old Country Store” imagery, drawing criticism across the political spectrum and causing the company’s shares to drop more than 10 percent.
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What People Are Saying
A spokesperson for Cracker Barrel told Newsweek: "The policy for employees to dine at Cracker Barrel while traveling for business, whenever practical based on location and schedule, is not new. Also, it is not the only place that our employees may eat when on the road, as previously reported. The change was to further limit reimbursement of alcoholic beverages under the policy."
In an internal message obtained by The Wall Street Journal, the company said: “Employees are expected to dine at a Cracker Barrel store for all or the majority of meals while traveling, whenever practical, based on location and schedule.”
Public relations strategist David Johnson previously told Newsweek: "Changing the logo [back] was a good start, but as sales show the bleeding and the damage is not over. It must work at reassuring its customers that it understands why they were angry and will not undertake a dramatic change. It needs to do a better job of listening to its base. Executives from the company should visit locations throughout the nation and listen to and apologize to customers for the fiasco. It needs to reemphasize its rich story history and reengage with its base. It could take a year or longer to fully bring back customers and move on.”
What Happens Next
Cracker Barrel have not publicly commented on the internal policy, and it is unclear how strictly Cracker Barrel will enforce the dining guidance, or whether the policy will change if the company’s financial outlook improves later in the year.
CORRECTION 02/04/2026 11:35 a.m.: This story was updated to clarify that the policy of dining in Cracker Barrel stores is not new.
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