A restaurant critic from a Toledo paper explains about the meals: "During two recent visits, it became obvious to us that calling the food home-cooked is a stretch. One afternoon we opted for the breakfast and dinner samplers from the oversized menus ($7.99), which brought a mix of good and mediocre food to the table. A lunch of somewhat salty turkey noodle soup ($2.59 a cup) and a well-stacked reuben sandwich ($4.99) hit the spot, as did the breakfast sampler: eggs done perfectly over easy accompanied by decent buttermilk pancakes, hash browns, country ham, grits, and a helping of sweet fried apples."

The food critics are not the only ones who rate the Cracker Barrels highly. On Epinions.com, online visitors rated the restaurant 4 1/4 out of 5 stars. "One thing I did notice about this place is that it caters to all the senses. First walking in you get the aromas of fresh cooking mixed in with the scent of a wood burning fireplace and also cinnamon and other spices that are from the candles and potpourri they sell," recalls a gentleman from Massachusetts. Adds another pleased diner who says he's never had a bad meal at Cracker Barrel: "Cracker Barrel seems...

When you get to your table, after placing your order, you can play peg games to keep you entertained while you wait for your food to arrive. These games aren't exciting, but they do provide the customers with something to keep them occupied, so that boredom never has a chance to set in."
From a personnel standpoint, the private company once proclaimed a policy of eliminating gay and lesbian workers in response to "the perceived values of our customers but now as a publicly held business, has said it will now offer its workers protection based on sexual orientation.

However, their places are not all squeaky clean legally. In September 2004, the company was hit with a 8.7 million settlement to resolve all lawsuits brought or supported by the NAACP that accused the restaurant chain of segregating blacks in the smoking section and denying them service.

This April, with lower retail sales but increased costs of menu items, the store rose 2.5% in the five-week period ended April 29 compared to the same five-week period last year. The 52-week range for the stock…