Cracker Barrel's fiscal 2026 revenue fell 4.7% to $3.32B as guest traffic dropped 7.6% after the logo backlash; GAAP EPS of $1.40 was propped up by one-time gains, while adjusted EPS fell to $0.80 from $3.16.
Revenue
$3.3B
-4.7% YoY
Net income
$32M
-31.7% YoY
Diluted EPS
$1.40
-32.0% YoY
Operating margin
-0.4%
Overview: fewer guests, and one-time gains hiding the damage
Cracker Barrel's fiscal 2026 (the 52 weeks ended July 31, 2026) was the year its logo change and "modern" store remodels backfired. Total revenue fell 4.7% to $3,318.7 million, and the company says the drop in guests was "primarily the result of negative publicity and customer reactions to certain changes in brand initiatives, including the launch of a new logo and modern test store remodels," on top of a weaker consumer. It went back to the old logo and stopped the remodels in the first quarter of the year.
On paper, net income fell 31.7% to $31.7 million ($1.40 per diluted share, down from $2.06). But that figure leans on two one-time windfalls: a $47.4 million gain from selling 26 of its own restaurant buildings and leasing them back, and $47.4 million from settling a lawsuit over card "interchange" fees (the fees banks charge merchants on each card payment). Without those and other one-off items, the company's own adjusted EPS fell to $0.80 from $3.16, a 75% drop, which is the truer picture of how much profit the restaurants themselves lost. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a rough gauge of operating cash profit, excluding one-offs) fell from $224.3 million to $147.7 million.
The business actually lost money from operations: an operating loss of $12.5 million, versus operating income of $55.0 million a year earlier.
Key figures
Metric
FY2026
FY2025
YoY Change
Total revenue
$3,318.7M
$3,483.7M
-4.7%
Restaurant revenue
$2,701.8M
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$2,831.3M
-4.6%
Retail (gift shop) revenue
$616.9M
$652.4M
-5.4%
Operating income (loss)
-$12.5M
$55.0M
n/m
Operating margin
-0.4%
1.6%
-2.0 pts
Net income
$31.7M
$46.4M
-31.7%
Diluted EPS (GAAP)
$1.40
$2.06
-32.0%
Adjusted diluted EPS (company non-GAAP)
$0.80
$3.16
-74.7%
Adjusted EBITDA (company non-GAAP)
$147.7M
$224.3M
-34.1%
Comparable store restaurant sales
-4.2%
+3.5%
n/a
Comparable restaurant guest traffic
-7.6%
-3.0%
n/a
Average check per guest
+3.7%
+6.5%
n/a
Cracker Barrel stores at year-end
655
657
-2
"Comparable store" figures only count stores open at least six full quarters and exclude Maple Street Biscuit Company, so they isolate how the established Cracker Barrel base performed.
Why sales fell: traffic, not price
The sales decline is almost entirely about fewer people walking in. Guest traffic at established stores (measured by entrées sold) fell 7.6%, more than double the 3.0% decline the year before. Each guest spent more (average check rose 3.7%, including a 4.3% average menu price increase), but that only partly offset the lost visits, leaving comparable restaurant sales down 4.2%.
The gift shop fared worse, with comparable retail sales down 5.2%. Because retail is sold "primarily to our restaurant guests," the company attributes that decline to the same traffic loss. Off-premise (takeout and delivery) held at about 20% of restaurant sales.
The fourth quarter showed the trend easing: according to the earnings release, Q4 comparable restaurant sales fell 2.1% and comparable retail sales rose 0.7%, with total Q4 revenue down 2.2% to $849.3 million. Q4 GAAP net income was $12.2 million versus $6.8 million a year earlier, though Q4 adjusted EBITDA of $62.1 million included about $9.1 million of benefit from tariff refunds, net of investments.
Where the margin went: deleverage
Many restaurant costs (managers, rent, maintenance) don't shrink when fewer guests come in, so a sales drop squeezes profit harder than it squeezes revenue. That "deleverage" shows up across the cost lines (all as a share of total revenue):
Cost line
FY2026
FY2025
What the filing says drove it
Cost of goods sold
30.9%
31.0%
Restaurant food cost rose to 26.5% of restaurant sales (higher food waste, 2.3% commodity inflation, more discounts); offset by retail, where $15.0M of tariff refunds cut retail cost of goods to 50.2% from 51.0%
Labor and related
37.3%
36.0%
Lower productivity and deleverage on hourly and manager pay; higher health-care claims
Other store operating
25.5%
24.6%
Higher maintenance and occupancy deleverage, partly offset by $12.6M of poultry/pork supplier litigation settlement proceeds
General & administrative
6.4%
6.2%
Severance from a corporate restructuring and CEO-transition costs; $4.1M of proxy-contest costs (vs. $8.2M the prior year)
Several of these lines were helped by one-offs too: the $15.0 million in tariff refunds and $12.6 million in supplier settlement proceeds both reduced reported costs. Underlying store-level economics were therefore weaker than even the reported -0.4% operating margin suggests.
Exiting Maple Street Biscuit Company
On July 20, 2026, Cracker Barrel sold its Maple Street Biscuit Company (MSBC) brand and 35 locations to a third party and closed the remaining 16. It booked a $27.0 million loss on the sale, plus an $8.5 million impairment (a write-down of asset values) and $5.4 million of closing and exit costs tied to MSBC. Total impairment and store closing costs for the year were $31.2 million (versus $20.1 million), which also covered nine underperforming Cracker Barrel locations. The company now runs a single brand: 655 Cracker Barrel stores in 43 states.
Balance sheet: debt down, partly with one-time cash
Debt: total debt fell to $337.2 million (the 1.75% convertible notes due 2030) from $484.6 million, after the remaining $150 million of 0.625% convertible notes was repaid at maturity in June 2026. Nothing is drawn on the $550 million credit line, leaving about $541.3 million available.
Sale-leaseback: the 26-property deal brought in about $77 million of net proceeds (per the release), used to pay down debt. The trade-off is permanent: those stores now pay rent they didn't before.
Cash flow: operating cash flow was $206.2 million (vs. $218.9 million). Capital expenditures fell to $115.3 million from $158.6 million as the company pulled back on remodels and openings.
Dividend: $1.00 per share paid in the year; a $0.25 quarterly dividend was declared, payable November 12, 2026. No shares were repurchased, though a $100 million authorization runs to September 2027.
Takeaway: The GAAP profit of $1.40 per share flatters the year. Strip out the sale-leaseback gain, the interchange-fee settlement and the other one-offs, and Cracker Barrel's adjusted EPS fell 75% to $0.80 because it lost 7.6% of its guests while its fixed store costs stayed put. The debt paydown is real, but part of it was funded by selling buildings, a lever that can't be pulled every year.
Outlook
Management's fiscal 2027 guidance (from the September 23, 2026 earnings release) calls for:
Total revenue of $3.325 billion to $3.4 billion, with comparable store restaurant sales growth of 3% to 5% and no new store openings
Adjusted EBITDA of $180 million to $200 million (vs. $147.7 million in FY2026)
Commodity inflation of about 3.0% and hourly wage inflation of 2.5% to 3.0%
Capital expenditures of $110 million to $125 million
An income tax benefit of about $4 million to $8 million (per the 10-K)
Revenue guidance is roughly flat to +2.4% even with 3-5% comparable sales growth, partly because MSBC's sales are gone. The EBITDA target implies a recovery of roughly $32-52 million, which depends heavily on traffic continuing the improvement seen in Q4, when the comparable restaurant sales decline narrowed to 2.1%. New CEO David Deno, formerly CEO of Bloomin' Brands, started August 10, 2026. Our read: the Q4 trend points the right way, but the first half of fiscal 2027 compares against the quarters hit hardest by the logo backlash, so positive comparable sales in those quarters would not by themselves prove guests are back to pre-2026 levels. The figure to watch is guest traffic, and whether continued menu price increases (4.3% this year) keep pushing it down.
Source: Cracker Barrel Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2026, filed September 25, 2026; quarterly figures, adjusted (non-GAAP) figures and fiscal 2027 guidance from the company's Form 8-K earnings release (Exhibit 99.1) dated September 23, 2026.