Let's be honest. I used to dine at the Cracker Barrel years ago when my Grandfather would want to go out. That was his idea of fine dining. My Father on the other hand didn't mind the food, but wouldn't go there just because.
So what makes up the customer base of the Cracker Barrel? I'm far more likely to go to Olive Garden than Cracker Barrel. I'm more likely to dine at a locally owned Chinese or Japanese restaurant. I love one place that serves Bourbon Chicken with Saffron Rice.
Is it the atmosphere that turns me off? The corn pone hick atmosphere? No. I live in a rural community, and can live with that no problem. The problem to me is and to most rural Democrats is that we find the whole atmosphere to be absolutely phony.
But stop by a Cracker Barrel. Stop by and just wonder in and look around. My memory seems to say that it is a very monochromatic customer base. In other words, white folks. White folks that do not live in rural communities, but have an image of such rural living that doesn't bear any resemblance to reality. Notice that there are no Cracker Barrel's in out of the way small towns. Always near an interstate, always at a rather busy exit of the interstate.
The customer base of the Cracker Barrel is white folks, middle class white folks, who may or may not attend church regularly. These are the people who think that in small towns there is that sense of the general store community that actually doesn't exist. They dine there for "good country food" which I won't bother getting into.
Now, I like the kinds of food they serve, but I don't go to Cracker Barrel. Country fried steak is good. Chipped beef gravy is a filling breakfast that I'm actually fond of. I like greens, and I love potato's, just about any way you choose to make them. I grew up on that kind of food. Pork chops breaded and fried are a well known and comfortable food for me.
But the phony atmosphere of the cracker barrel doesn't appeal to me. So if I boycott the cracker barrel, haven't been there since my Grandfather died, it won't mean much. But if they offend those who do go to the restaurant, then that does mean a lot. The middle class suburban people who think country living is what they see there, and on the shows like Duck Dufus.
So by appeasing people like us, the cut their throats with those who actually go to the restaurant, and nobody is going to offend their customer base. Look at the Dixie Chicks. They were a country music group, and the country music types are those psudo patriotic God, guns, and the bible types that voted for Bush. They offended their customer base, and they are essentially defunct. While dolts like Charlie Daniels, and Toby Keith are still making money singing the same old tired songs they always have.
Cracker Barrel loses nothing offending those of us who don't go to the restaurant. They risk losing everything offending those who do go. Now, I am not defending, I'm just explaining the mentality. They are free to support anything they want, and I'm free to go wherever I want to spend my money. But in this case it's meaningless, because I wasn't going there anyway.
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