LEBANON Tenn. CBRL Group Inc. reported on Tuesday a 0.8-percent increase in same-store restaurant sales at its Cracker Barrel Old Country Store family-dining chain for the four weeks ended March 28.
Much like the trends across most of the industry — and mirroring February’s results at the 574-unit Cracker Barrel — the same-store sales gain was driven by menu price increases instead of growth in guest traffic. CBRL reported that average checks rose about 3 percent year-to-year in March, aided by average menu price increases of about 3.2 percent.
Same-store retail sales at Cracker Barrel increased 5.5 percent, the company also reported.
The restaurant and retail same-store sales results were favorably impacted by about 1 percent and 7 percent, respectively, by the earlier timing of this year’s Easter holiday, CBRL said. Unfavorable weather, however, negatively impacted results by about 1 percent, the company added.
The results for the latest four-week period were not compared with the same prior-year fiscal period because of the 53rd week in the company’s 2007 fiscal year. The latest results were compared with the four weeks ended March 30, 2007.
