Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. will be opening a fast-casual biscuit house named Holler & Dash this spring in Homewood, Ala., according to local news reports.
The Lebanon, Tenn.-based family-dining chain’s long-anticipated fast-casual concept, first reported in early 2015, has been set to open by the end of the company’s fiscal 2016 year, which is July.
The company, in a statement to the USA Today-affiliated Tennessean, said Holler & Dash will be “committed to good, Southern food.”
Christopher A Ciavarra, Cracker Barrel’s senior vice president of marketing, told NRN in an interview Friday that the company couldn’t comment further.
“We’ve got an earnings call coming up Tuesday, and we have to get through that first, to be honest,” Ciavarra said. Earnings for the second quarter ended Jan. 29 are to be released before market on at Tuesday, Feb. 23.
The Tennessean said Cracker Barrel has hired local chefs Jason McConnell and Brandon Frohne to help develop the Holler & Dash menu.
McConnell, who opened the Red Pony and 55 South restaurants in Franklin, Tenn. developed Holler & Dash’s signature biscuit, the company said. Frohne is the former executive chef at Mason’s restaurant at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel in Nashville, Tenn.
Janella Escobar, a Cracker Barrel spokeswoman, said in a statement last February, when plans for the fast-casual concept were first revealed: “We believe, and third-party consumer research supports, that the Cracker Barrel brand is the most unique and differentiated brand in full-service dining, with high levels of customer loyalty and satisfaction.
“We expect our fast-casual concept to leverage the strength of our brand,” she continued, “while providing a different type of guest experience.”
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store was founded in 1969 and has 635 company-owned locations in 42 states.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter: @RonRuggless