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The Cracker Barrel customer had a checkbook, and what he wrote in it after lunch Thursday would make his happy server even happier, but first he and his friend had a few questions. They asked the hostess: Can you give us your grumpiest server? We want to make them laugh. Sorry, the hostess said. Nobody grumpy here. I’ll seat you with our happiest. At Table 222, they asked Abigail Sailors for the special — turkey and dressing — and for eggs and sausage. Then they asked the 18-year-old why she was so happy. And over the course of their meals,...

Nationwide country restaurant Cracker Barrel has reversed its decision of Friday to stop selling some Duck Dynasty merchandise with Papa Phil's face prominently displayed. Thanks to fierce customer backlash and a strong anti-Cracker Barrel Twitter campaign, the restaurant tweeted on Sunday that Duck Dynasty products are back on the shelves. Cracker Barrel @CrackerBarrel We made a mistake, we listened to you, and we apologize. #DuckDynasty products are back in our stores. http://goo.gl/zftvZe 10:19 AM - 22 Dec 2013 2,838 Retweets 1,408 favorites A full explanation was posted to their Facebook page.

“We were flat out wrong." That’s the message Cracker Barrel is sending to enraged customers after the restaurant chain removed Duck Dynasty items from its stores over fears it might offend people. “Our intent was to avoid offending but that’s just what we’ve done,” Cracker Barrel said in a statement posted on its Facebook page. “You told us we made a mistake. And, you weren’t shy about it. You wrote, you called and you took to social media to express your thoughts and feelings.” One of those customers was Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. He said his...

Came to their senses

On Sunday, just two days after announcing it would be pulling some Duck Dynasty products featuring Phil Robertson from its stores, Cracker Barrel announced that it had reversed itself and would reinstate all Duck Dynasty products. In an announcement via Twitter, Cracker Barrel wrote: Dear Cracker Barrel Customer: When we made the decision to remove and evaluate certain Duck Dynasty items, we offended many of our loyal customers. Our intent was to avoid offen

Cracker Barrel said it pulled some Duck Dynasty merchandise from its stores over concerns it might offend guests, a move that infuriated thousands of customers and confused many others. "We removed selected products which we were concerned might offend some of our guests while we evaluate the situation," Cracker Barrel said in a statement posted on its Facebook page. The full statement read: “Cracker Barrel’s mission is Pleasing People. We operate within the ideals of fairness, mutual respect and equal treatment of all people. These ideals are the core of our corporate culture. We continue to offer Duck Commander products...

Cracker Barrel has become the first sponsor to cut bait with "Duck Dynasty" ... but not entirely. The Southern-themed food chain reacted to Phil Robertson's anti-gay comments by removing "selected products which we were concerned might offend some of our guests" from their stores and restaurants. We called a bunch of Cracker Barrel stores, and the managers told us the products that were removed were the ones that had Phil's face plastered on the packaging. Almost to a person, the managers added, "We still offer a wide variety of Duck Commander products," and then we heard a click. C.B. offers...

Cracker Barrel statement: Cracker Barrel’s mission is Pleasing People. We operate within the ideals of fairness, mutual respect and equal treatment of all people. These ideals are the core of our corporate culture. We continue to offer Duck Commander products in our stores. We removed selected products which we were concerned might offend some of our guests while we evaluate the situation. We continually evaluate the products we offer and will continue to do so.

A Strongsville man fetched a shotgun and killed his wife in a restaurant gift shop Thursday after she told him during a birthday dinner for one of their daughters that she was leaving him. Kevin Allen, 51, then hunted down his 10-year-old daughters in a restroom, killing Kerri on her birthday with one blast to her belly and critically injuring Kayla, a source familiar with the investigation said Friday. Minutes later, police officers from this Cleveland suburb confronted the still-armed Allen in the restaurant doorway and killed him with a barrage of gunfire. No other patrons or employees were injured....

BROOKLYN, Ohio (AP) — Police shot and killed an armed man at a crowded Cracker Barrel restaurant where a woman and a girl had been killed and another person was wounded, sending customers fleeing out the back door. The restaurant said the violence appeared to be the result of a domestic dispute between two customers. Authorities said a woman called 911 from the restaurant Thursday night, saying her husband was upset because she told him she was leaving him. He left the restaurant and was circling the parking lot, the woman told police.

LEBANON, TENNESSEE - The former treasurer of a political action committee operated by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Incorporated has been arraigned on charges of stealing more than $70,000 from the organization...... "Forth was manager of political affairs for the National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 until April 1998."

A Jonesboro woman who was the victim of a 2009 attack at a Morrow Cracker Barrel restaurant was sentenced Friday in a June disorderly conduct case. Tashawnea Yeasha Hill, 37, pleaded no contest to the charge and was sentenced to 12 months probation, 64 hours of community service and was ordered to enroll in anger management classes, according to Clayton County State Court records. Hill, an Army reservist, was arrested on June 20 after she and Janise Roebuck, a nurse, were arguing and fighting in Roebuck's front yard in Hampton, Ga., according to police. Roebuck told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that...

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. -- No more Cracker Barrel restaurants ever for one Georgia man. The company has banned the man accused of beating a mother at one of its restaurants from all of its locations for life. Investigators in Clayton County said Troy West beat Tasha Hill at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Morrow while yelling racial slurs after he nearly hit her 7-year-old daughter while opening the restaurant's door. Cracker Barrel Bans Suspect From Restaurant For Life The beating is leading some state lawmakers to consider pushing for a Georgia Hate Crime Law. "It's past time, but there again,...

RENO, Nev — Federal agents raided 11 McDonald's restaurants in northern Nevada and made dozens of arrests Thursday as part of an investigation into illegal immigration. Agents for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made at least 56 arrests in Reno, Sparks and Fernley after raids at the restaurants and a franchise corporate headquarters in Reno, agency spokesman Richard Rocha said. "They are people suspected of being in the country illegally. As far as I know, they were all McDonald's employees," he told The Associated Press. The investigation began five months ago and was sparked by an identity theft complaint, Rocha...

Rose Rock, the mother of comedian Chris Rock, claims she was racially discriminated against when she was seated but ignored for more than a half hour at a Cracker Barrel restaurant along the South Carolina coast. Rock said Tuesday she planned to sue the Lebanon, Tenn.-based company. A Cracker Barrel spokeswoman said the restaurant chain was investigating and taking the complaint "very seriously." Cracker Barrel has in the past faced numerous lawsuits and a federal inquiry over complaints of refusing to serve black customers, discriminating against minority workers and firing gay employees. The company has taken steps to rebuild its...

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - A man who tried to extort $500,000 from a Cracker Barrel restaurant by claiming he found a mouse in a bowl of soup was sentenced Thursday to a year in jail. ADVERTISEMENT Ricky Lee Patterson, 23, was also fined $2,500. A jury in April convicted Patterson of conspiracy to commit extortion. His mother, Carla Patterson, was found guilty as well and received the same sentence in July. The Pattersons claimed they found the rodent in soup that Carla Patterson ordered at a Newport News restaurant in 2004 during a Mother's Day meal. Prosecutors brought charges after...

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — A woman and her adult son have been convicted of trying to extort money from the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain by claiming they found a dead mouse in a bowl of soup while celebrating Mother's Day in 2004. Jurors deliberated nearly four hours Friday before convicting Carla Patterson, 38, and Ricky Patterson, 22, of conspiracy to commit extortion.

Brooklyn has yanked the welcome mat out from under Southern food chain Cracker Barrel Old Country Store due to accusations of discrimination.Borough President Marty Markowitz, who invited the company to check out Brooklyn, dropped his Southern hospitality following outrage among black and gay leaders over a history of discrimination claims against the chain."I do not believe they are ready for Brooklyn," Markowitz said yesterday."It is our greatest source of pride that Brooklyn's diversity of races, faiths and ethnicities is unrivaled anywhere in the world, and any company that is interested in doing business in Brooklyn must respect and celebrate diversity....

AUSTIN, Texas - Three people and eight corporations — including Sears and Cracker Barrel — were indicted Tuesday on charges of making illegal campaign contributions through a political action committee formed by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay, a Texas Republican, was not charged. The grand jury has been investigating whether $2.5 million in corporate funds were used illegally to help Republican candidates win elections in 2002 that gave the GOP a majority in the Texas House for the first time since Reconstruction. The GOP later used its majority to redraw Texas' congressional districts to favor Republican candidates. Those...