The “Brad’s Wife” Incident at Cracker Barrel

Lucas Airhart

CC 401 Internal Communication

Case Study
 The “Brad’s Wife” Incident at Cracker Barrel

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Background 3

Immediate Issues/Problem 6

Issues Analysis 8

Alternative Solutions 9

Recommendations 12

Monitor and Control 13

Conclusion 14

References 15

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Introduction
Cracker Barrel is an old country style themed restaurant and gift shop that has been

successful in the United States since it was founded in 1969. “Since that time the company has

opened over 650 locations in 45 states across the country” (Broome & Boone, 2022). The

company was known to have a very professional and clean track record, with a loyal customer

base, and a high quality of service at their locations. However, no business is safe from an

improperly handled internal affair leaking out into the public eye. In 2017, Cracker Barrel’s

social media accounts begin receiving tons of negative comments and internet “trolling” due to

the company firing an employee. This case study will breakdown, identify, analyze, and present

conclusions about the firing of Nanette Byrd, known as Brad’s Wife, and the internal problems

the company faced. This case study will also discuss whether the actions taken by Cracker Barrel

were appropriate or if alternative solutions could have been utilized for a better outcome. Lastly,

this case study will present ways to continually monitor and look out for future incidents to avoid

another potential crisis. Initially, we are going to look at the background of the company to gain

an understanding of their positioning prior to the incident.

Background

In the 1960s the United States was expanding their interstate system, which sparked

growth of new companies wanting to open locations along the interstates. There was a pressing

need for somewhere for people to eat, get gas, and take a rest on their trips. Seeing this

opportunity, “Dan W. Evins opened the first Cracker Barrel Old Country Store on September

19th, 1969, located on Hwy. 109 in Lebanon TN” (Cracker Barrel, 2023). The name “Cracker

Barrel” has interesting origins. “According to the company, the name was cooked up thanks to

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people's habit in the good old days of pulling up a chair and chatting around a cracker barrel at

the local country store” (Fleming-Montoya, 2023). Evins wanted to capture this same feeling,

and great conversations in his restaurants. The restaurant was initially successful, and with the

help of his local friends as investors, Evins was able to open 13 stores by 1977. During this time

the restaurant underwent many changes and improvements. “One of the major changes has been

to the Cracker Barrel menu, which was originally handwritten on brown paper bags” (Fleming-

Montoya, 2023). Evins was constantly looking towards the future with his now expanding chain

of restaurants. In 1981, Cracker Barrel officially became a publicly traded company in the hopes

that the restaurant could further expand to new locations. “Following the initial public offering,

Cracker Barrel grew at a rate of around 20 percent per year; by 1987, the company had become a

chain of more than 50 units and eight states, with an annual net sales of almost $81 million”

(Zippia Staff, 2023). By now the gas station aspect of the restaurant had been removed to focus

instead on the restaurant experience and addition of a gift shop. The locations were adorned with

“old timey” décor and souvenirs for purchase. By 1997, Cracker Barrel had upwards of 300

locations and continued expanding into the turn of the millennium. The company had over 600

locations by 2011. Today, Cracker Barrel is an extremely successful restaurant chain that is still

in the process of continuing their expansion westward and purchasing additional brand names.

“In May of 2021, Cracker Barrel launched Chicken ‘n Biscuits by Cracker Barrel, its first virtual

brand offering its signature fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits” (Zippia Staff, 2023).

Cracker Barrel has seen continued success because they are able to follow Evins original

vision, while incorporating positive values and mission statements along the way. While their

messaging is simple, it has encouraged shareholders and stakeholders to have faith in the

company continually since its inception.

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Cracker Barrel’s Values

1. “It's about values like kindness and decency, respect and humility passed down from

the start” (Cracker Barrel, 2023).

2. “We are committed to hiring people who understand what goes into serving others -

and once on the job, we provide them with the opportunity to grow their skills and

grow with our company” (Cracker Barrel, 2023).

3. “From the way we carefully sourced gifts in our stores, to the music artists we partner

with, to the way we make our from-scratch biscuits, every choice in a Cracker Barrel

Old Country Store is made deliberately to create a consistent experience that makes

people feel at home when they walk in our door” (Cracker Barrel, 2023).

Utilizing and following through on these statements has allowed Cracker Barrel to

become one of the leaders in the family style restaurant marketplace. Their diversification

efforts, especially regarding the introduction of new brands, has allowed them to reach an even

wider audience of shareholders, customers, and bring in new stakeholders. It seemed as if

Cracker Barrel could do nothing wrong with their business decisions. However, sometimes it is

the smallest of issues that can skyrocket into something much bigger if it is not handled

correctly. During their continued success, a Cracker Barrel location in Corydon, Indiana would

make the decision to fire and employee with very little explanation. This led to an internal crisis

for the organization when the information went public. Not only would the company's reputation

be affected, but the company’s response, or lack of, would allow the problem to persist for years.

Immediate Problem

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The power of social media has granted organizations the ability to reach their audience

more effectively, and it has been a crucial tool in the evolution of many companies. On the other

hand, it is also given anybody who can make a social media account a potentially immense

audience right at their fingertips. One person's interactions can potentially expose and disrupt an

entire nationwide company if issues arise. That is exactly what happened to Cracker Barrel in

2017 after a decision was made to fire Nanette Byrd from her retail manager position with no

explanation.

The firing process is one that typically involves discretion as it can be an embarrassing,

unnerving, and disheartening process for the employer and employee. Whenever Nanette

returned home to her husband Brad Byrd, he was very upset about the situation, and Cracker

Barrel management provided no reasoning behind the firing. “Byrd posted a question on Cracker

Barrel 's Facebook page asking, “Why did you fire my wife?” (Sv, 2017). Immediately, this post

was noticed by others on social media and quickly spread around. Hashtags such as

#JusticeForBradsWife and #BradsWife began trending as people flocked to Cracker Barrel’s

social media posts to leave comments. News media outlets began covering the situation and

Cracker Barrel found itself in the middle of an internal communications crisis. The company's

firing process that is typically all internal to the company was brought to the public, and this was

a particularly bad situation as Cracker Barrel had given no reasoning behind the firing and many

thought they would have to give some type of answer. As far as social media goes, potentially no

answer they could give would be good enough to satisfy the hordes of commenters. “Next came

digital vandalism: People began to fill the Yelp and Google pages for Cracker Barrel with queries

about brad's wife and bad reviews” (Judkis, 2017).

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Interestingly, there is no record of the internal communications that took place at Cracker

Barrel during or shortly after this incident. Cracker Barrel made no official statement to any

news media outlets, on social media, or through a press release. Nobody from Cracker Barrel’s

corporate office all the way down to their lower-level employees gave any reasoning behind the

firing of Nanette or gave their opinion on the incident. “Now, a quick visit to Cracker Barrel 's

Facebook page shows that it's been flooded with calls for the restaurant’s social media team to

answer for what happened to Brad's wife” (Allen, 2018). The public was demanding an answer

from them, so it would be impossible for Cracker Barrel to not be at least aware of the situation.

“The media is reporting on the social media outrage. Yet cracker barrel is remaining mum to the

growing story both with the traditional media and on social media” (Sv, 2017).

Internally, we can assume that the corporate office addressed the situation with their

shareholders and stakeholders as many of them would be initially worried about the negative

press. We can assume that some form of internal communication such as an e-mail, memo,

meeting, etc. was given to employees as instructions to not acknowledge the incident. In fact, it

is presumed that Cracker Barrel did not even view this as an incident but just a routine firing of

an employee with a strong reaction. This is something that many companies will potentially have

to deal with given the prevalence of social media, but it is best not to give fuel to the fire.

“Cracker Barrel’s corporate office has yet to respond, and I doubt they will considering

that most employers don't feel they owe anyone an explanation after firing them” (James, 2017).

With no public response from the company, Brad eventually took it upon himself to make

another social media post. “I would like to repeat that your local restaurant/store had nothing and

I repeat nothing to do with this please send all of your questions comments to the Home Office

they are the ones who can answer them………………………………………..or NOT” (Judkis,

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2017). We can assume that Cracker Barrel had a crisis team monitoring the situation within the

company. The company continued with their crisis response method of remaining silent about

the incident on all external channels. Since we do not have any other internal communications

released from the company or statements, we must presume that this was the crisis team’s plan.

Outside of the company many view this crisis response method of silence as a “no response”.

“As a result of not having a crisis management plan in place for a social media crisis, Cracker

Barrel has allowed Brad's wife to get the last laugh and serve as a warning to businesses on what

not to do during a crisis” (Sv, 2017).

However, it is important to note that the shareholders had very little to be worried about

and were most likely addressed internally. When looking at Cracker Barrel’s stock prices and

sales charts on Macrotrends during this incident, they continued to rise and there was no

noticeable difference in the rate nor was there a temporary drop on the charts. (Macrotrends

Staff, 2023).

Issue Analysis

 The first issue that started this chain event was the firing of Nanette Byrd, and not

promptly explaining to her under what circumstances or reasonings she was fired

from her retail manager position at the location in Corydon, Indiana.

 The next issue was Cracker Barrel’s presumed crisis response method of silence,

as they gave no external acknowledgement of the firing, or incident.

 Cracker Barrel also utilized the crisis response method of silence and did not

acknowledge any of the social media posts, media coverage, or other forms of

exposure they were receiving.

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 Lastly, Cracker Barrel did not relieve any current stakeholder’s, or shareholder’s

fears publicly, which could discourage future shareholders and stakeholders from

joining the company. While they could have been addressed internally it seems

that many locations of the restaurant that received harassment we're uninformed

about the situation.

Alternative Solutions

The first alternative solution that Cracker Barrel could have used would be to have a

meeting between the stakeholders and shareholders of the company to formulate an official

response to the incident. This is a like what they have chosen but a more appropriate one as it

would relieve tensions. This would allow everyone who is affected by the actions of the

company, and the potential fallouts of the incident, to have a say in an appropriate response.

Shareholders will typically have a concern when a company has a social media crisis as their

investment could be potentially jeopardized. If a company stays completely silent it can be an

experience that turns you away from the company in the future. This is an example of a potential

response “A simple statement saying thank you for your post we appreciate hearing from you

and while we value your opinion employee records are confidential and something we cannot

comment on” (Sv, 2017). This would allow the public to see that the company has acknowledged

the situation but wants to handle anything regarding stakeholders internally. This would be a

more appropriate way to keep the situation internal, but still publicly acknowledge its existence.

This method has some downfalls as well as it does not ease the tensions entirely of

stakeholders and could potentially discourage future employees from joining the company.

Cracker Barrel’s stated value does not hold true in this scenario. “We are committed to hiring

people who understand what goes into serving others - and once on the job, we provide them

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with the opportunity to grow their skills and grow with our company” (Cracker Barrel, 2023).

Instead of being able to grow with the company, future employees will remain questionable

about whether they could be fired without reasoning. The issue could then only be addressed

internally by the company. That means if they don't give you an answer, you'll never get an

answer, which is discouraging. While this method publicly acknowledges the existence of the

incident, it still goes along the lines of an avoidance method of crisis response. This method

provides no proof that the company is willing to change internally to avoid a repeat incident.

The next alternative solution would be to adjust their internal firing process to require

notifying the employee of the reason their employment was terminated. This could be in the form

of an official printed notification. Had this been in place already, and Nanette understood why

she was fired, the entire crisis could have been avoided. This would ease the primary

stakeholders of employees as they would feel like they must have a reason for being fired.

Shareholders would also be relieved from the implementation of this process as it could help

prevent future social media outrage over employee termination. If Cracker Barrel released a

public statement that they were adjusting their internal process, it would show that the company

acknowledges the issue and is willing to correct themselves so that it will not happen again. This

allows Cracker Barrel to keep their employee records confidential, but still supply an answer to

stakeholders, shareholders, and the public. Cracker Barrel could also release an internal memo

stating that employees can disclose that the company is undergoing internal changes when asked

about “Brad’s Wife”. Many of the restaurants that were being harassed would be able to ease

their tensions by providing an answer.

This solution also has some negative sides as it would require additional assets, time, and

training to adopt the new termination process internally. This method will supply employees with

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reasoning for termination, but this also provides them with an official legal document stating

why they were terminated. This could potentially lead to lawsuits over employee termination due

to various reasons such as discrimination, disability, or unjust reasons. While this process would

ease tensions with the stakeholders and public over not supplying a reason, it could potentially

create future issues if people post these documents on social media. This could lead to the

company purposely keeping “poor performing” employees out of fear of backlash over

termination and potentially cost the company money and time. Retention of “poor performing

employees” would not be looked upon favorably by shareholders. This could also raise some

concerns among shareholders and stakeholders that the company is having problems internally

and might be a telltale sign that future incidents are bound to happen.

The last alternative solution would be to perform an internal audit of the employees of the

company to gauge the overall work atmosphere. This audit could reveal how your primary

stakeholders feel about their job security, pay, or other potential issues that could escalate within

the company. This would appease shareholders and stakeholders by showing that Cracker Barrel

takes its employees’ opinions seriously and wants to be a transparent, successful company. In the

age of social media, transparency can be one of the greatest assets of a company because it

shows that they have nothing to hide internally. This would make for a fantastic press release for

the public, as it shows Cracker Barrel is taking responsibility for the incident and not only fixing

the problem but looking to address problem areas within the company. An internal committee

would oversee this audit and create a formal presentation to the corporate office to present the

current state of the company. This would attract potential shareholders to the company, as it

shows Cracker Barrel is looking to be a leader within their market and set an example for other

companies to avoid similar incidents. As a final answer to the Brad’s Wife incident, Cracker

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Barrel could “post testimonials online from employees on what a great place cracker barrel is to

work for and how the company cares about its employees” (Sv, 2017). This would not only fix

the internal problems but would set a new standard for responding to a social media crisis.

This solution also has some downfalls to it, as the company would be officially

acknowledging that they have an internal problem that needs to be addressed. This could initially

worry stakeholders and shareholders and cause a drop in stocks and employee hiring. Performing

an audit on an entire company would also be costly and time consuming for Cracker Barrel and

there's no guarantee that they will get accurate responses from their employees. The worst-case

scenario would also be if Cracker Barrel unearthed much larger problems internally within the

company that needed to be addressed. This could potentially put the company further into a state

of crisis and much larger actions would be required. If they received no positive testimonials

from employees, they would have nothing to release to their shareholders and to the public to

reassure them that the company is internally stable.

Recommendations

My recommendations for Cracker Barrel are like the crisis response method they have

chosen with some minor modifications. I believe that having Cracker Barrel’s corporate office

meet with stakeholder representatives and shareholders internally to formulate a response is a

more appropriate action than total silence. They would release a statement that they acknowledge

the incident took place, but that all employee records are confidential and handled internally. The

reason behind this action would be to ease the tension of stakeholders and shareholders of the

company, but not add any fuel to the fire. The employee termination process could then be

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internally evaluated out of the public eye, and see if there are any trends, or if this was a one-off

incident. Cracker Barrel could then implement a policy in which an employee needs to be

notified, at least verbally, why they were fired. Exit interviews could be implemented and be

voluntary for employees. This would help in the avoidance of a future crisis of a similar nature

and satisfy the primary stakeholders and shareholders. This would instill a sense of job security,

and that they are following through on their values.

It is very hard to deny that according to Macrotrends, Cracker Barrel suffered no

noticeable financial loss due to the “Brad’s Wife” incident and public opinion was only slightly

affected. This is a case of taking too much action that could end up having a negative effect and

costing a company. Cracker Barrel felt that this was just a normal employee termination process

and continued their business normally. I can compare this to whenever a celebrity gets caught

doing something, and when they make an apology video, it worsens the situation. Had their

internal communications regarding the subject went public, it would have validated the incident,

and potentially harmed the company financially.

Monitor and Control

To determine the success of my recommendation, exit interviews could provide some

insight into how employees react to their termination, and if my policies of “supplying a reason”

were effective in lessening the tension. Since there has been no noticeable financial downfall

from the incident, the number of shares and sales will not need to be monitored above normal as

it was just a policy change within the company. Shareholders can continue to be addressed

internally, and their opinion valued in crisis response. Employees can also be encouraged to talk

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to their superiors about any issues or concerns they have so that future problems can be

controlled as well.

Conclusion

Cracker Barrel’s “Brad’s Wife” incident will go down as one of the biggest and longest

running outcries on social media due to an internal communication issue becoming a crisis. Since

they never acknowledged or responded to the incident, there will always be critics of the

company questioning their values and mission statements. This crisis response method of

handling everything internally and remaining silent was looked at as being inappropriate to

many, but the company suffered no financial setback. This creates an interesting scenario where,

from a business standpoint, this can be considered “not an incident”, but it's hard to ignore it,

since it had such a wide public reach, and the comments continue in 2023. Cracker Barrel did not

have a perfect response, but they did not have a terrible response either as the company remains

successful and growing today. This is still a lesson in the power that social media and one person

can have on a company and their public opinion. Cracker Barrel can consider themselves lucky

that they emerged from the other side of this incident still profitable and successful. While there

were no internal communications released, we can assume they have taken precautions to avoid

another scenario like this in the future.

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References

Allen, K. (2018, Jan 3). Cracker Barrel stays silent in the wake of #BradsWife backlash. PR
Daily. https://www.prdaily.com/cracker-barrel-stays-silent-in-the-wake-of-bradswife-
backlash/

Broome, M., P. & Boone, B. (2022, Sep 26). The untold truth of Cracker Barrel. Mashed.
https://www.mashed.com/158983/the-untold-truth-of-cracker-barrel/

Cracker Barrel. (2023). About Cracker Barrel old country store. Cracker Barrel.
https://www.crackerbarrel.com/about

Fleming-Montoya, J. (2023, Jul 7). In case you didn't know here's what ‘Cracker Barrel’ actually
means. Daily Meal. https://www.thedailymeal.com/1333291/cracker-barrel-name-
meaning-explained/

James, M. (2017, Mar 28). Rockford's Cracker Barrel responds to the firing of Brad's wife. 97
ZOK. https://97zokonline.com/rockford-cracker-barrel-responds-to-the-firing-of-brads-
wife/

Judkis, M. (2017, Mar 24). Why did Cracker Barrel fire brad's wife? The Internet demands
answers. Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2017/03/24/why-did-cracker-barrel-fire-
brads-wife-the-internet-demands-answers/

Marcotrends Staff. (2023). Cracker Barrel old country store revenue 2010 to 2023 / CBRL.
Macrotrends. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/CBRL/cracker-barrel-old-
country-store/revenue

Sv. (2023). #JusticeForBradsWife and Cracker Barrel: What not to do in a social media crisis.
Strategic Vision PR Group. https://www.strategicvisionpr.com/justiceforbradswife-
cracker-barrel-not-social-media-crisis/

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Zippia Staff. (2023, Jul, 21). Cracker Barrel company history timeline. Zippia.
https://www.zippia.com/cracker-barrel-careers-3032/history/

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