Cracker Barrel closes Portland Jantzen Beach location

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Re: Cracker Barrel closes Portland Jantzen Beach location

Post by storewanderer »

bryceleinan wrote: March 20th, 2023, 1:38 pm In a somewhat shocking (to me) development, the Beaverton, Bend, and Tualatin stores are closing immediately, leaving only Medford...

https://www.kgw.com/article/money/busin ... 46e6afeda0

I've been to all of the Oregon locations, and outside of Jantzen Beach and maybe Medford, I would have thought the remaining stores would be safe. Sad to see them close.
I don't think Medford or Sacramento will be around much longer either. Both locations close at 6 PM or 7 PM. What is the point- may as well close at 2 PM if you can't be open during dinner. With facilities as large as they have, they need a lot of revenue. Closing during dinner is a suicide move. I don't care how much it costs to staff (since chain restaurants surrounding them are all open at night they seem to be able to staff), whatever revenue you get from being open will exceed the zero you get from being closed. What is strange is I think Sacramento is a lot busier than Rocklin so I am not sure why they have cut hours at Sacramento but not at Rocklin. They must really want to make that Rocklin location work due to how visible it is.

Also these locations in recent months (the OR locations, and the 2 Sacramento locations) made various cuts to their menus. Their food variety is still much larger than competitors despite these cuts. They quit offering items considered to be too "southern" so staple foods like grits were removed from the menu, along with certain side items like okra and such. I am sure sales must have been slow on these items but it was a bit odd of a move.

Also their pricing at these OR/Sacramento locations is outrageous. The menu prices are $3-$4 above the Utah/Idaho locations on entrees. This type of price difference is uncalled for and almost like they are actively trying to take advantage of CA/OR being known to have higher costs. I could see $2 more, that is pretty common. For instance their entry level/cheapest breakfast entree whatever they call it, is $12.99 in OR/Sacramento. It is 8.99 in Utah/Idaho. It is 10.49 in Las Vegas. It is 11.99 in Victorville, CA.

They have started to construct Reno so they must plan to have it attached to the UT/ID region. This chain is clearly done in the Pacific Northwest and I think its future in NorCal is very questionable. The few SoCal locations can probably stay around as attached to Las Vegas/AZ/NM and maybe grow SoCal a little more.

I am starting to wonder if these food service distributors are starting to charge excessive fees to chains that have a limited number of locations in a geography. For instance how much sense does it make for a Sysco warehouse in NorCal to slot Cracker Barrel-exclusive products for just 2 locations? They obviously have to get the stuff from a warehouse in a region that has more locations and move it from that warehouse to NorCal then send it out on the truck in NorCal. In the past this hasn't been a big deal as they move stuff between warehouses steadily. Maybe it is just too complicated with the current supply chain issues for these chains with far flung/few spread out locations to get their proprietary products and supplies out to these far flung locations.
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Re: Cracker Barrel closes Portland Jantzen Beach location

Post by Super S »

A lot of the problem with higher prices has to do with higher minimum wages, and the pandemic restrictions, unfortunately, have served as a convenient excuse to provide subpar service and limit the hours of operation. I am somewhat surprised by how long some restaurants have kept restrictions in place yet have not gone out of business.
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Re: Cracker Barrel closes Portland Jantzen Beach location

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: March 20th, 2023, 4:14 pm
bryceleinan wrote: March 20th, 2023, 1:38 pm In a somewhat shocking (to me) development, the Beaverton, Bend, and Tualatin stores are closing immediately, leaving only Medford...

https://www.kgw.com/article/money/busin ... 46e6afeda0

I've been to all of the Oregon locations, and outside of Jantzen Beach and maybe Medford, I would have thought the remaining stores would be safe. Sad to see them close.
I don't think Medford or Sacramento will be around much longer either. Both locations close at 6 PM or 7 PM. What is the point- may as well close at 2 PM if you can't be open during dinner. With facilities as large as they have, they need a lot of revenue. Closing during dinner is a suicide move. I don't care how much it costs to staff (since chain restaurants surrounding them are all open at night they seem to be able to staff), whatever revenue you get from being open will exceed the zero you get from being closed. What is strange is I think Sacramento is a lot busier than Rocklin so I am not sure why they have cut hours at Sacramento but not at Rocklin. They must really want to make that Rocklin location work due to how visible it is.

Also these locations in recent months (the OR locations, and the 2 Sacramento locations) made various cuts to their menus. Their food variety is still much larger than competitors despite these cuts. They quit offering items considered to be too "southern" so staple foods like grits were removed from the menu, along with certain side items like okra and such. I am sure sales must have been slow on these items but it was a bit odd of a move.

Also their pricing at these OR/Sacramento locations is outrageous. The menu prices are $3-$4 above the Utah/Idaho locations on entrees. This type of price difference is uncalled for and almost like they are actively trying to take advantage of CA/OR being known to have higher costs. I could see $2 more, that is pretty common. For instance their entry level/cheapest breakfast entree whatever they call it, is $12.99 in OR/Sacramento. It is 8.99 in Utah/Idaho. It is 10.49 in Las Vegas. It is 11.99 in Victorville, CA.

They have started to construct Reno so they must plan to have it attached to the UT/ID region. This chain is clearly done in the Pacific Northwest and I think its future in NorCal is very questionable. The few SoCal locations can probably stay around as attached to Las Vegas/AZ/NM and maybe grow SoCal a little more.

I am starting to wonder if these food service distributors are starting to charge excessive fees to chains that have a limited number of locations in a geography. For instance how much sense does it make for a Sysco warehouse in NorCal to slot Cracker Barrel-exclusive products for just 2 locations? They obviously have to get the stuff from a warehouse in a region that has more locations and move it from that warehouse to NorCal then send it out on the truck in NorCal. In the past this hasn't been a big deal as they move stuff between warehouses steadily. Maybe it is just too complicated with the current supply chain issues for these chains with far flung/few spread out locations to get their proprietary products and supplies out to these far flung locations.
I just don't see Cracker Barrel as a west coast restaurant chain. Lots of canned and frozen produce on their side dishes when we are used to the same dishes fresh here (like green beans). Reducing the menu means that the core customers will walk in and find it to be a shadow of their expectations so they won't return. And the size is just too much for the higher rents here. This is why you don't see these very large format restaurants open here like Cracker Barrel, Bahama Breeze, and others that like to build 10K Sq ft restaurants. If they're closing early in Sacramento then they must be hemorrhaging money anyway and are probably trying to get out of the lease ASAP. I don't think the SoCal locations outside of maybe Victorville are productive either. Santa Maria and Camarillo looked pretty dead at Sunday brunch time when anywhere else in the country the entire front porch would be packed. I don't see them adding any more units. Also there was a rogue Cracker Barrel chain in the LA area I am told that operated in the 70s and 80s and apparently wasn't very good. There was a location in Lakewood. It was never connected to this chain. The older crowd in SoCal they would want to attract may remember that bad chain and think they returned.
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Re: Cracker Barrel closes Portland Jantzen Beach location

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: March 20th, 2023, 6:28 pm A lot of the problem with higher prices has to do with higher minimum wages, and the pandemic restrictions, unfortunately, have served as a convenient excuse to provide subpar service and limit the hours of operation. I am somewhat surprised by how long some restaurants have kept restrictions in place yet have not gone out of business.
Restaurant is a strange business. Some operators who have a cheap lease or own their facility and have no liabilities can cut expenses to the bone (less hours, less menu, less staff) and basically run a very lean operation and it is easier to manage that operation than a high volume operation. This has helped insulate them from the higher labor costs so their biggest issue is the higher food costs. These types of operators may not be open every day but they spend the closed days doing things like shopping for ingredients (going around for the best deals) or doing maintenance on their equipment/deep cleaning. Also another angle I have noticed to that point is when the restaurants are family operated they cut hours and cut other things out so they don't have to hire many/any non-family employees.

Other operators on the other hand who are sitting with high leases and other significant liabilities (equipment, business purchase cost, whatever) and lost 60% of their business during COVID have a much bigger problem. A lot of these are closed and/or bankrupt already. They basically have to get the volume back because they are in a high lease and in order to pay a high lease you need to get business back to the pre-pandemic level because the lease cost was based on the pre-pandemic business level. But then to do that you have got to spend money on labor, plus food cost has gone up, so that is another rising cost. The restaurant business is in a really tough spot right now for a lot of restaurants.
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Re: Cracker Barrel closes Portland Jantzen Beach location

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: March 20th, 2023, 9:17 pm

I just don't see Cracker Barrel as a west coast restaurant chain. Lots of canned and frozen produce on their side dishes when we are used to the same dishes fresh here (like green beans). Reducing the menu means that the core customers will walk in and find it to be a shadow of their expectations so they won't return. And the size is just too much for the higher rents here. This is why you don't see these very large format restaurants open here like Cracker Barrel, Bahama Breeze, and others that like to build 10K Sq ft restaurants. If they're closing early in Sacramento then they must be hemorrhaging money anyway and are probably trying to get out of the lease ASAP. I don't think the SoCal locations outside of maybe Victorville are productive either. Santa Maria and Camarillo looked pretty dead at Sunday brunch time when anywhere else in the country the entire front porch would be packed. I don't see them adding any more units. Also there was a rogue Cracker Barrel chain in the LA area I am told that operated in the 70s and 80s and apparently wasn't very good. There was a location in Lakewood. It was never connected to this chain. The older crowd in SoCal they would want to attract may remember that bad chain and think they returned.
I also want to emphasize that the SoCal locations did not do the menu cuts. It is just NorCal/Oregon that did the menu cuts.

They've been in Utah for 20+ years. A new unit is being built in Reno now, construction just started. So I think they will be out west, just not in CA/OR/WA.

I think the problem is their food is just too something. If you know what you are going in for you can have a great meal there- a basic breakfast there is great, fried foods at other meal times are fine. Anything remotely healthy or looking for interesting taste/flavor and well this is not really the place for that. And I think this is the problem with the concept. There are too many other concepts in CA (OR too) that do these things better with more fresh ingredients used. I am also curious if the gift shop is off putting to west coast customers since it is forced entry/exit through there, due to the style of the merchandise being sold.

The menu reduction and 6 PM or 7 PM closing on Sacramento and Medford are big red flags to me that those locations are on borrowed time. Medford I do not think does much business. That Sacramento one is a busier location. Rocklin location is not doing well and also has had some severe execution issues.

All Cracker Barrels are corporate operated, this isn't some far flung franchisee making odd decisions on pricing or hours or menus. Cracker Barrel historically has a very low failure rate and has closed very few stores over the years. This NorCal/OR situation is very unusual for their company to basically it appears- fail.

Santa Maria strikes me as an odd location choice. Bakersfield looks like a great location choice for them. Victorville is also probably a good choice but that place seems saturated with foreign to CA concepts for some reason. Perhaps something around Moreno Valley would also be a good fit.

I guess we will see what happens. I am a little surprised they moved forward with Reno. It was on hold all winter. Have heard rumors they would enter Reno for 10+ years. I expect the Reno location to do very well and 50% of the customers will have CA license plates there.
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Re: Cracker Barrel closes Portland Jantzen Beach location

Post by SamSpade »

storewanderer wrote: March 20th, 2023, 4:14 pm I don't think Medford or Sacramento will be around much longer either. Both locations close at 6 PM or 7 PM. What is the point- may as well close at 2 PM if you can't be open during dinner.
This was part of the problem for us. Irregular hours / hour cutbacks that made it more challenging to visit as it was never usually a "top of mind" choice, especially at dinner. Again, in our family's needs, the Beaverton location fit best with breakfast (there is a shortage of diners here and lots of lines at the ones that do exist). I still remember trying to order poached eggs on a weekday and the server replied, "sorry, weekends only."

They also added alcohol (beer/wine) out here, not sure if that was as common in other states.
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Re: Cracker Barrel closes Portland Jantzen Beach location

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: March 21st, 2023, 12:25 am
ClownLoach wrote: March 20th, 2023, 9:17 pm

I just don't see Cracker Barrel as a west coast restaurant chain. Lots of canned and frozen produce on their side dishes when we are used to the same dishes fresh here (like green beans). Reducing the menu means that the core customers will walk in and find it to be a shadow of their expectations so they won't return. And the size is just too much for the higher rents here. This is why you don't see these very large format restaurants open here like Cracker Barrel, Bahama Breeze, and others that like to build 10K Sq ft restaurants. If they're closing early in Sacramento then they must be hemorrhaging money anyway and are probably trying to get out of the lease ASAP. I don't think the SoCal locations outside of maybe Victorville are productive either. Santa Maria and Camarillo looked pretty dead at Sunday brunch time when anywhere else in the country the entire front porch would be packed. I don't see them adding any more units. Also there was a rogue Cracker Barrel chain in the LA area I am told that operated in the 70s and 80s and apparently wasn't very good. There was a location in Lakewood. It was never connected to this chain. The older crowd in SoCal they would want to attract may remember that bad chain and think they returned.
I also want to emphasize that the SoCal locations did not do the menu cuts. It is just NorCal/Oregon that did the menu cuts.

They've been in Utah for 20+ years. A new unit is being built in Reno now, construction just started. So I think they will be out west, just not in CA/OR/WA.

I think the problem is their food is just too something. If you know what you are going in for you can have a great meal there- a basic breakfast there is great, fried foods at other meal times are fine. Anything remotely healthy or looking for interesting taste/flavor and well this is not really the place for that. And I think this is the problem with the concept. There are too many other concepts in CA (OR too) that do these things better with more fresh ingredients used. I am also curious if the gift shop is off putting to west coast customers since it is forced entry/exit through there, due to the style of the merchandise being sold.

The menu reduction and 6 PM or 7 PM closing on Sacramento and Medford are big red flags to me that those locations are on borrowed time. Medford I do not think does much business. That Sacramento one is a busier location. Rocklin location is not doing well and also has had some severe execution issues.

All Cracker Barrels are corporate operated, this isn't some far flung franchisee making odd decisions on pricing or hours or menus. Cracker Barrel historically has a very low failure rate and has closed very few stores over the years. This NorCal/OR situation is very unusual for their company to basically it appears- fail.

Santa Maria strikes me as an odd location choice. Bakersfield looks like a great location choice for them. Victorville is also probably a good choice but that place seems saturated with foreign to CA concepts for some reason. Perhaps something around Moreno Valley would also be a good fit.

I guess we will see what happens. I am a little surprised they moved forward with Reno. It was on hold all winter. Have heard rumors they would enter Reno for 10+ years. I expect the Reno location to do very well and 50% of the customers will have CA license plates there.
Moreno Valley isn't a good spot for anyone. Not sure how Portillo's landed there. It is a rough area, high crime and not desirable retail space. If they try anywhere else in California I expect it to be Oceanside - concepts foreign to CA do well there because of the Marine Corps Camp Pendleton. It's a little taste of home for them.
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Re: Cracker Barrel closes Portland Jantzen Beach location

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: March 21st, 2023, 6:44 pm

Moreno Valley isn't a good spot for anyone. Not sure how Portillo's landed there. It is a rough area, high crime and not desirable retail space. If they try anywhere else in California I expect it to be Oceanside - concepts foreign to CA do well there because of the Marine Corps Camp Pendleton. It's a little taste of home for them.
Maybe Colton would be a better spot. They are sort of an "interstate highway" sort of chain. Also super popular with RVs because they allow free overnight parking (if the city lets them offer it).

Not sure when they started to offer alcohol in OR/NorCal but they started to offer it in other states in mid-late 2020. It was part of their COVID reopening/recovery effort to add alcohol in hopes of getting their revenue back faster.

I do acknowledge that COVID was probably a lot harder on Cracker Barrel in places like OR/NorCal because people in those areas were more concerned about COVID and slower to return to restaurants, also the COVID related dine in restrictions lasted longer, and operating costs are so much higher than elsewhere the chain operates. When you have restaurants as large as they do, you need revenue. Also elsewhere the chain operates COVID closures were pretty short so they were able to reopen quickly and the public in the regions where Cracker Barrel is more common seemed to resume activities like going to restaurants the moment they reopened.

I recall during the early period of COVID stopping in Rocklin at Habit (same lot as Cracker Barrel) during the height of COVID closures. Habit was open for to go only, employee had to fill your drink up, order got left on a table and you had to "wait for the employee to return behind the counter" before you could go collect it. Cracker Barrel I thought was closed but upon further examination I found it was open and you could sit outside but there were only like 5 cars in the whole lot. Just sad.
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Counter offer - try these Oregon "country style" restaurants

Post by SamSpade »

OregonLive.com decided to post a small list of other gift shop and country-style diner restaurants in the state.
Some might even be far better than Cracker Barrel.
https://www.oregonlive.com/trending/202 ... etter.html
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Re: Cracker Barrel closes Portland Jantzen Beach location

Post by Brian Lutz »

Currently visiting my parents in Northern Idaho and visited the Cracker Barrel in Coeur d'Alene. It wasn't particularly busy, but this was around 11am on a Monday which I don't think would be a busy period anyway. Prices seemed to be in line with a Cracker Barrel I visited in North Carolina a couple of months ago, and they did have beer and wine on the menu. There are no Cracker Barrels in Washington but three in Idaho (1 in CdA, two in the Boise area) and two in Montana (Missoula and Billings) so it's hard to call this one a "far flung" location the same way a single Oregon location would be. Then again NC has more than 40 of these, so your mileage may vary.
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