Idaho still has a really low server wage mostly backfilled by tips so restaurant prices in Idaho are much lower than surrounding western states.Brian Lutz wrote: ↑March 27th, 2023, 12:38 pm 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.
Cracker Barrel strikes me as a good concept to fit with MT.
There seems to be a trend that the further west you get the less busy this chain is. It will be interesting to see how they do in Reno. I am expecting them to do very well, they have selected a location that should draw traffic from a lot of different angles both local and tourist. I will be shocked if they are not busy at most/all hours in Reno. I'd also like to see them try to pull off a location out in Elko (I think the Dennys which has opened and closed multiple times just closed again) but staffing would probably be an issue and they'd need to price it like Utah which may not be possible with NV wages.
Maybe their restaurants are also just too big...