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Cracker Barrel’s comps slip in April

LEBANON Tenn. Same-store restaurant sales at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store decreased 0.9 percent year-over-year for the five weeks ended May 2, parent CBRL Group Inc. reported Tuesday.

 

Comparable sales were down despite a menu price increase of 4.5 percent, which boosted check averages by 4.4 percent, the company said. CBRL said menu prices would outstrip the prior year’s prices by about 3.7 percent through the balance of the fiscal year.

 

 

Same-store sales at Cracker Barrel’s gift shops decreased 9.7 percent, the company also reported.

 

 

Officials also said the sales are compared with the five-week period ending May 4, 2007, and that the 2007 period included the Easter holiday while 2008 did not. The timing of Easter negatively affected comparable restaurant and retail sales by about 1 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively, the company reported.

 

 

“Because we are lapping last year’s Easter holiday, April sales were down but were positive for the last three weeks of the period,” said Michael A. Woodhouse, CBRL chairman, president and CEO.

 

 

Woodhouse said Cracker Barrel would soon debut its first national summer promotion, which will combine new menu items and retail offerings.

 

 

CBRL Group, based here, operates 576 Cracker Barrels in 41 states.

 

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