Cracker Barrel has won its seventh proxy contest against executive board agitator, Sardar Biglari. the Lebanon, Tenn.-based family-dining company’s shareholders voted in support of the 10 company-approved board nominees, which include Biglari-recommended nominee, Michael Goodwin, head of technology for online pet retailer, Petsmart.
Goodwin joins the board as a compromise between Cracker Barrel and Biglari, who also tried to get shareholders to vote for both himself and Milena Alberti-Perez to the board, but neither nominee received enough votes to do so.
Cracker Barrel called Biglari’s dividend plan for the company, “self-serving,” and decried the fact that Perez had admitted to never visiting a Cracker Barrel restaurant before. The company, however, welcomed Goodwin’s “decades of IT and strategic leadership” as an asset to the board.
“We take seriously the trust [shareholders have] placed in our directors to oversee the continued momentum of the company’s strategic transformation plan,” Cracker Barrel said in a statement. “We are encouraged by the early favorable results across our operations as the plan takes hold and remain confident that we are on the right path to return Cracker Barrel to growth and meaningful value creation for all shareholders. We look forward to continuing to engage with the company’s shareholders as we work to ensure Cracker Barrel thrives today, tomorrow, and well into the future.”
While much of the rest of the executive board remains the same, Tom Barr, CEO of Sono Bello cosmetic surgery company, was not up for re-election after 12 years on the board.
Shareholders also voted in favor of the company’s own board nominees — Carl Berquist and Meg Crofton — to the executive board. Together, they will own 30% of Cracker Barrel’s stock.
As of August 2024, Cracker Barrel owned 724 restaurants in its portfolio, including 658 Cracker Barrel and 66 Maple Street Biscuit Co. locations.
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