Cracker Barrel’s Q2 2025 Earnings Shows Strength as Stock Price Improves

Cracker Barrel’s significant turnaround effort appears to be paying off for the restaurant chain. According to Restaurant Business, same-store sales (or comparable sales) ticked upward by 4.7% during the company’s most recent quarter, which covered business conducted between November 2024 and January of this year.

A March 6 Cracker Barrel press release (via AlphaSense) also underscored a few other positive points from the earnings report. First, Q2 2025 total revenue stood at $949.4 million, an increase of 1.5% versus the year-ago quarterly results. In addition to the aforementioned comparable restaurant sales, comparable store retail sales showed a marginal increase of 0.2% for the quarter. Finally, adjusted EBITDA came in at $74.6 million — a significant boost of 19.6% above the previous year’s quarter of $62.4 million EBITDA.

“Outstanding execution by our teams, coupled with our actions to improve the profitability of our off-premise channels during the high-volume holiday season, delivered strong second quarter results that exceeded our expectations. Despite some recent industry-wide softness, these results, together with the continued improvements in key guest and operational metrics and the initiatives we have planned for our important fourth quarter, make us confident in raising our financial outlook for the remainder of the year,” said Julie Masino, Cracker Barrel president and CEO.

As of 12:28 p.m. ET, Cracker Barrel shares had gained 6.24% for the day, resting at $45.49. Including a five-day portrait, which included the period just prior to the earnings announcement, the stock had gained 11.5%.

Cracker Barrel Earnings Show Turnaround Effort, Innovation Could Be Working

In terms of the factors responsible for Cracker Barrel’s positive Q2 earnings, the company signaled that a combination of its value proposition, catering segment, and innovation centered around its menu offerings had bolstered sales.

Improved traffic and interest surrounding the restaurant chain’s dinner business was cited by Cracker Barrel reps as being key to the continued turnaround effort’s fortunes, with a new Hashbrown Casserole Shepherd’s Pie and pot roast specifically mentioned. Whatever the company is doing seems to be working, as dinner business has improved for five consecutive quarters at this point.

“We continue to really fuel that innovation pipeline because we know that that fuels preference, it fuels traffic, it fuels people coming to us for dinner,” Masino said during the earnings call.

But despite claiming higher traffic overall, Restaurant Business indicated that traffic had actually fallen 2.7% throughout the quarter, with profits coming from increased prices and product mix.

With that being said, Masino suggested that there was still a bit of wiggle room concerning price increases, as Cracker Barrel’s average bills ($15) were still far below their competitors in family dining ($18) and casual dining (28%).

“We think there’s opportunity there, but we’re also super careful,” Masino indicated.

Cracker Barrel enjoyed a variety of positive scorings from satisfied customers, with customer value scores trending upward by 7%. Food taste, menu choice, experience, and service all received endorsements from Cracker Barrel guests, gesturing toward the chain’s continued success in the immediate future.