Laid off from Cracker Barrel.
Cracker Barrel cut jobs at its Lebanon, Tennessee support center in two waves in fiscal 2026, aiming for $20 million to $25 million a year in savings, with no head count on record. Its other recent cuts on record were store closings in California and Maine and the Maple Street Biscuit exit in July 2026.
At a glance
What's known about Cracker Barrel severance and layoffs
- 75,000 · Cracker Barrel employees, per CEO David Deno, September 2026
- $20 million to $25 million a year · Savings target of the fiscal 2026 corporate restructuring
- Two, in the first and second quarters · Cracker Barrel corporate layoff waves in fiscal 2026
- 4 · Cracker Barrel WARN filings in our tracker, all years
- 0 filings covering 0 jobs · Cracker Barrel filings in our tracker since 2025
- 16, as assets at 35 others were sold · Maple Street Biscuit restaurants closed July 20, 2026
Recent Cracker Barrel layoffs
Cracker Barrel closed 16 Maple Street Biscuit restaurants in July 2026
On July 20, 2026, Cracker Barrel closed its remaining 16 Maple Street Biscuit Company restaurants the same day it sold the brand and the assets used at 35 other locations, to Biscuit Belly. The annual report puts the closing costs down as mostly severance, contract terminations and other closure costs. Neither move shows up in our tracker.
Previous rounds
Cracker Barrel layoff history
If you were cut from Cracker Barrel's support center in Lebanon, Tennessee, you went in one of two waves. CEO Julie Masino said on the first-quarter earnings call in December 2025 that layoffs had begun in the fiscal first quarter, with another round planned for the second. The outlook that day counted on $20 million to $25 million a year in general and administrative savings, primarily from restructuring the corporate support center. The company gave no number of employees affected, and at its June 2026 results it cited a restructuring completed in the second quarter, still pegged at $20 million to $25 million a year.
The first wave shared a quarter with the August 2025 rebrand whose minimalist logo dropped the man in the rocking chair. Cracker Barrel went back to its regular logo after a week, and separately stopped its remodeling effort after poor customer feedback. FSR framed the layoffs as one way to improve profitability in the wake of that controversy and declining traffic, and Restaurant Business described a chain cutting headquarters jobs while it worked to recover from an ill-fated rebrand. Masino, quoted by FSR, called the cuts "understandably difficult for some of our corporate team members" and necessary to get through a hard stretch, protect the balance sheet and keep investing in food and the guest experience. The quarter they began in showed comparable restaurant sales down 4.7% and a $24.6 million net loss.
For a company CEO David Deno put at 75,000 employees in September 2026, the rest of the record since 2024 includes store closings in California and Maine and the Maple Street Biscuit exit. The April 2024 closings in Sacramento and Santa Maria covered 151 employees, and the notice said they'd remain active employees, eligible for wages and benefits, through June 14. South Portland, Maine's only store, closed in January 2025, and the company said it would offer employees and managers jobs at other locations. Maple Street Biscuit Company, bought in 2019, shrank in stages until Cracker Barrel sold the brand and the assets used at 35 restaurant locations on July 20, 2026 and closed the other 16 that day, booking closing costs made up primarily of severance, contract terminations and other closure costs.
The one earlier home-office cut on record came in July 2011, when Cracker Barrel eliminated about 60 management and staff positions, most in Lebanon, promised severance pay and outplacement assistance under company policy and said no store positions were affected. It's the only corporate round in the record with terms attached, and it's fifteen years old. A 2011 policy or a 2024 notice shows what Cracker Barrel did then. What you're offered now is whatever sits in the separation packet with your name on it.
Our WARN filings tracker holds 4 Cracker Barrel filings across every year it covers, with 0 filings covering 0 jobs since the start of 2025. The 2025 and 2026 cuts above don't appear in it at all. Tennessee's labor department says notice is required when a closure or layoff affects at least 50 people at a single site of employment within 30 days, and related cuts inside 90 days can count as one event, and with no head count for either wave, the record can't show whether they crossed that line. Being one of an uncounted number in a cut described mostly as a savings target is a lousy place to be, so work from the paper you were handed. Find your separation date, any severance or pay continuation, the day health coverage ends and whether a release is required, and ask for anything missing in writing. Where a Tennessee notice is filed, the state says its Rapid Response team offers resume workshops, job fairs, unemployment insurance guidance and retraining.
Reporting on previous Cracker Barrel layoff rounds
July 2026, Maple Street Biscuit Company exit · The remaining 16 restaurants closed July 20 as the brand and the assets used at 35 other locations were sold
Closing costs booked were mostly severance and contract terminations, with no per-person amounts in the filing.
Fiscal 2026 second quarter, support center wave two · Planned for the quarter as of December 2025, and the company later said its corporate restructuring was completed then
Fiscal 2026 first quarter, support center wave one · Began in the fiscal first quarter, which ended October 31, 2025, with no number of affected employees given
September 2025, Maple Street Biscuit Company · 14 locations slated to close in fiscal 2026, per Nation's Restaurant News
January 2025, South Portland, Maine · Maine's only Cracker Barrel closed after nearly 15 years
The company said it would offer employees and managers jobs at other locations. No severance terms on record.
April 2024, Sacramento and Santa Maria, California · 151 employees at the two stores, per the WARN notice SFGATE reviewed
July 2011, Lebanon home office · About 60 management and staff positions, mostly in the Lebanon home office
Severance pay and outplacement assistance under company policy
What to do after being laid off from Cracker Barrel
- File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Cracker Barrel's biggest hubs: Tennessee, California. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
- Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Cracker Barrel's hub states run: Tennessee, California, and every other state is here.
- Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
- Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
- Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.
Cracker Barrel layoff and severance questions
How many corporate employees did Cracker Barrel lay off?
No count is on record. When the cuts surfaced in December 2025, Cracker Barrel gave no figure for the employees affected, only a $20 million to $25 million annual savings target tied to the corporate support center. Its last home-office cut with a number was about 60 management and staff positions in July 2011.
When did Cracker Barrel's corporate layoffs happen?
In two waves. Masino said the first began in the fiscal first quarter, with another round planned for the next. That first quarter ended October 31, 2025, and at its June 2026 results the company cited a corporate restructuring completed in the second quarter. The record gives quarters, not dates.
Does Cracker Barrel give severance to laid-off employees?
It has varied by round. In July 2011 it promised severance pay and outplacement assistance under company policy. The April 2024 California notice said staff would remain active employees, eligible for wages and benefits, through June 14, and the 2026 Maple Street exit booked closing costs that were mostly severance and contract terminations. The fiscal 2026 corporate waves carry no terms on record, so get any severance, pay continuation and benefits end date on paper before signing a release.
What happened to Maple Street Biscuit Company?
Cracker Barrel bought it in 2019 for about $36 million, and in September 2025 14 locations were slated to close in fiscal 2026. On July 20, 2026 it sold the brand and the assets used at 35 restaurant locations and closed the remaining 16, with the buyer, Biscuit Belly, planning to put its own name on those 35 locations on an 18-to-24-month schedule. Nothing in the reporting we track covers what happened to the staff at those 35.
Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from Cracker Barrel?
In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. Cracker Barrel's biggest U.S. hubs are Tennessee, California. Severance usually doesn't block you from filing, and benefits run from your filing date, so file the same week.
Is it OK to file for unemployment after a layoff at Cracker Barrel?
Yes. Unemployment insurance is funded by payroll taxes employers pay on wages, the claim never appears on credit reports or background checks, and future employers cannot see it. If the hesitation itself is the obstacle, whether filing is OK has its own article.
What happens to my health insurance after a layoff at Cracker Barrel?
Your plan sets the end date rather than the law, so the separation packet is where that date actually lives, and it is often the last day of the month rather than your last day of work. After coverage ends, COBRA lets you keep the identical plan by paying the whole premium yourself, up to 102 percent of what the plan really costs, which lands as several times the payroll deduction you were used to. You get 60 days to elect, counted from the later of coverage ending or the election notice arriving, and electing reaches the coverage back to the day the old plan stopped so no gap exists. How continuation coverage works walks the timing, and whether to take it rather than a marketplace plan is a separate decision.
Should I sign the severance agreement right away?
First pin down how much review time you actually have. If you're 40 or older, federal law gives you 21 days to consider an agreement that waives age claims, 45 in a group layoff, and a waiver signed under a shorter deadline can be invalid. If you're under 40, no federal window applies and the deadline in your packet may be real, so confirm it in writing and ask for more time if you need it. Use whatever window you have to read the release terms, especially non-disparagement and no-lawsuit clauses, and don't stall past a real deadline, because offers can be withdrawn.
Can I collect unemployment if I got severance from Cracker Barrel?
Usually yes, though some states delay benefits until severance pay periods end, and lump sums are treated differently than salary continuation. Check your state's rules on our state benefit pages, and file immediately either way so your claim date is locked in.