{"id":128122,"date":"2026-02-09T22:47:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T22:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/128122\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T22:47:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T22:47:07","slug":"a-dining-rule-at-this-popular-restaurant-sparks-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/128122\/","title":{"rendered":"A dining rule at this popular restaurant sparks controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"OHPHRR3ZB5AORCPH7AXPQT4UGM\">STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A leaked internal memo revealed that Cracker Barrel is pushing for employees to dine at their establishment even when traveling. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"BPS7HVS5R5BB5AE2AKKSZQ6IXI\">\u201cEmployees are expected to dine at a Cracker Barrel store for all or the majority of meals while traveling, whenever practical based on location and schedule,\u201d the memo reportedly said, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/lifestyle\/workplace\/cracker-barrel-work-trip-travel-expenses-meals-25eaf050\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">according to the Wall Street Journal.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"HGU6VCUT4ZGAXMJ74AGY7TLCRU\">Furthermore, employees were cautioned against expensing alcoholic drinks without expressed approval to do so, with \u201cexceptions for special occasions\u201d needing to \u201cbe pre-approved by an E-Team member.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"JAI44QPISNDFXCF64NQTLUGA6M\">When PEOPLE reached out to Cracker Barrel for clarification on the policy, the franchise was quick to highlight that not every meal needed to be eaten at Cracker Barrel. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"I6DDMELCWVCUVKY6AYE7EWWNZI\"><a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/cracker-barrel-goes-viral-again-for-strict-dining-rule-leaked-in-internal-memo-11899186\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The company said to the outlet<\/a>: \u201c\u2026 it is not the only place that our employees may eat when on the road, as previously reported. The change was to further limit reimbursement of alcoholic beverages under the policy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"H2IPOHX4OVHNFHBA5T2LZ4TC3Q\">\u201cThe policy for employees to dine at Cracker Barrel while traveling for business, whenever practical, based on location and schedule, is not new,\u201d the company stated. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"TR6PFUCAXBFDDINR762LNTZ46I\">The policy went into effect in June 2024, with the memo coming \u201cas a reminder\u201d to employees. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"XBSIJQESAFCHHEMDLGI7SO4KDM\">This is the latest controversy to hit the chain, after outrage poured out nationwide at the franchise\u2019s attempt to rebrand their iconic logo. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"6SG6OSWU5BCSVIKB6K5GKYTAXQ\">It additionally recently removed its Pride page and references to various employee resource groups, including those related to LGBTQ+ and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging initiatives <a href=\"https:\/\/www.silive.com\/entertainment\/2025\/08\/cracker-barrel-pulls-plug-on-pride-and-dei-amid-logo-rebrand-fiasco.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">in August 2025.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A leaked internal memo revealed that Cracker Barrel is pushing for employees to dine&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[26899,31051,9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-128122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-brand","9":"tag-logo","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-staten-island","14":"tag-staten-island-headlines","15":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}