Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Brian Mullan - Piper Sandler - Analyst : Thank you for sharing the traffic performance this quarter. Just given what you saw following the logo change, just had a question about the marketing plan this year. Do you still spend the same amount of dollars and maybe just change the message in order to drive that sequential traffic recovery you're expecting? Or maybe do you pull back on spending regroup a bit? Just how are you thinking about that as you sit here today? And is there any way to perhaps actually take advantage of all this recent attention over time?

Question: Brian Mullan - Piper Sandler - Analyst : Okay. And then just a follow-up on some of the back of the house issues. I think Phase 2 this year was always going to be focused on improving some of the processes. But separate from that in the prepared remarks, you've talked about improving some of the food quality of some of the items. Just trying to understand, like was this always the plan on the food quality side? Or is some of this maybe due to broader feedback you've done since the logo change, so just really any color on the plans, both processes as well as food on the menu that you're working on?

Question: Dennis Geiger - UBS AG - Analyst : I appreciate the quarter-to-date or year-to-date color. Wondering if you could share anything more sort of on how things have trended just given the sensitivity and the magnitude of some of the pressure. Anything to share have gone by? Have you've seen any kind of improvement within that trajectory? I understand you gave the 1Q guide. But just if anything more on the cadence -- weekly cadence so far? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 / 9:00PM, CBRL.OQ - Q4 2025 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc Earnings Call

Question: Dennis Geiger - UBS AG - Analyst : Very helpful, guys. And the last one, I guess sort of two parts. If anything additional on the weakness and the challenges, whether it's regional anything by cohort or frequency of guests if you've got anything more or maybe it's just broad-based. And the more important second part of the question is kind of Julie, what you just touched on. From here plans, in particular, to address kind of the near-term challenge, it sounds like the front porch feedback initiative is going to help to dictate some of the plans in the reaction here? Just wanted to see if I have that correct or if anything else to share on kind of near to medium-term stuff to recover that traffic?

Question: Jake Bartlett - Truist Securities - Analyst : My first was on the margin guidance. The implied margin guidance for '26. Maybe if you could kind of dig into the moving pieces before we had talked about $55 million to $60 million in cost savings from the back of the house sounds like that plan has changed a little bit, but it seems to be on track. Maybe just to describe maybe how much savings you expect there. What you're looking at from G&A? I think obviously, 2025 is an investment year, as you described it. The situation has changed. Wondering whether G&A might -- there's opportunity to bring that down? And then lastly, within the guidance, are there any unusual items, and then something that won't be backed out, but they just are larger than normal, specifically maybe in the first quarter, maybe there's some expenses that you've incurred as you've had to react to the near-term disruptions.

Question: Jake Bartlett - Truist Securities - Analyst : Got it. Should we think about the $55 million to $60 million, and I'd love to hear what the other big buckets there are. But as something that is still would be expected within the '26 and '27 or is it the prior plan? Or has that changed materially?

Question: Jake Bartlett - Truist Securities - Analyst : Great. And then my another question was on the balance sheet and the return of cash to shareholders. You have the authorization now, the $100 million. I guess the question is what your approach is to the balance sheet. It looks like your EBITDA guidance is about your equal to your CapEx guidance. So if you look at where your EBITDA guidance is, you're going to get a little bit higher leverage there anyway from that. So is it feasible to return cash to shareholders this year given in the framework of your guidance? Or is that just kind of a tool maybe for upside? Or how do we think about your approach to the balance sheet, returning cash to shareholders in the context of your guidance?

Question: Jeff Farmer - Gordon Haskett Capital Corp - Analyst : Several of your casual dining and family dining peers have been looks like increasingly aggressive in pursuing low price point offers or just value promotions at a certain price point. So again, sort of as the logo dynamic has played out over the last five to six weeks, even in that narrow time frame, the segment has gotten increasingly competitive. So in lieu of what a lot of your peers are doing, how does that impact your own top line strategy? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 / 9:00PM, CBRL.OQ - Q4 2025 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc Earnings Call

Question: Jeff Farmer - Gordon Haskett Capital Corp - Analyst : Okay. And then I think I heard you guys say 4% to 5% menu pricing in 2026, is that accurate?

Question: Jeff Farmer - Gordon Haskett Capital Corp - Analyst : Okay. So the question that follows that, actually, a couple would be. So that's quite a bit of how do your commodity and wage inflation, roughly 100 basis points to 200 basis points. And it would be one of the highest menu pricing levels in this sector. So 2 questions. So why do you guys feel the need to sort of push that pricing? Is this just, again, sort of going back to the -- or rejiggering the pricing structure? And do you expect your consumers to sort of accept this pricing without too much pushback?

Question: Sara Senatore - Bank of America - Analyst : I guess one quick clarification. I think you said, Craig, that most of the age cohorts or you didn't see a lot of variation outside of the geographic kind of split, but that the older cohort was perhaps less affected than younger. So I just wanted to clarify that, and then I do have a question.

Question: Sara Senatore - Bank of America - Analyst : Okay. And I guess in that context, and maybe, Julie, similar to what you said was that Cracker Barrel hadn't evolved with the guests from prior to many -- for many years, which I think certainly makes sense. I guess, if remodeling and rebranding isn't the way to sort of evolve or bring the brand forward. Maybe to talk a little bit more about what is as you think about maybe shift -- either shifting your customer base to perhaps maybe easing a little bit more useful? Or how you think about evolving the brand in the context of your comments earlier? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 / 9:00PM, CBRL.OQ - Q4 2025 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc Earnings Call

Question: Sara Senatore - Bank of America - Analyst : Okay. That's very helpful. And just then sorry, second quick modeling question, Craig. Can you just talk a little bit -- I'm sorry, if I missed it, G&A was a good guy again this quarter. I think last quarter, you had said that there might be some timing shifts. So could you just maybe explain maybe what happened?

Question: Jon Tower - Citi - Analyst : Jumping around on mix if you don't mind. You had mentioned quarter to date, you're seeing good, not good, but you're seeing traffic declines. But at the same time you're seeing an uptick in loyalty sign-ups, I believe you talked about, I think in the recent weeks, 300,000 loyalty members sign up. So can you speak to what's happening there? Are you doing anything internally at the stores to get people to jump into the program more so than what you were doing previously?

Question: Jon Tower - Citi - Analyst : And then, I guess jumping around a little bit. Maybe, Craig, you had mentioned 60% of the CapEx this year is going to be roughly maintenance. Is that a good that $80 million to $90 million maintenance CapEx, a good way to think about it longer term over the next several years, $80 million, $90 million for baseline maintenance?

Question: Jon Tower - Citi - Analyst : Okay. So that $125 million is a decent baseline in the next several years, adjusted for inflation in terms of --

Question: Jon Tower - Citi - Analyst : Got it. And then just in terms of your comments around the tariff remediation measures, can you speak to what exactly is going on there? Are you guys just sourcing from countries with better lower rates of tariffs? Or are you effectively pricing to offset the higher tariff rates, like what's going on with these measures? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 / 9:00PM, CBRL.OQ - Q4 2025 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc Earnings Call