Cracker Barrel tests TV ads to draw locals

Over the past few years, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has relied mostly on folksy billboards to draw hungry travelers to its restaurants.

But on Monday, it began testing 30- and 60-second TV commercials it hopes will bring in diners who aren't on the road, who want a home-cooked meal but simply don't want to cook.

While a remake of Tracy Lawrence's wistful "If the World Had a Front Porch" plays in the background, the spots show a diverse a group of customers - children and grownups, African-American and white - laughing, playing checkers and sitting down to a dinner. The spots end with the slogan, "It's not home, but it's close."

Cracker Barrel's tentative return to television comes as the Lebanon-based chain is struggling with lackluster sales at its restaurants and adjacent "old country stores," which sell everything from rocking chairs to "See Rock City" birdhouses.

"If Cracker Barrel is going to drive its sales and earnings higher, it has to get customers through the door," said analyst Robert Derrington with Morgan Keegan & Co. "They need to sound the dinner bell through their TV advertising."

The spotswill be tested for six months in six markets: Nashville, Indianapolis, Louisville and Lexington, Ky., Jacksonville/Brunswick, Fla. and Green ville/Spartanburg, S.C.

Simon Turner, chief marketing officer for Cracker Barrel's owner, CBRL Group Inc, said the company chose the markets based on whether the restaurants could handle additional customers.

The spots, filmed this summer at a yet-to-be-opened store in Pell City, Ala., will air during such family-friendly shows as Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and Dancing With the Stars.

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Source - The Tennessean


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