Why Cracker Barrel's Iconic Decor Was So Sentimental — And The Family Behind It

Cracker Barrel has been making a lot of changes lately, and many of them aren't landing well with longtime fans. Most recently, the chain of restaurants and retail stores removed Uncle Hershel from the logo and received backlash for it. Last year, the chain modernized the interiors of the restaurants, and that, too, came under scrutiny. The old-fashioned interiors of Cracker Barrel restaurants held a lot of nostalgia, so it's not surprising that diners didn't like it when the look changed so drastically. It turns out that the restaurants are just doing a little refresh and, in response to a viral TikTok video, they assured patrons that the old-timey decor would be back on the walls sooner rather than later.

What you may not know is that the old decor actually holds meaning. Every single antique that decorates the inside of a Cracker Barrel is real and was at least inspired by local history. It all started with the first restaurant-store that opened in Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1969. Founder Dan Evins enlisted the help of Don and Kathleen Singleton, who owned a local antiques store, to come and decorate the interior to feel like an old country store.

As Evins opened more Cracker Barrels, the Singletons came on board as full-time designers, setting up the decor for each location. In 1979, after Kathleen got sick, their son, Larry Singleton, took over. He retired in 2018 after almost 40 years. Joe Stewart, who worked with Singleton for 33 years, is now the decor manager. 

Larry Singleton learned how to find antiques at flea markets and auctions from his dad, who had already decorated the first 19 Cracker Barrel restaurants. In the early years, all the antique finds that hadn't made their way into a store were kept in their grandparents' bedroom. Eventually, there was too much to store, though, so they moved everything into a 26,000-square-foot warehouse.

The Cracker Barrel Decor Warehouse and corporate headquarters are located in Lebanon, Tennessee, just like the original Cracker Barrel location, which is no longer there. However, things have changed regarding how antiques are procured now, with many dealers reaching out to Singleton to offer up single and bulk items that they want to sell. From there, the antiques are cleaned up and restored, then stored until needed at one of the Cracker Barrel locations. According to the Cracker Barrel blog, there are over 100,000 items inside the Cracker Barrel Decor Warehouse.

When it's time to decorate a new location, it takes roughly a week to piece together the decorations and have them ready to go up. While most of the decor is locally inspired, there are five items that you will find in every single Cracker Barrel. There is a deer head that hangs over the fireplaces, a traffic light over the bathrooms, a cookstove on display in the gift shop, a horseshoe over the exterior of the front door, and an ox yoke above the front door.