From Wikipedia. Just sayin' ...
Legal actions
Cracker Barrel has been embroiled in controversy through the years, first with gay rights groups and then with claims of racial discrimination and sexual harassment.
Policy of discrimination against LGBT employees
In 1991, Cracker Barrel instituted a policy requiring employees to display "normal heterosexual values which have been the foundation of families in our society which the company has traditional sought to uphold". The company refused to change their policy in the face of protest demonstrations by gay rights groups. After ten years of proposals by the New York City Employees Retirement System, a major shareholder, the company's shareholders voted 58% in 2002 in favor of rescinding the policy. The board of directors added sexual orientation to the company's nondiscrimination policy.
Nonetheless, Cracker Barrel, along with Archer Daniels Midland and Nestle Purina Pet Care, achieved the lowest score (15 out of 100) of all rated food and beverage companies in the Human Rights Campaign's 2008 Corporate Equality Index, a measure of gay and lesbian workplace equality.
Complaints of pattern of alleged racial discrimination against guests
In the early 2000s and again in 2006, Cracker Barrel faced accusations including a pattern of racial discrimination in its treatment of guests. After national press attention to these accusations, the company announced explicit policies intended to address the charges, and paid $2 million for race and sexual harassment at three Illinois restaurants. Stores now display a sign in their front foyer clarifying this policy, as has become the policy after a similar incident involving Denny's restaurants.
