Cracker Barrel, Alan Jackson go big

Latest CD from restaurant/retail chain comes with clothes, candles and 40 other items

Email | Print By Geert De Lombaerde

Cracker Barrel has teamed up with country superstar Alan Jackson to release a CD on its record label and launch an ambitious merchandising partnership to draw shoppers to its country stores.

The Alan Jackson Collection will hit shelves and racks early next month and feature more than three dozen items that range from a limited-run rocking chair to candles and jewelry. The partnership builds on Cracker Barrel’s coupling earlier this year of a pink rocking chair with a new Dolly Parton CD. Vice President of Marketing Peter Keiser calls the broader Jackson line “a great next step.”

Company officials wouldn’t disclose financial details about the structure of their Jackson deal. Since 2003, Cracker Barrel has built its record label into a $50 million business that delivers music – some of it previously unreleased – from family-friendly artists that resonate with its core dining audience.

The added sales also have helped cushion the company’s ride during the recession: Its retail stores rang up $492 million in sales in the year ended July 31, down 4 percent from the year before. Sales per square foot were $401, only a shade below those at the CoolSprings Galleria.

Shares of Cracker Barrel (Ticker: CBRL) ended Wednesday trading at $34.55, down almost 4 percent on the day. Year to date, they’re up almost 70 percent, easily outpacing the Dow Jones Restaurants Index.

To read the company’s announcement, click here.