CBRL selling Carmine Giardini's, closed seven other stores

CBRL Group (CBRL) is negotiating the sale of its three Carmine Giardini's Gourmet Market stores after concluding that the stores need a more "entrepreneurial" touch than is possible in a "large chain operation." This divestiture, along with the closure of four underperforming Cracker Barrel restaurants and three Logan's Roadhouse stores, will result in a charge of $22 million to $24 million, or 38 cents to 42 cents a share, in the fourth quarter ending August 3.

CBRL acquired Carmine Giardini's in April 1998 for $13 million of cash and stock. Since then, the company's commitment to expanding the chain, which it regarded as more of a research project, has diminshed. Last year, Carmine Giardini, the namesake and founder of the three-store Florida concept, began building a competing gourmet market across the street from the CBRL-owned Carmine Giardini's Gourmet Market.