I got on a plane on Tuesday. My parents had to drive me to the airport. We stopped, on our way to Nashville, at Cracker Barrel. I had chicken and dumplings with green beans and mashed potatoes. It was up to Cracker Barrel's standards. I wonder, always, whether -for franchised restaurants like Cracker Barrel, or, say, Red Loster- there's a big warehouse full of not-quite kitchy-but-leaning-heavily-in-that-direction stuff. S-t-u-f-f. Fake fishnets, nineteenth century washing machines, Victorian tricycles, framed and weathered photographs of people sailing. I once asked an unsuspecting teenage waiter this question while dining in a Red Lobster. He was mightily confused and guessed that there was such a warehouse. Which leads me to another question. If there is such a warehouse:a) are there people who go around thrift stores and junk yards collecting it,
b) if option "a" is true, then what, exactly are the qualifications for that position?
c) if there are no people going around looking for all this shwag does that mean that there are factories and businesses whose entire business is pumping out objects for all the Cracker Barrels, TGIFridays, Applebees and Red Lobsters in the world?
d) if option "c" is accurate...well...it is a stupid world that hosts businesses to make artificially homey objects for absolutely corporate restaurants.
We also saw this. Those tires were HUGE. The size of a big car huge. Yikes.
4 comments:
Oh Yuck the Cracker Barrel...y'all were desparate I do believe.
I am thinking that there are kitsch factories in the wilds of China, where they are putting all the chemicals and lead and crap we don't want in our toys and seafood and pet food...Oh I guess I just had an attack of the meanies. My money is on the factory concept. There just ain't that much real kitsch left in the world for the Cracker Barrels etc of the world to "find." I had wondered once at a TGIF, hmmmm where does this crap come from. You actually put the thought out there in the world.
Hope you reacclimate, if you gotta.
Décor at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store®
Ever noticed the artifacts hanging from the walls and ceiling at any Cracker Barrel location? Most folks are surprised to learn all the old toys, tools, utensils, signs, and advertisements are original. Since the artifacts in every store are unique, we like to think of every Cracker Barrel Old Country Store location as a museum of Americana.
You could say that Cracker Barrel decor is a family affair, because one family has purchased all the artifacts since the first store opened back in 1969. Don and Kathleen Singleton owned an antique store in Lebanon when Co-Founder Danny Evins asked them to provide that Old Country Store look in his new restaurant. Don and Kathleen liked the job, and eventually passed it down to their son Larry in 1980.
Now the Singletons have purchased well over a half million artifacts over the years. But there's a process behind the scenes that takes place before we place these items in a store. Larry's team will clean and restore every piece before it gets placed in a new Cracker Barrel Old Country Store location.
Larry's story has become quite popular with feature reporters. Take a photo tour of the Décor Warehouse and you'll see why. The following photographs can be reprinted in your publications. Just e-mail Julie Davis with your photo specifications and she'll get them to you. Julie can also arrange interviews with Larry and a time for you to take pictures at your local Cracker Barrel location.
www.crackerbarrel.com
We actually weren't all that desperate. Though Cracker Barrel isn't homemade or as authentic as it could be, it has a certain consistency that leads one's expectations to be met...never surpassed...but heck. Though I must say I like their breakfasts better than their lunch/dinnners.
Also, can we just note that within hours of my posting about Cracker Barrel decor...they found me! Do they have a neverending search going on and why?
They mystery continues.
Ok I guess I just hate the food...and the old human relations policies were never ones I liked/approved of; and well, if I am gonna eat good old southern sludge food I should do it in a ma an pa kinda place (where, if I am lucky, my daughter can get rocks in her pinto beans and the cashier will laconically tell me, yeah I oughta tell Dixie to wash 'em beans better...). Anyway, I don't doubt that the powers that be have little folk hidden in warrens searching all blogs all the time for all references. Altho signing in as "anonymous" is a bit ludicrous...But yeah, right scarifyin' how fast "someone" posted the official site...ow.
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