Why Cracker Barrel's New Menu Addition Has Fans Seeing Red

One of the most endearing qualities of Cracker Barrel is its ability to serve large doses of nostalgia by offering up comfort foods including platters loaded with Southern treats including country fried steak, biscuits, bacon, and chicken. The restaurant chain even offers a Build Your Own Homestyle Breakfast option, that gives diners a wide range of proteins to choose from, from chicken tenders and hamburger steaks to two types of ham. In June, the chain announced via press release that there would be two additions to its menu: Cracker Barrel was finally trying plant-based meat with Impossible sausage as an option for the Homestyle Breakfast and would also offer a Stuffed Cheesecake Pancake Breakfast.

At the time the new items were announced, Cracker Barrel's director of Menu Strategy, Sarah Breymaier, said in a company press release that the addition was meant to "provide a personalized experience with delicious breakfast choices to satisfy every taste bud — whether guests are nostalgic for homestyle food, hungry for a nutritious plant-based option or have a craving for a sweet treat. At morning, noon or night, we want guests to enjoy craveable breakfast favorites at a compelling value." While The Stuffed Cheesecake Pancake Breakfast appeared to be a fairly inoffensive addition to the menu, the addition of the Impossible Sausage proved to be just the opposite to the restaurant's Facebook followers.

Since its debut, Cracker Barrel's plant-based menu innovation has become a social media lighting rod that attracted comments from both fans and critics who wanted to weigh in on the plant-based addition. "I was a fan, and now I won't be going there anymore. Bring back your old menu and prices ... sneaky, but you make people order extra stuff so you can up your profit ... Bye, Bye Felicia! It's the same when you took your breakfast casserole away and tried to replace it with nothing," said one former All-Day breakfast fan on Cracker Barrel's Facebook page.

"YOU CAN TAKE MY PORK SAUSAGE WHEN YOU PRY IT FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!!1DON'T TREAD ON MY PORK!!" raged another social media netizen, while many opponents to the plant-based option simply said, "Won't be eating hear (sic) any more."

Not everyone felt the same way — most of the gratitude came from Cracker Barrel fans who were no longer in the position to eat meat. Some teased the people who thought the issue was important enough to comment about. As one social media user pointed out, "You know it's really bad when you can't even be pro-choice when it comes to food."