Cracker Barrel’s plant-based sausage patty sparks backlash

Cracker Barrel’s Facebook page doesn’t usually generate much discussion, but that changed when the company said this week that it’s adding a plant-based sausage patty to the restaurant chain’s menu.

Suddenly, customers flooded the page, with some calling the decision “rubbish” and “garbage” and vowing never to return. By Thursday morning, the Facebook post had garnered more than 7,000 comments, compared to the usual 100 responses to a typical Cracker Barrel post.

“Are you kidding me? Who do you think your customer base is?” one person wrote. “I still order the double meat breakfast and it’s not on the menu anymore.”

Another added: “He woke up, he broke!”

In response to the negative comments, supporters of plant-based options and menu options jumped into the fray, with one commenter noting, “Imagine this triggered by breakfast.”

Of course, restaurants have been adding or testing plant-based options for years with little fanfare, including fast-food giants like McDonald’s and Burger King. But Cracker Barrel appears to have waded into the country’s culture wars by offending some customers who see the chain as a bastion of old-fashioned values, such as serving real meat with every meal.

With 660 company-owned locations in 45 states, Lebanon, Tenn.-based Cracker Barrel is known for its menu of Southern and country staples such as chicken and dumplings and country-fried steak.

Cracker Barrel is no stranger to controversy, though the issues have touched on bigger issues than plant-based foods, such as allegations of racism and discrimination against gay workers.

In an email response to the Impossible Sausage backlash, Cracker Barrel told CBS MoneyWatch that it “appreciates[s] the love our fans have for our all-day breakfast menu.” The company added that it wants to add options “to satisfy all palates, whether people want to stick with traditional dishes like bacon and the sausage or is hungry for a new and nutritious one. plant-based option like Impossible Sausage.”

This emphasis on more options aligns with some of the pro-Impossible Sausage comments on the company’s Facebook page, with many commenters noting that the meat is still on Cracker Barrel’s menu and that customers don’t have to order the veggie pie if they don’t. to want. Others with dietary restrictions praised the addition of a plant-based menu item.

“For everyone saying this is stupid. It’s pretty good for those of us with kidney problems who have to follow plant based diets,” one commenter wrote. “No one takes away your sausage and now I can have something when I go to more than vegetables and grain.”

Others were content to mock the outrage over the vegetarian option.

“I also hate the idea of ​​a menu with options I don’t specifically want to eat! Restaurants should limit their options to exactly my specifications and nothing else! How dare they cater to anyone other than myself!” wrote a Facebook user.

The real test will be whether customers order the impossible sausage at Cracker Barrel, rather than any social media backlash. McDonald’s, for example, has ended testing a plant-based burger, with some analysts citing low demand for the product, according to Restaurant Dive.

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