Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. is buying Maple Street Biscuit Company for $36 million to help expand its brand offerings targeted at the breakfast and lunch market.
Maple Street Biscuit Company, which was founded by Scott Moore and Gus Evans in Jacksonville, Florida in 2012, expanded to Chattanooga in 2014 with a restaurant at 407 Broad Street in downtown Chattanooga and later added a store at 2144 Gunbarrel Road in East Brainerd.
Maple Street Biscuit currently has 28 company-owned and five franchised fast casual locations across seven states. Cracker Barrel said it plans to convert its seven Holler & Dash Biscuit House restaurants acquired in 2016 into Maple Street Biscuit Company outlets in coming months.
“The breakfast and lunch-focused fast casual category is an attractive segment, and our experience with Holler & Dash has reinforced this belief,” Cracker Barrel CEO Sandra B. Cochran said in an annoncement of the all-cash purchase. “We have long admired Maple Street Biscuit Company with its emphasis on made-from-scratch food and hospitality. It is a proven brand with attractive unit economics and strong growth potential, and it is positioned to become a leader in this category.”
File AP Photo by Mark Humphrey / Cracker Barrel is buying the 28-restaurant chain Maple Street Biscuit Company for $36 milion.The original Maple Street Biscuit began after Moore, who lived in Chattanooga for a time, lost his job and was looking for more opportunities.
Moore said “from the beginning, Maple Street Biscuit Company has focused on serving its communities through comfort food with a modern twist and gracious service.”
“Our brands share many similarities such as scratch cooking and an emphasis on hospitality,” Moore said about the combination of Cracker Barrel and Maple Street Biscuits. “I believe Cracker Barrel will help us grow our brand and further achieve our mission of helping people, serving others, and being a part of the community.”
Cracker Barrel said it expects the purchase to be about neutral to earnings per diluted share in fiscal 2020. The company’s shares traded up Friday by 18 cents a share, or 0.11%, to close at $158.81 in an overall upbeat market.
Established in 1969 in Lebanon, Tenn., Cracker Barrel and its affiliates operate 660 company-owned Cracker Barrel Old Country Store locations in 45 states, incuding four restaurants in Hamilton County and other Cracker Barrel outlets nearby in Ringgold, Dalton, Calhoun, Cleveland, Kimball, Athens and Fort Payne.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.