Cracker Barrel Announces Sale‑Leaseback and Maple Street Divestiture
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (NASDAQ: CBRL) saw its shares rise roughly 9% in after‑hours trading on Monday following two strategic transactions. The company completed a sale‑leaseback of 26 company‑owned restaurant locations with an institutional real‑estate investor, generating net proceeds of approximately $77 million, which it intends to apply toward debt reduction.
In parallel, Cracker Barrel sold the trademark and related assets of its Maple Street Biscuit Company business, covering 35 locations, to Biscuit Belly, LLC. The remaining 16 Maple Street locations will be closed, ending the brand’s operations within the company.
The divestiture will generate non‑cash charges estimated between $37 million and $39 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026. Additionally, cash outflows of roughly $6 million to $8 million are expected for exiting the business, with portions incurred in Q4 FY2026 and the remainder in fiscal 2027. Maple Street contributed less than 2% of Cracker Barrel’s annual revenue, and the transaction is projected to be accretive to adjusted EBITDA beginning in fiscal 2027.
Operationally, comparable‑store restaurant sales fell about 2.5% while comparable‑store retail sales rose roughly 0.5% over the first eleven weeks of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, compared with the same period a year earlier.
Revising its outlook, Cracker Barrel now expects to achieve or exceed the high end of its previously stated revenue range of $3.27 billion to $3.30 billion and to surpass its adjusted EBITDA guidance of $120 million to $125 million for fiscal 2026, which ends on July 31, 2026.
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