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Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is currently one of the most popular restaurant and gift franchises. However, there have been reports that the company is closing all the locations after a few advertisements were shared on Facebook and Instagram last month, as per Snopes. The captions of the ads stated:
"Closing Time: All the Restaurant Chains Closing."
The ads went viral on different social media platforms and an article was shared on the website of Investing.com, with a headline that stated, "Last Call: These Chain Stores Are Closing Locations in 2023."
But it has now been established that the news is false. In an interview with The Daily Leader, Jordan Liles of Yahoo! Finance disclosed that a Cracker Barrel representative informed him:
"At this time, we do not have any store closures planned. We remain fully committed to serving our guests and communities in our more than 660 stores across 45 stores."
Investing.com reported that the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store was shutting down
The reports of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store's shutdown came when some advertisements appeared on Facebook and Instagram featuring a picture of the restaurant.
A website called Investing.com then shared an article where they mentioned the names of 216 American companies that were supposed to be closing in 2023. A separate paragraph was also added for each company in the article where the article mentioned if the company was closing a few locations or all of them.
The restaurant's name was featured in the 163rd position on the list and the description stated:
"Cracker Barrel has been serving customers since its inception in 1969, much to the delight of many Americans across the country. The eatery has over 600 locations, but rumors started circulating in recent years that the chain could be looking at closures."
The description also mentioned that the chain was planning to close the locations that were underperforming for some time. It ended by saying:
"So, while there are no closures currently planned, it might be wise to watch this space."
Actually, the Facebook and Instagram ads were clickbait and this led to rumors that the company was shutting down permanently. According to Jordan Liles, clickbait ads have continued to exist due to "advertising arbitrage."
Explaining advertising arbitrage, Jordan said:
"Advertising arbitrage is a strategy in which an advertiser hopes to make more money on ads displayed in a lengthy article than it could cost to display an initial clickbait ad meant to attract users to the article."
Cracker Barrel has collaborated with Dolly Parton to offer some rewards to customers
The Cracker Barrel Rewards program was launched in September this year. The company has now collaborated with Dolly Parton, the brand ambassador for the campaign called Rewards That Rock, which honors the rewards program.
The company is offering a chance to win custom-designed Dolly Rockin' chairs as a part of their collaboration with Parton. Southern Living states that the chairs would be displayed on the front porches of the outlets so that customers can try them before getting one.
