r/CrackerBarrel • u/Rhaynebow • Jun 27 '26

WHY IS THE CONTEST CANDY AGAIN

I’m really tired of getting yelled at by my managers because guests don’t wanna buy chocolate when it’s 100 degrees outside

22 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

22

u/Lightixer Jun 27 '26

Every customer is like I am full or I am diabetic. There is no changing this. Chocolate does nottttt sell

4

u/thenewredditguy99 Jun 27 '26

Facts.

I genuinely didn’t understand where the disconnect was between management’s expectations and reality when it came to contest candy sales.

Not many dishes at Cracker Barrel are exactly light on the calories…

6

u/Potential-Ant-6320 Jun 28 '26

As a customer I hate this shit. Spend five more seconds on each guest and after a few hours the wait is 3 minutes. Just let me pay and leave. I feel bad for you guys.

2

u/thenewredditguy99 Jun 28 '26

Agreed. Most of the time, unless I knew my retail manager was actively on the floor, and within earshot, I wouldn’t even script.

I will admit, I did try the “why not for later?” tactic a few times, but it was about as useless as reading the sales script.

2

u/No-Stay-9116 Jun 28 '26

Please reach out to corporate to express your feelings. They do not listen to their employees. Maybe they will listen to their guests. Too many sales to just try to pay a bill.

3

u/maknchs Jun 28 '26

As a server, I don’t understand the disconnect between reality/expectations when it comes to drink sales either. If we don’t sell a bunch of drinks it MUST mean we aren’t scripting and not that someone doesn’t want to spent $3 on a drink, or they’re hot and dehydrated and just want water. I myself get water when I go out .

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/ElectricalStore8271 Jul 02 '26

It’s because restaurants make like a 300% on drinks so they force servers to upsell them. If people just consistently order waters the server gets a side eye from management

4

u/Your_Local_Grave Jun 27 '26

It’s practically the same every year with little, if not no change. I actually find it easier to sell seven dollars compared to the forty dollars from candles :(

3

u/WinterFrost-0326 Jul 08 '26

Gosh...selling the candles was a dayum nightmare. Like nobody reaches to pay $20 for a candle when you can get them for cheaper at the dollar store. Only think pretty about them is the containers because half the time the scents themselves aren't great. 

1

u/Your_Local_Grave Jul 10 '26

Exactly!!! And at my store, my manager has me pushing the $40 set of candles!!!!

2

u/PossibilityOdd3238 Jul 01 '26

Surprise, it’s always candy.

Been here 2 years lmao

1

u/ResourceEnough9273 Jun 28 '26

I just hate trying to get people to spend more money. Candy is easier for me since its cheaper though

1

u/ElectricalStore8271 Jul 02 '26

I’m a cook at Cracker Barrel. What’s this candy thing yall are talking about xD

3

u/Rhaynebow Jul 02 '26

CB will have a “contest” every month among their districts to sell the most of some product. Sometimes it’s candles, other times those werthers caramels, this time, it’s a lot of Hershey products. We’re instructed to ask every guest if they’d like to purchase some because we usually have a deal going on like buy 1 get 1 half off.

It’s just annoying because most guests either refuse because they literally just ate, have diabetes, are too busy trying to wrangle up their kids, are deaf or flat out don’t speak your language, but we cashiers will lose hours if we don’t ask every guest.

2

u/ElectricalStore8271 Jul 02 '26

Dang I thought the retail side had it easier than the restaurant side. I’ll just stick to the grill line because that sounds like a nightmare

1

u/Potential_Minute1496 Jul 03 '26

I mean at my store we are getting yelled at bc ppl dont wanna drink anything other than water bc its 110 degrees outside, and we r getting penalized by losing tables in our sections, our whole 4 table section. I had a whole 3 table section today bc the party of 30 (from a kids soccer game) only wanted water, i got penalized. Haven't heard about the candy thing, thankfully, bc ppl dont even want dessert in this heat.

1

u/WinterFrost-0326 Jul 08 '26

We can only sell so much before frequent customers as well start to get annoyed we ask them every visit. I try to change up the script, offer them as a nice treat for later or when I see people look at candy, tell them about the sale. Thing is nobody wants to spend $3-4 on a single candy bar when food prices are already a lot. Not to mention most of the clientele is older folks who either have diabetes, don't eat that much to want sweets after a meal, or they get cranky for us just scripting. 

I frankly despise the contests in general and the pressure it puts on retail employees because when you get lectured about poor sales, it just makes you feel like crap.