CBRL In 'Transition Year'

LEBANON, TN-CBRL Group Inc., the parent company of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Restaurants, will open 19 new locations in fiscal 2007 in a bid to improve the company’s operating results.

“Fiscal 2007 is a transition year for CBRL,” Michael A. Woodhouse, CBRL’s chairman, president and CEO said. “We are totally focused on driving increased traffic and retail sales to improve operating results in our stores.”

The Lebanon, TN restaurant and gift-shop owner, which operates 551 Cracker Barrel locations in 41 states, sold off its Logan’s Roadhouse chain for $486 million in the second quarter of 2007, helping to more than triple quarterly earnings. Company officials say the firm has also spent $950 million to repurchase a total of 22 million shares, or approximately 47% of the shares outstanding, in the past year as part of that restructuring effort.