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Dear Ms,
Thank you for telling me of your concerns regarding our retail products,
and for sharing your guidance to focus more on sourcing product that is
"Made in America." Your assessment of how we present the Cracker Barrel
brand is astute. We do, indeed, strive to provide a friendly
home-away-from-home in our old country store and restaurant, and to
offer a great Cracker Barrel experience that includes real home-style
food and shopping that's surprisingly unique, genuinely fun and
reminiscent of America's country heritage, all at a fair price.
While your recent review of the merchandise available in our retail
store gave you pause, please know that we have had many internal
discussions on this matter and are always looking for new vendors who
can provide the variety, value and quantity of products our guests
expect. Our merchandising department is keenly aware of the points you
made in your message to me because this is a very important area of
consideration. Things they keep in mind as they do vendor reviews
include whether a vendor can provide the quantity needed to properly
stock all of our stores, and whether the vendor is actually the
manufacturer or simply another distributor of goods that are made
overseas. The global nature of modern business means that more research
than ever is needed to ensure clarity on what a company is getting and
from where it is coming.
I have given clear direction to our merchandising team that Cracker
Barrel is to support American-made production wherever possible if
particular vendors can meet our cost, quality, quantity, and margin
specifications. While there are no simple answers, I do share your
concern about remaining true to our history. And, indeed, Cracker Barrel
has a long history of working with American vendors: our sock monkeys
come from a company in the foothills of the Adirondacks; our peg games
are made here in Lebanon, TN; our chocolate and peanut butter buckeyes
come from Ohio; most of our candles are American-made; our Lodge cast
iron products come from South Pittsburg, TN; our rocking chairs - one of
our best-selling items- are made in Springfield, TN; and most of the
candies we sell are made in the United States. Many of these vendors
have been with us for a very long time.
We both know that Cracker Barrel is a very special place and
experience, and I appreciate your interest in keeping it that way; I
assure you that I will remain true to the brand. Again, I appreciate
your comments and hope you know that we are trying to meet your
expectations as we balance the different aspects of the situation.
Sincerely,
Mike Woodhouse
]]>@wvFrugan: I know what you mean. While never having been "disemvoweled" myself (though that's coolest term ever), I find that the Moderators-That-Be can be kind of biased. Not only politically - though politics should be relevant to the post, not the commenter - but on what constitutes a violation of the commenting code. I've seen things that I would think would be disemvoweled ASAP, then the next post I read will be disemvoweled. And since you can clearly read what the commenter was saying, I won't understand what the big deal was to get them in trouble. It's nice to see there IS some sort of rough baseline that is supposedly followed. Now if it was just adhered to.@Consumerist-Moderator-Roz: @wvFrugan:
]]>Guilty as charged. All great points and--seriously--I was unaware of my transgressions until now. Posting this code really helped me--as a new reader/commenter I had no clue.
]]>1. Try to be interesting.
2. If you can't be interesting, be funny.
3. Don't be a jerk.
]]>Don't put this crap in our comments."
So when will Consumerist.com stop with allowing people to refer to fat people as "fatty" and allowing talk that shows bigotry towards fat people or encourages same.
Oh, wait, that'd have to happen after the posts themselves stop doing it.
Clean up your own house, Consumerist. You set the tone for this place, set a better example.
]]>@DivineBrevity:
Yes, I was glad to see this too. If you get disemvowelled, how do you know other to look back to see if its happened? Just wondering since that is sort of a warning. I ask because I sometimes wonder if something that I've said could fall under "hatred" or "flaming": I hate intolerant people, as well as brain dead corporate sycophants, and sometimes a few commenters are so full of it that responses can seem like a personal attack even with challenging specific points.
I got a permanent vacation from eBay's forums for calling people out on clearly racist and homophobic crap. On those forums, you can say anything just about as long as it sounds pretty. Funny, I recycled a comment I had read here and that was the final straw that got me booted: remember the Burger King sign that denied climate change and the comment suggesting it just as well might have said "married queers are coming to take your guns"? That was it. Thanks to my friend sarcasm, I have no other friends!
]]>Huh, that's the first thing that's ever gone wrong....
]]>If the Gawker pages update the Consumerist data as well, then solution found and problem solved. Thanks for the heads-up!
]]>@MostlyHarmless: People still comment?
]]>I'm glad to see this. I've been on here for a while now (maybe a year) and didn't even know this guide was out there. A general "help" link/section would be nice, too, but props for writing a guide!
]]>