Create a TOWS analysis for the company Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. Use the SWOT Analysis below to help form your TOWS analysis. I will rate you!

SWOT Analysis

Strengths As one of the leading firms in its industry, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has numerous strengths that help it to thrive in the market place. These strengths not only help the company to protect the market share in existing markets but also help in penetrating new markets. Based on my research, some of the core strengths of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store are a strong brand identity, unique dining experience, great financial performance, and their menu variety. The first strength I identified, is strong brand identity. With its distinct retail offers, comfort cuisine, and southern hospitality, Cracker Barrel has built a strong brand that encourages customer loyalty. Cracker Barrel carefully manages its brand image to ensure consistency and relevance. The company utilizes various marketing and communication channels to promote its brand values and connect with target audiences. The company actively engages with local communities through sponsorships, donations, and volunteer initiatives, promoting goodwill and brand loyalty. The next strength I identified, is Cracker Barrels unique dining experience. By having a retail space with unique, themed picked merchandise, Cracker Barrel provides a unique experience that draws customers looking for a cozy, nostalgic vibe. The retail section in each store is constantly refreshed with new and seasonal merchandise, keeping customers engaged and providing them with fresh reasons to visit. The company also partners with popular brands, such as Coca-Cola and Dolly Parton, to create exclusive merchandise (McMillen, 2023). Another strength identified is Cracker Barrels great financial performance. The company has a strong track record of financial performance, demonstrating the effectiveness of its business and corporate level strategies. The company has consistently generated healthy profits and returns for its shareholders. Unlike other companies in the industry, Cracker Barrel has kept up a good financial performance (Trainer, 2017). Lastly, I identified the menu variety of Cracker Barrel as another strength of the company. Cracker Barrel is renowned for its comforting homestyle food. The menu features classic American dishes like fried chicken, country fried steak, and biscuits and gravy. The company also regularly introduces new menu items to keep its offerings fresh and appealing to evolving customer taste. Along side with this, Cracker Barrel uses fresh ingredients and recipes from many generations ago. High quality food, homemade with care is a core strength of the company.

Weaknesses Weaknesses are the area where Cracker Barrel Old Country Store can improve upon. According to a source, weaknesses stop an organization from performing at its optimum level and are areas where the business needs to improve upon to remain competitive (Kenton, 2023). This part of the SWOT Analysis will show areas that Cracker Barrel are weak in and can improve upon. The core weaknesses that I have identified are a restricted market penetration, dependency on seasonal and travel traffic, customers perception of delayed service vary, and minimal global presence. The first weakness that I identified was Cracker Barres restricted market penetration. Market penetration is a measure of how much a product or service is being used by a customer compared to the total estimated market for that product or service (Kenton, 2023). Growth prospects in other areas are limited when concentration occurs in specific locations, hence ignoring other markets. Cracker Barrel strongly focuses on only placing their store/restaurant locations in specific areas such as main highways and popular travel routes, typically off of interstates. This is limiting their growth, because they are ignoring other location opportunities that could result in more customers, profit, and growth in the company. The next weakness I identified is Cracker Barrels dependency on seasonal and travel traffic. The company highly depends on these two factors for customers. Companies that depend on tourists and seasonal travelers are more vulnerable to changes in travel trends and downturns in the economy. The next weakness I identified is delayed service. Each restaurant has a store where customers can shop for seasonal items, dcor, and much more. One of the things the restaurant does is waitlist customers in the store who are wanting to dine-in. They strategically do this to give customers time to look around their store in hopes they will make a purchase. However, some customers do not like this, because of the delayed service. Some customers feel it negatively affects their entire dining experience and has an effect on their level of pleasure with the restaurant. The last core weakness I identified is the minimal global presence Cracker Barrel has. Cracker Barrel has well over 600 locations, however, the company only has locations inside of the United States. Without the company expanding to foreign markets, their growth and diversification is limited. Their restricted global presence impedes prospects for growth and market diversification abroad.

Opportunities This section of the SWOT analysis will identify the core opportunities for Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. According to a source, opportunities refer to favorable external factors that could give an organization a competitive advantage (Kenton, 2023). This section will point out areas Cracker Barrel has the opportunity to improve or grow in. The opportunities I have identified is expansion and diversification, digital transformation, and menu innovation. The first opportunity I identified is expansion and diversification. Cracker Barrel has a lot of opportunities to expand their company. The company could open up new restaurants and stores in more popular areas like cities, not just near highways or interstates. That alone could bring in a different crowd and promote diversification. Also, opening up new markets and entering untapped areas could drive growth. Cracker Barrel could even open up locations outside of the United States. The company has a lot of opportunity for expansion and diversification. The second opportunity I identified is a digital transformation. A digital transformation is the process of adopting and implementing digital technology into an organization in order to create new or modify existing products, services, and operation to transform the business processes into digital formats. A head council member of Forbes said, Digital transformation has become essential for businesses to remain competitive in todays ever-changing technological landscape(Astapciks, 2023). Cracker Barrel has a large opportunity to digitally transform. The company could take the next step in their delivery service and offer delivery for individual orders instead of only catering orders. Also, the company could purchase an app or website to sell merchandise from the store. This would help the company to reach new people, grow profit, and further their convenience. The last opportunity I identified for Cracker Barrel is a menu innovation. Cracker Barrel can expand their customer reach by adding more items to their menu. As most know, Southern cuisine is not known for being a healthy food option, and this puts a strain on customers looking to eat healthy. However, the company has recently added a few healthy food options that has been a big hit to customers wanting to watch what they eat. The company has the opportunity to expand their healthy menu options further, and in turn would reach a whole new customer base.

Threats This last section of the SWOT Analysis will identify the threats of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. According to a source, threats refer to factors that have the potential to harm an organization (Kenton, 2023). The main threats I have identified of Cracker Barrel are rivalry, economic factors, regulatory obstacles, and consumer tastes. The first threat I identified is the rivalry of competitors against Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel has many rivals or competitors in the market such as Golden Corral Buffet and Grill, Dennys, Dardens Restaurants, and many more. The fierce rivalry from both fast-casual businesses and the typical classic dine-in restaurants similar to what Cracker Barrel has to offer on the menu, affects the companys market share and profitability. The second threat I identified of Cracker Barrel is economic factors. Changes in the economy has an impact on consumer spending and discretionary items and eating out. This is particularly true for travel and tourism, two components the company relies on heavily for customers. Economic pressures have taken a toll out on Cracker Barrel. A senior writer of FSR magazine claims, Because of tougher economic times, consumers are pulling restaurant visits and tightening wallets Cracker Barrel knows this firsthand (Coley, 2023). This is one of the largest threats of the company. The next threat I identified of Cracker Barrel is regulatory obstacles. Complying with evolving labor, health, and food safety laws provides the company with operational difficulties. After Covid-19, the company faced difficulties retaining beloved customers back to their establishment. The company traditionally caters to older clientele, however, the company has had some difficulty enticing them back to their establishments. According to a source, Covid-19 has had a profound impact on Cracker Barrel, as some older customers remain cautious about returning to dining out, concerned about their health and safety (Anderson, 2023). Due to the older generation being a large majority of the companies customer base, this poses as a real threat to Cracker Barrel. The last threat I identified of Cracker Barrel is consumer tastes. Cracker Barrel is a restaurant based on keeping things traditional. One of their key strategies is keeping all locations exactly the same each visit regardless of the season, year, or decade for customers to have the same experience each time. However, their traditional offers are impacted by changing consumer tastes towards healthy eating and dining experiences. Peoples ever-changing style and trends puts a strain on the company.