Does The Cracker Barrel Restaurant Have Any Relation To The Cheese Brand?

If you've ever taken a long road trip, you're probably familiar with Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. Each location's long covered porch lined with wooden rocking chairs leads to a quaint shop stocked with gifts, games, old-fashioned candy, and sundries like apple butter, pancake syrup, and corn bread mix. The restaurant chain touts locations in 45 states and serves up hearty Southern fare like chicken n' dumplings, hash brown casserole, and breaded fried okra.

Packed with some tasty hidden gems, Cracker Barrel's menu also features plenty of cheese: cheese sprinkled on salad, melted over eggs and bacon, grilled between slices of bread and ham. With all that cheese in the lineup, curious connoisseurs of the creamy stuff may wonder: Does the Cracker Barrel restaurant have any relationship to the similarly named cheese brand? In both cases, the term "cracker barrel" comes from the large wooden barrels that soda crackers were shipped in. While the two brands share a devotion to dairy, Cracker Barrel cheese has no relation to the Cracker Barrel Country Store.

The first Cracker Barrel restaurant opened in 1969 in Lebanon, Tennessee. The homey restaurant chain's name is a reference to the wooden vessels once used to transport crackers. After shipping, the barrels were transformed into tables and became the center of local gatherings. The name you've probably seen sprawled across bright orange blocks of sharp cheddar, was similarly inspired by the cracker crates' importance in community togetherness. However, Cracker Barrel cheese was developed by Kraft in 1954, predating the eatery's earliest location.

Not only are the two brands separate, but in 2013, Kraft Foods sued Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, citing trademark infringement over the restaurant chain's decision to begin selling packaged grocery items with the "Cracker Barrel" label. Ultimately, Cracker Barrel (the country store) agreed to sell its sliced cheeses and lunch meats under the moniker "CB Old Country Store" to minimize confusion.