Photo: TikTok
A disgusting revelation.
By Zayda Slabbekoorn — Written on Feb 03, 2023
The eccentric gift shop antique architecture crossover, home of amateur Southern cooking — Cracker Barrel.
Whether you frequented the nationwide chain or it’s solely a nightmare in your childhood fever dreams, you’ve surely seen their company come up in media outlets over the past couple of months.
Surely, they’re not being celebrated for their home-style recipes — rather, for their ignorant and distasteful employees who’ve been exposed on TikTok.
One Cracker Barrel employee confirms they radio a specific code word when Black customers come in.
In a TikTok from January 30, a Cracker Barrel employee is revealed spilling her store’s code word — that they allegedly used to signal that Black customers have arrived at the restaurant.
“Cracker Barrel has a code word for Black people when they come in,” the employee says on camera, “The way we do it is we say ‘c—’ over the radio. Basically, we tell the back staff that there are Black people here.”
A disgusting and appalling revelation — the Cracker Barrel employee gives no more reasoning or explanation for their undercover use of a slur as code.
One Black TikToker confronted a Cracker Barrel employee over her discomfort with the alleged code word.
While many Black TikTokers stitched the original video of the Cracker Barrel employee and shared their distaste, one TikToker took it upon themselves to go to the restaurant and confront someone directly.
In a video from January 31, TikToker @goviralgeyer_bae stitched the original video of the employee and then added footage of her showing up at her own local restaurant.
Walking into the store, she immediately received a dirty look from another white customer in the store — “Well, there’s the first look,” she whispers to her recording camera.
“I got a question, have you seen those TikTok videos?” she asks as she approaches an employee in the store.
Uncomfortably laughing, the employee immediately denies having heard anything about Cracker Barrel on TikTok.
“When Black people come in here they [Cracker Barrel employees] use a code word — ‘C—.’ Is that true?” she persistently asks.
Continuing to deny any involvement or knowledge, the TikToker continues to press, but seemingly politely — “Are you sure, sugar?” she adds.
“I came in here one time, and there was nobody but white people sitting in here,” she continues as the employee continues denying, “Everyone was staring at me and I haven’t come back since — I was uncomfortable. But, I just wanted to know if that was true.”
Another ex-Cracker Barrel employee recalls her shock when she discovered managers were using ‘Canadians’ as code.
Amidst the rumors and a definite revelation by a Cracker Barrel employee, TikToker @cinnamnhoney added to the conversation about employees using code words for POC customers.
“Me, a hostess at Cracker Barrel, wondering how every employee knew a table was full of Canadians even though they didn’t have a telling accent,” she wrote in the subtitles of her now-deleted video shared last year.
Panning onto the next slide, a similar narrative was revealed — “Canadian was a code word for Black people,” the subtitles read.
Outside of just Cracker Barrel, comments reveal other restaurants that’ve used code words for customers.
“I worked at TGIFriday,” one comment wrote under one of the TikTok videos, “Code there was ‘Canadians’ because they don’t tip. I was appalled and made a formal complaint. Racism is rampant in the service industry.”
Not just in one comment, but in several more, ex-service industry employees agree that racism is not an isolated issue to just Cracker Barrel. Many share multiple instances where coworkers have used outrageous language to deliberately attack customers of color.
“Absolutely ridiculous,” another reads, “I remember this as a host. They used to use ‘NIMS’. N-words in my sections. Some people don’t deserve even basic and common decency.”
“I had a coworker tell me this when I worked at Olive Garden,” another person commented, ‘They were Canadian, I knew they wouldn’t tip.’ I was appalled when I learned what it meant.”
Comments attack Cracker Barrel for allowing racist employees to continue to work — despite an apology from a spokesperson.
Although they weren’t the only company whose employees were using racist code names, they were the company that began outrage on media outlets — including TikTok.
In a March 2022 statement made by a Cracker Barrel spokesperson, they attempt to separate themselves completely from this coworker’s racist narrative about their customers.
“We only recently learned about this video and have not had a chance to identify or speak with the relevant individuals. Obviously, racism has no place at Cracker Barrel and any actions like the ones described in the video would be against our policies, beliefs, and who we are as a company,” the Cracker Barrel spokesperson said.
While it might not be Cracker Barrel as a whole, it surely seems to be a problem at large when employees can get away with using a blatantly anti-POC slur amidst a whole staff of coworkers — and, with no consequences.
Cracker Barrel emailed YourTango with a statement condemning the alleged code word:
"Thank you for bringing this video to our attention. We are as disgusted as you are at its contents, posted anonymously and without anything that would help us identify this woman as a Cracker Barrel employee or allow us to investigate. We have multiple means of reporting and investigating allegations of discrimination, which are well publicized and well-known by our employees.
"Posting anonymous TikTok videos is not one of them. We would never tolerate something like what this woman alleges.
"The word referenced in the video is not a code. It is a horrible racial slur that has no place at Cracker Barrel or anywhere else in civilized society. That someone would anonymously claim otherwise on social media is deeply upsetting to us because it contrasts so sharply with our policies, training, values, and mission of Pleasing People – all people.
"We work hard every day to create a culture of care and hospitality that’s welcoming, respectful and inclusive to everyone who puts on our uniform or walks through our doors, and videos like this hurt us deeply and personally."
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer who focuses on pop culture analysis and human interest stories. Catch up with them on Instagram or TikTok.