Why I Bought CBRL Group (NYSE: CBRL) This was one of my first investments. I was a big fan of the Cracker Barrel chain of country restaurants with attached gift shops. Maybe it's that the company's location in Fort Pierce always seemed like the perfect mid-point for a break on my family's many treks to Disney World. After reading up on dividend reinvestment plans and looking over a list of companies that allowed you to buy additional shares form the company this one stood out like a swinging wooden rocky chain on an inviting Cracker Barrel porch. So in 1991 I bought a single share, had it sent to me in my name, and sent it over to the Cracker Barrel transfer agent. Once in the DRIP I let the meager dividends accumulate yet I wasn't as aggressive as I had intended to be in sending in subsequent investments for additional shares. In the end I wound up with all of 7 shares and when the DRIP tacked on some fees that I wasn't in favor of I took possession of the shares. The company went on to acquire Logan's Roadhouse, a casual steakhouse that at the time had greater operating efficiency than the larger Outback (NYSE: OSI) and Lone Star Steakhouse (Nasdaq: STAR). The company's results have been spotty over the years yet the stock has roughly tripled since my initial investment more than a dozen years ago. Why I would sell shares in CBRL Group? Because my investment is minor I really haven't watched this company as closely as I do my more active investments. Yet knowing the company has had its earnings lulls in the past would at least make me more patient when it happens again. Why? Because I know the company has gone through those phases before and come around to rising above it all. Growth may have slowed now that the eatery dots the various interstates through most of the country but that just tempers the level of my growth expectations for the company. As long as the company continues to grow -- rather than close units -- I will take that as a sign that the chain is chugging along, serving up tasty chicken and dumplings, egg and tomato sandwiches and cobbler ala mode. Go Back UNDER

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