A Black server at a Cracker Barrel restaurant and country store in Tennessee claims she faced rampant bigotry on the job, while higher-ups consistently failed to hold white employees and supervisors accountable for their racist behavior.
In a federal lawsuit obtained by The Independent, Roberta Mendez, who identifies as Black, says her white coworkers regularly called her, variously, “nappy headed [N-word,]” “burnt biscuit,” and “monkey,” according to her complaint, which was filed on August 21. Last year, it says Mendez’s shift leader left little room for interpretation, brazenly telling her, “I don’t like Black people.”
Mendez, who has been waiting tables at a Nashville-area Cracker Barrel since 2015, argues she always “met or exceeded” expectations at work. However, for the past decade, Mendez says she was “treated less favorably than her Caucasian counterparts who made derogatory comments to [her] based on her race.”
Further, the complaint contends, Mendez was “physically pushed and hit” by her colleagues, and claims management has “segregated its Black workers from its Caucasian workers.”
Mendez reported these transgressions to her bosses up and down the chain of command, according to the complaint. But, it goes on, Mendez was the one who suffered the consequences. Following one 2023 incident, Mendez says she was written up instead of the person whose behavior she had flagged, the complaint states.
“When Mendez escalated her concerns to Human Resources, she was only told not to sign the write-up,” the complaint continues, adding, “No remedial action was taken.”
In August 2024, conditions hadn’t improved at all and Mendez submitted a grievance to Cracker Barrel corporate, laying out details of “her treatment and the treatment of other Black employees,” according to the complaint. The following month, it says Mendez was abruptly fired for “breaking company policy.” At the same time, none of Mendez’s white coworkers faced any blowback at all “for similar or worse conduct,” the complaint states.
“The reason for Mendez’s termination [was] pretext for discrimination and/or retaliation,” according to the complaint, which does not provide details of what Mendez supposedly did wrong.
Attorney Kyle Biesecker, who is representing Mendez in the case, told The Independent that he and co-counsel Rachel Ringer hoped their client’s complaint spoke for itself.
“Next, Cracker Barrel will file their answer to the complaint and discovery will proceed from there,” Biesecker said. “We expect depositions to bear out many of the facts as alleged by Ms. Mendez.”
A Cracker Barrel spokesperson did not respond on Wednesday to a request for comment.
Founded in 1969, Cracker Barrel – which recently faced fierce backlash from seething conservatives who insisted the restaurant chain’s attempt at updating its logo was a concession to the “woke” left – has long been accused of marginalizing both customers and employees who belonged to minority groups. (The company abandoned the new design a week later amid demands from MAGA types, including President Donald Trump.)
In 2004, the company forked over nearly $9 million following a class-action lawsuit from more than 40 plaintiffs in 16 states who claimed Cracker Barrel discriminated against Black customers and employees, alleging they were, among other things, denied service, seated away from white patrons and served them food that was destined for the trash.
Some years earlier, Cracker Barrel was lambasted after it instituted a policy saying it would no longer “continue to employ individuals… whose sexual preferences fail to demonstrate normal heterosexual values.” The chain subsequently terminated nearly a dozen LGBTQ+ workers – including a cook who was told, in writing, that she was being let go “for being gay.”
Like the logo fiasco, Cracker Barrel revoked the policy shortly after it was introduced, issuing a statement saying, “Our recent position on the employment of homosexuals in a limited number of stores may have been a well-intentioned overreaction to the perceived values of our customers and their comfort levels with these individuals.”
At times, however, things have gone the opposite way – at least temporarily. In 2013, when Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson equated “homosexual behavior” with bestiality, Cracker Barrel pulled the show’s licensed merchandise from its store shelves. Yet, the products were put back on sale less than 24 hours later, following an outcry from certain patrons.
“You told us we made a mistake,” the chain wrote on its Facebook page. “And you weren’t shy about it.”
Through it all, those on the right have still managed to find fault with the way Cracker Barrel does business. In 2022 and 2023, the company was raked over the coals by conservatives for introducing plant-based sausage as a menu option, as well as for acknowledging Pride Month on its Instagram account. This past July, America First Legal, a right-wing nonprofit run by Trump deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, sued Cracker Barrel over claims it discriminated against white men.
For her part, Mendez is suing Cracker Barrel for violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law that prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Her complaint includes two causes of action: race discrimination and retaliation, alleging that Cracker Barrel “subjected her to pervasive harassment on the basis of her race, created a hostile work environment, and terminated her employment… when she complained of racially disparaging comments and behavior from her coworkers and supervisors.”
“Defendant’s actions were intentional, willful, and taken in reckless disregard of Mendez’s rights as protected by Title VII,” her complaint states.
Mendez is now seeking reinstatement to her position, at the salary and seniority level she would have had by now, as well as back pay, benefits and “other monetary loss” due to her firing. She is also asking for compensatory and punitive damages, with interest, to be determined by a jury, plus court costs and attorneys’ fees.
