Cracker Barrel Cheese

Cracker Barrel Cheese, A Party Favorite, Isn't Connected to The Restaurant At All

Sometimes the business world and company names can get confusing to me. Dove Chocolate and Dove soap aren't connected and neither are Magnum ice cream and Magnum condoms. Sure, I understand both of those instances because both are in two totally different markets in the grocery store. But Cracker Barrel Cheese and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store? Realizing they weren't connected gave me the spins because I couldn't comprehend it. I could have sworn the cheese packaging had the same logo. Or did it?

Does Cracker Barrel Own Cracker Barrel Cheese?

Shelves of cheese on display at Publix Grocery Store.

Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Introduced in 1954 by Kraft, the sharp cheddar cheese brand hit shelves more than a decade before the first Cracker Barrel restaurant was opened in Lebanon, Tennessee. Both companies based their names on the same practice of general store customers gathering around "cracker barrels" full of soda crackers to chat.

Both companies lived side-by-side until 2013 when Kraft Foods sued to block Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores from selling a new line of branded products in grocery stores. Kraft won the lawsuit, which is why you can only buy Cracker Barrel Old Country Store branded food items such as their pancake mix and syrups at restaurant locations and online.

Most recently, French-based Lactalis Group acquired Cracker Barrel, Breakstone, Knudsen, and the entire line of Kraft brand natural and grated cheeses for $3.3 billion. The company already owns President, Galbani, Stonyfield Organic, and Siggi's brands.

Cracker Barrel Cheese Products

Cracker Barrel mac and cheese

Cracker Barrel Cheese

The Cracker Barrel cheese lineup focuses mostly on cheddar cheese and offers products such as cubes, bites, shredded cheese, paring boards, cracker cheese slices, bars and sticks, spreadable cheese, and macaroni & cheese. The refrigerated natural cheese comes in extra sharp cheddar, white cheddar, Vermont sharp white cheddar, and even marbled sharp cheddar. Packed with calcium, these cheeses are perfect to serve during any gathering.