Leases

9 Months Ended

Apr. 26, 2024

The Company has ground leases for its leased stores and office space leases that are recorded as operating leases under various non-cancellable operating leases. The Company also leases advertising billboards, vehicle fleets, and certain equipment under various non-cancellable operating leases. Additionally, the Company completed sale-leaseback transactions in 2009, 2020 and 2021 (see section below entitled “Sale and Leaseback Transactions”); all the properties qualified for sale and leaseback and operating lease accounting classification. To determine whether a contract is or contains a lease, the Company determines at contract inception whether it contains the right to control the use of an identified asset for a period of time in exchange for consideration. If the contract has the right to obtain substantially all of the economic benefit from use of the identified asset and the right to direct the use of the identified asset, the Company recognizes a right-of-use asset and lease liability.

The Company’s leases all have varying terms and expire at various dates through 2058. Restaurant real estate leases typically have base terms of ten years with four to five optional renewal periods of five years each. The Company uses a lease life that generally begins on the commencement date, including the rent holiday periods, and generally extends through certain renewal periods that can be exercised at the Company’s option. During rent holiday periods, which include the pre-opening period during construction, the Company has possession of and access to the property, but is not obligated to, and normally does not, make rent payments. The Company has included lease renewal options in the lease term for calculations of the right-of-use asset and liability for which at the commencement of the lease it is reasonably certain that the Company will exercise those renewal options. Additionally, some of the leases have contingent rent provisions and others require adjustments for inflation or index. Contingent rent is determined as a percentage of gross sales in excess of specified levels. The Company records a contingent rent liability and corresponding rent expense when it is probable sales have been achieved in amounts in excess of the specified levels. The Company’s lease agreements do not contain any material residual value guarantees or material restrictive covenants.

The Company has entered into two Cracker Barrel and four MSBC agreements for real estate leases that are not recorded as right-of-use assets or lease liabilities as we have not yet taken possession. These leases are expected to commence in 2025 and 2026 with undiscounted future payments of $12,333 and $10,210, respectively.

The Company has elected not to separate lease and non-lease components. Additionally, the Company has elected to apply the short term lease exemption to all asset classes and the short term lease expense for the period reasonably reflects the short term lease commitments. As the Company’s leases do not provide an implicit rate, the Company uses the incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the time of commencement or modification date in determining the present value of lease payments. For operating leases that commenced prior to the date of adoption of the new lease accounting guidance, the Company used the incremental borrowing rate as of the adoption date. Assumptions used in determining the Company’s incremental borrowing rate include the Company’s implied credit rating and an estimate of secured borrowing rates based on comparable market data.

The following table summarizes the components of lease cost for operating leases for the specified periods:

	Quarter Ended				Nine Months Ended
	April 26, 2024		April 28, 2023		April 26, 2024		April 28, 2023
Operating lease cost	$	27,550	$	27,456	$	82,962	$	82,345
Short term lease cost		134		234		3,209		2,731
Variable lease cost		899		909		2,582		2,863
Total lease cost	$	28,583	$	28,599	$	88,753	$	87,939

The following table summarizes supplemental cash flow information and non-cash activity related to the Company’s operating leases for the specified periods:

	Quarter Ended						Nine Months Ended
	April 26, 2024			April 28, 2023			April 26, 2024			April 28, 2023
Operating cash flow information:
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities	$	24,143		$	23,745		$	72,764		$	71,252
Noncash information:
Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for new operating lease liabilities		3,810			5,990			9,600			15,455
Lease modifications or reassessments increasing (decreasing) right-of-use assets		(610	)		5,417			19,828			9,115
Lease modifications removing right-of-use assets		(54	)		(80	)		(1,468	)		(371	)
Right-of-use asset impairment*		1,832			—			1,832			—

Included in the Impairment line on the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows.

The following table summarizes the weighted-average remaining lease term and the weighted-average discount rate for operating leases as of dates indicated:

	April 26, 2024			April 28, 2023
Weighted-average remaining lease term	15.95 Years			17.00 Years
Weighted-average discount rate		5.35	%		5.07	%

The following table summarizes the maturities of undiscounted cash flows reconciled to the total operating lease liability as of April 26, 2024:

Year	Total
Remainder of 2024	$	24,239
2025		83,314
2026		73,185
2027		69,383
2028		67,569
Thereafter		795,866
Total future minimum lease payments		1,113,556
Less imputed remaining interest		(380,473	)
Total present value of operating lease liabilities	$	733,083

Sale and Leaseback Transactions

In 2009, the Company completed sale-leaseback transactions involving 15 of its owned Cracker Barrel stores and its retail distribution center. Under the transactions, the land, buildings and improvements at the Cracker Barrel stores and the retail distribution center were sold and leased back for terms of 20 and 15 years, respectively. Equipment was not included. The leases include specified renewal options for up to 20 additional years.

In 2020, the Company entered into an agreement with the original lessor and a third party financier to obtain ownership of 64 of the 65 Cracker Barrel properties previously covered in the original sale and leaseback arrangement and simultaneously entered into a sale and leaseback transaction with the financier. The Company purchased the remaining property. In connection with this sale and leaseback transaction, the Company entered into lease agreements for each of the properties for initial terms of 20 years and renewal options up to 50 years.

In 2021, the Company completed a sale and leaseback transaction involving 62 of its owned Cracker Barrel stores. Under the transaction, the land, buildings and building improvements at the locations were sold and leased back for initial terms of 20 years and renewal options up to 50 years.