Ray and Wilma Yoder from Indiana can brag all they want when it comes to eating at Cracker Barrel. The couple has eaten at all 645 restaurants the company has in the United States.
It took them 40 years to eat at each of the restaurants. The cycle was completed earlier this week, when on Monday the stopped to eat at an Oregon Cracker Barrel to celebrate the 81st birthday of Ray.
The couple was flown to Oregon by Cracker Barrel so they could dine in style. The company said its restaurants were located in 44 U.S. states. Ray said he concocted the idea of eating at all the Cracker Barrel restaurants during the 1970s.
The Yoders raised four children and have been married 60 years. They raised their family on a Goshen, Indiana farm.
When all of their children were fully grown, the couple decided to start traveling and over the last few decades, have made several road trips crisscrossing the country, all the while circling each of the different Cracker Barrel restaurants they ate at on their map.
Their children helped as well as they followed the new locations that opened and then printed them for their folks so that they would not miss any of them along the way. The couple does not own a computer so they needed their children’s help.
The couple’s favorite meals range from pancakes to hash brown casserole and from meatloaf to grilled chicken sandwiches. The Yoders added that they never had any bad experiences with Cracker Barrel employees in any of the 645 locations they dined at.
Mrs. Yoder said that she could not even remember a time that they had any problems with their food calling them great places to eat.
While the couple waits for their table they enjoyed using the rocking chairs located outside the Cracker Barrel restaurants. With the couple’s mission finally completed they are going to stay put and not travel as much, unless of course Cracker Barrel decides to open up new locations and then they would feel obligated, but pleased to go eat at them.