CRACKER BARREL OLD COUNTRY STORE, INC Commitments Disclosure
14. | Commitments and Contingencies |
The Company and its subsidiaries are party to various legal and regulatory proceedings and claims incidental to their business in the ordinary course. In the opinion of management, based upon information currently available, the ultimate liability with respect to these proceedings and claims will not materially affect the Company’s consolidated results of operations or financial position.
The Company maintains insurance coverage for various aspects of its business and operations. The Company has elected, however, to retain all or a portion of losses that occur through the use of various deductibles, limits and retentions under its insurance programs. This situation may subject the Company to some future liability for which it is only partially insured, or completely uninsured. The Company intends to mitigate any such future liability by continuing to exercise prudent business judgment in negotiating the terms and conditions of its contracts. See Note 1 for a further discussion of insurance and insurance reserves.
Related to its insurance coverage, the Company is contingently liable pursuant to standby letters of credit as credit guarantees to certain insurers. As of August 01, 2025, the Company had $34,004 of standby letters of credit related to securing reserved claims under workers’ compensation insurance and certain sale and leaseback transactions. All standby letters of credit are renewable annually and reduce the Company’s borrowing availability under its 2025 Revolving Credit facility. See Note 4 for additional information regarding the 2025 Revolving Credit Facility.
The Company enters into certain indemnification agreements in favor of third parties in the ordinary course of business. The Company believes that the probability of incurring an actual liability under other indemnification agreements is sufficiently remote so that no liability has been recorded in the Consolidated Balance Sheets.
Historical Timeline
| Fiscal Year | Filed | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Sep 26, 2025 | Showing above |
| 2023 | Sep 26, 2023 | |
| 2022 | Sep 27, 2022 | |
| 2020 | Sep 25, 2020 | |
| 2019 | Sep 27, 2019 | |
| 2017 | Sep 22, 2017 | |
| 2016 | Sep 26, 2016 | |
About Commitments Disclosures
Commitments and contingencies disclosures catalog a company's off-balance-sheet obligations and legal exposures — purchase commitments, guarantee arrangements, pending litigation, and regulatory proceedings. These items represent potential future cash outflows that may not appear as liabilities on the balance sheet until they become probable and estimable.
Key signals: litigation reserves and disclosed loss ranges quantify management's estimate of legal exposure, but unquantified "reasonably possible" losses often represent the larger risk. Watch for changes in language around pending cases — shifts from "remote" to "reasonably possible" or increases in estimated loss ranges signal deteriorating outcomes. Unconditional purchase obligations and take-or-pay contracts create fixed cost structures that reduce operational flexibility. Guarantee arrangements for subsidiaries or joint ventures can create cascading obligations. Compare the total commitment schedule against projected free cash flow to assess whether the company can meet its obligations without additional financing.