Cracker Barrel Should Agree with Glass Lewis

San Antonio, TX, Dec. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Biglari Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BH) encourages every shareholder of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRL), particularly institutional ones, to fully read the report of Glass Lewis & Co. Glass Lewis accurately depicted the issues facing shareholders. In our view, the reason the Board of Cracker Barrel does not agree with the report is because Glass Lewis relied on facts and public information not on ambiguous, nebulous, and faulty rhetoric.

As Glass Lewis said accurately, "Cracker Barrel's performance has been poor compared to peers over short, medium and long periods using a variety of metrics. Our concerns include stagnant sales, below-average earnings growth and declining customer traffic. The results unfortunately justify Cracker Barrel's persistent discounted market valuation. Combined, the shareholder return performance, operational performance and discounted valuation are severe enough, in our view, to warrant a board-level change."

Clearly, the most recent amendment to its poison pill discourages any shareholder from being both a significant owner and a 13D filer -- a marker of a board interested in protecting itself. Despite the Company's attempt to appear reasonable, once one reads the fine print, the intentions are quite transparent. Plainly, Glass Lewis has been seeing through the Board's actions.  Glass Lewis cited "governance-related concerns. These include certain hallmarks of an entrenched board…."

Glass Lewis added, "Ultimately, despite the Company's concerns regarding Mr. Biglari….we believe [Mr. Biglari's] track record of increasing shareholder value and improving operation performance would benefit the Cracker Barrel board. We discount many of the board's concerns, which are perhaps typical of an entrenched board during a proxy fight."

"In sum, we believe performance, operational and governance problems exist at Cracker Barrel, which when combined, are severe enough to warrant a change at the Company. Despite the Company's recent positive changes, which were at least somewhat reactionary to [Biglari's] prodding, problems remain at the Company….[W]e believe Mr. Biglari still has much to contribute to the board that would potentially enhance value for all shareholders."

We urge you to vote as Glass Lewis recommends:

"Accordingly, we recommend that shareholders use Biglari's GOLD proxy card."

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CERTAIN INFORMATION CONCERNING PARTICIPANTS

Biglari Holdings Inc., an Indiana corporation ("Biglari Holdings"), together with the other participants named below, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") a definitive proxy statement and accompanying proxy card to be used to solicit votes for the election of Sardar Biglari to the Board of Directors of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., a Tennessee corporation (the "Company"), at the 2011 annual meeting of shareholders of the Company.

BIGLARI HOLDINGS STRONGLY ADVISES ALL SHAREHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN, AND WILL CONTAIN, IMPORTANT INFORMATION.  SUCH PROXY MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE ON THE SEC'S WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SEC.GOV.  IN ADDITION, THE PARTICIPANTS IN THIS PROXY SOLICITATION WILL PROVIDE COPIES OF THE PROXY STATEMENT WITHOUT CHARGE UPON REQUEST.  REQUESTS FOR COPIES SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO THE PARTICIPANTS' PROXY SOLICITOR, INNISFREE M&A INCORPORATED, TOLL-FREE AT (888) 750-5834, BANKS AND BROKERS CALL COLLECT AT (212) 750-5833.

The participants in this proxy solicitation are Biglari Holdings, Biglari Capital Corp., a Texas corporation ("BCC"), The Lion Fund, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership (the "Lion Fund"), and Sardar Biglari.

As of the date hereof, Biglari Holdings directly owns 2,147,887 shares of Common Stock of the Company.  As of the date hereof, the Lion Fund directly owns 140,100 shares of Common Stock.  Each of BCC, as the general partner of the Lion Fund, and Biglari Holdings, as the parent of BCC, may be deemed to beneficially own the shares of Common Stock directly owned by the Lion Fund.  Mr. Biglari, as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of each of BCC and Biglari Holdings, may be deemed to beneficially own the shares of Common Stock directly owned by Biglari Holdings and the Lion Fund.

As members of a "group" for the purposes of Rule 13d-5(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, each of the participants in this proxy solicitation is deemed to beneficially own the shares of Common Stock of the Company beneficially owned in the aggregate by the other participants. Each of the participants in this proxy solicitation disclaims beneficial ownership of such shares of Common Stock except to the extent of his or its pecuniary interest therein.

SOURCE Biglari Holdings Inc.