It can be difficult—and an outright loss—when restaurants decide to remove items from their menu. What can be even worse is when customers do not know why their favorite comfort foods were pulled.
One former employee of combination country store and restaurant chain Cracker Barrel has taken to TikTok to answer the question of what happened to the well-loved—and much copied—apple dumplings.
Why did Cracker Barrel take apple dumplings off the menu?
In a video that has drawn over 59,000 views on TikTok, user @theharpsichord says the comforting and rich apple dumplings were removed because they were high in calorie density, and the company did not want to put that number in print.
“Sometimes I randomly think about how I used to work at Cracker Barrel and when they were forced to put all the nutritional info and calories on the menus, they had to take apple dumplings off the menu because it had so many calories in it,” the poster says in the video.
She claims the calorie count was so high, Cracker Barrel opted to remove them from the menu instead.
“They were like, we can’t admit to that, and there was outrage that the apple dumplings were taken off. I mean outrage,” she says. “It was just a known thing that we didn’t talk about the apple dumplings, we just didn’t bring it up.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @theharpsichord via comment on the video as well as TikTok direct message, and to Cracker Barrel via email.
What is an apple dumpling?
The dessert formerly served by Cracker Barrel has been duped and imitated many times by recipe writers online. It is an apple-based pastry topped with streusel and was typically served with vanilla ice cream before being discontinued.
Per nutrition information website My Food Diary, the apple dumpling with one scoop of ice cream was about 1,700 calories all on its own.
What does the company have to say?
While representatives of Cracker Barrel did not respond to our inquiry before publication, a company executive previously told Southern Living that the business periodically removes items from its menus to make room for new treats.
@theharpsichord Moment of silence for those apple dumplings 🫡 #crackerbarrel #survivaljob #minimumwage #fyp #funny ♬ original sound – Harpsichord
Why label calories on menus?
Since 2018, restaurants have been required by the Food and Drug Administration to provide nutritional information to consumers if they are a chain with 20 or more locations. This information must be in close proximity to the menu item, and clearly labeled.
What’s more, viewers say they miss the dessert too.
“I think about the apple dumpling all the time,” one commenter wrote. “That toasted pecan topping. I got one every day after my shift!”
“Haha. Ohhhhh they were so good,” another said. “They also used to have bread pudding with a caramel pecan sauce. Probably the same reason. But omg that Coca-Cola cake has got to be high too!”
“Man, I was so sad when they took it off, but we always split it between about 5 people because it was so big,” a further user wrote.
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