Where do chain restaurants get their antiques?
Dear Cecil: Where do chain restaurants get all the faux antiques for their decor? I have this disturbing vision of 12-year-olds in Thailand manufacturing farm implements and Nehi soda signs for Cracker Barrel and the like. — Mark Coen You may imagine I spend all my time supping on sushi with Vaclav Havel and that lot, but the truth is I have sat in Cracker Barrels on occasion and wondered about this very thing. (Cracker Barrel, for the benefit of those who’ve never left the west coast or driven on an interstate, is a restaurant chain that employs “old country store” decor. I know the question was about chain restaurants in general, but one must focus one’s investigative resources.) So I called the company’s headquarters in Lebanon, Tennessee, and quizzed the folks there about the stuff hanging on their restaurants’ walls: Is it legit? Where does it come from? Then I thought about it a bit, called them back, and quizzed them some more. Some may say this is a trivial matter to get so per
