Anti-DEI group with White House ties goes after Texas Roadhouse, Cracker Barrel

 

 

CHICAGO, August 5, 2025 - Once-praised initiatives to promote diversity in the food-away-from-home workforce are turning into a potential regulatory issue for two businesses that have maintained the effort. 

 

America First Legal (AFL), an organization founded by Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, has filed formal complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Center (EEOC) about the hiring practices of restaurant chains Texas Roadhouse and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.

The two separate actions, undertaken 11 days apart, accuse the full-service operations of slighting white men in their hiring because of the chains’ stated diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) employment policies.

In the more recent filing, AFI cites Roadhouse’s stated DEI policy as proof the casual-dining powerhouse gives preference when hiring to women and non-whites. It quotes the chain’s assertion of being “committed to attracting, retaining, engaging, and developing a workforce that mirrors the diversity of our guests.” 

Similarly, AFI asserts, the board committee that nominates potential new directors of the public company has a policy of seeking age, gender, and age diversity. 

The approaches Roadhouse publicly acknowledges are violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employees from considering race, color, religion, sex or natural origin as part of their recruitment efforts, AFI argued. It contended that ability should be the only criterion for hiring or nominating someone to the board.

The complaint asks EEOC to investigate the allegations and halt any discriminatory practices it should find.

The earlier complaint filed against Cracker Barrel levels essentially the same assertions. In addition to asking the EEOC to investigate potential discrimination, AFI simultaneously requested that the all-company-operated chain be investigated by Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General of the operator’s home state of Tennessee.

Both Cracker Barrel and Roadhouse embraced DEI after drawing intense public criticism for what were alleged past discriminatory practices. Cracker Barrel had drawn fire decades ago for dismissing a gay server and openly admitting the woman had been terminated because of her sexual orientation.

The chain won attention and praise for subsequently adopting a DEI policy that some saw as a model for the industry.

Roadhouse was the subject of an investigation by EEOC for allegedly discriminating against older potential hires. The scrutiny was prompted not by a complaint from a job applicant or a third party, but by the EEOC itself. The agency said the chain’s practice of encouraging servers to break into a line dance when the spirit hit them was discriminatory against older workers who might feel the strain of two-stepping as part of their job. 

The complaint was eventually shelved.

The AFI has set the dismantling of corporate DEI policies as a major goal. “Americans are fed up with major American corporations serving up DEI as if it is entirely okay,” AFI Counsel Will Scalino said in announcing the request for the federal and state investigations of Cracker Barrel. “Treating people differently because of the color of their skin or their sex is not only wrong, it is illegal.”

The cause has been an acknowledged goal of the Trump Administration as well. The President issued a series of executive orders shortly after being sworn into office that characterizes DEI as a form of prejudice that should be stopped in workplaces, educational institutions, government agencies, and companies that receive funding from the federal government under contractual arrangements.

AFI and aligned advocacy groups drafted a list earlier this year of 45 companies whose DEI programs they aim to scuttle. Included are such FAFH companies as McDonald’s, The Hershey Co., Starbucks, Shake Shack, Hy-Vee, Kellanova, and Yum! Brands, parent company of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut.

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