The Brand Behind Cracker Barrel's Boxed Mac And Cheese May Surprise You

The internet is brimming with gooey, creamy, and over-the-top mac and cheese recipes that include everything from fontina and pecorino to crab and gochujang. However, nothing beats the comfort and convenience of a low-effort box of mac and cheese that can be whipped up with nothing but a splash of milk and a pat of butter. If you want to make the job even easier, a deluxe style mac and cheese kit (which includes a pouch of liquid cheese sauce instead of cheese powder that needs to be reconstituted) is just the ticket. Cracker Barrel's boxed mac and cheese products include a cheese sauce and come in four flavors: Sharp cheddar, sharp white cheddar, cheddar Havarti, and sharp cheddar and bacon. But one thing you might be surprised to learn is that this brand has nothing to do with the Cracker Barrel restaurant. So who is the face behind it all? It's Kraft Heinz.

Cracker Barrel Cheese was launched by Kraft in 1954 (which later merged into the Kraft Heinz company in 2015). According to the website, its "name comes from the 19th century practice of general store customers gathering around 'cracker barrels" full of soda crackers to engage in conversation". The brand expanded to carry several cheeses beyond cheddar, such as Swiss, gouda, and asiago, but in 2016 Kraft Heinz debuted its boxed mac and cheese to bring "a premium and authentic offering to the boxed dinner aisle". Meanwhile, the Cracker Barrel restaurant was a completely separate entity, which opened in 1969

Take a look at the logo on a box of Cracker Barrel mac and cheese (a simple monogram of the letters C and B), and you can easily see how it differs from the well-known motif of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant, which features a gentleman sitting on a chair and leaning on a barrel.

The Kraft Heinz company sold its cheese business for over $3 billion to Groupe Lactalis in 2020, which included the Cracker Barrel brand, along with other grated, cultured, and specialty brands, like Breakstone's and Hoffman's. This explains why the Cracker Barrel cheese website states that "Cracker Barrel is a registered trademark of Lactalis Heritage Dairy, Inc. It is not associated or affiliated with Cracker Barrel Old Country Store," adding that "Cracker Barrel Macaroni & Cheese is a registered trademark owned by Kraft Foods."

While Cracker Barrel boxed mac and cheese has been developed as a premium product, it still makes the perfect foundation for a little culinary experimentation. For instance, some of the unexpected ingredients you can add to mac and cheese include pumpkin puree, which lends it a vibrant color, and truffle butter, which takes this humble dish into gourmet territory. Of course, you can also incorporate ground beef or shredded chicken to bulk it out and increase its protein content, add more cheese, or top it with crunchy breadcrumbs and oven cook to make a baked mac and cheese.