Carl Owens collection on Cracker Barrel Restaurants

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. is a national chain of restaurants featuring a gift store with a southern country theme. Founded in 1969 by Dan Evins, the chain subsequently developed primarily along southeastern and midwestern highway exits. In 1991 the restaurant announced a policy of only employing people with "normal heterosexual values," and subsequently several gay employees were dismissed. The company soon reversed the policy but did not add sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy.

Carl Owens was a social worker and member of Queer Nation who lived in Atlanta, Georgia. He began the "Buy One" campaign as a response to Cracker Barrel's policy that was discriminatory against its LGBT employees. The "Buy One" campaign was an effort urging gays, lesbians, and friends of LGBT to buy a single share of Cracker Barrel stock, creating pressure on management to be transparent about its policies towards gay and lesbian employees, thus stopping the discrimination.

After a decade of disputes and pressure from stockholders, 1991-2002, the restaurant chain eliminated its anti-gay policy. In 2002, more than half of its shareholders voted in favor of adding sexual orientation to the company's nondiscrimination policy.