Dan Evins | Cracker Barrel chief, 76

Dan Evins, 76, founder of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store chain, died Saturday in Lebanon, Tenn., the company said.

It was in Lebanon that Mr. Evins opened his first restaurant. It catered to highway travelers and focused on offering Southern hospitality, country-style cooking, and an associated gift shop that came to define the chain.

He fashioned the restaurant after the country stores of his rural Tennessee youth and used a number of family recipes. The restaurant was named after the practice of customers gathering at country stores to share news and play checkers atop an empty barrel that had been used to deliver crackers to the store.

Mr. Evins helped build the chain into a national brand as CEO from 1969 to 2001 and as chairman until he retired in 2004. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc., headquartered in Lebanon, now operates more than 600 restaurants in 42 states. - AP