After suffering more than a week of online backlash to its new streamlined logo design — and a sharp drop in its stock price — the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain agreed to use its old logo.
“We said we would listen, and we have,” the company announced in a statement. “Our new logo is going away and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain.”
The move came just hours after President Trump weighed in on the controversy, urging the company to “go back to the old logo” and “admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll).”
Citing his own experience in business and politics, Trump framed the flap as a great opportunity to “manage the company better than ever before.“
Cracker Barrel’s stock was up 2.5% Wednesday on the news.
Previously, the Southern-flavored chain had said only that it “could’ve done a better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be,” adding that “the last few days have shown us … how deeply people care about Cracker Barrel.”
It was an optimistic take on what had been by any measure a fraught period for the retro roadside restaurant.
The trouble started last week when CEO Julie Felss Masino and her team unveiled the new logo — a simple gold shield with the restaurant’s name in a brown, more contemporary font — as part of a rebranding campaign that also saw them flying social media influencers to Manhattan to visit a slick pop-up location and attend a country music concert.
Felss, a veteran of Starbucks and Taco Bell, was recruited to shake up the chain, which had been receiving middling marks on food, value, experience and convenience — and attracting 16% less traffic last year than in 2019.
But her recent move backfired spectacularly, sparking a culture war firestorm that saw some fans accusing Cracker Barrel of abandoning its Americana roots in favor of a sanitized — even “woke” — new look.
Cracker Barrel’s new logo, soon to be scrapped. (Courtesy of Cracker Barrel)
Much of the meltdown focused on Felss’s decision to update the Tennessee chain’s longstanding logo: its rustic illustration of an actual barrel and — even more galling, according to detractors — the seated man in overalls who had been casually draping his arm over said barrel ever since the design was first sketched by a Nashville artist in 1977.
The sweeping $700 million makeover also included a revamped menu and “decluttered” dining rooms, with fewer knickknacks on the walls.
Felss “scrapped a beloved American aesthetic and replaced it with sterile, soulless branding,” snapped the Woke War Room on X. “She should resign and be replaced with leadership that will restore Cracker Barrel’s tradition.”
The criticism quickly became political after Donald Trump Jr. shared the Woke War Room’s message. Soon conservative activists were accusing Cracker Barrel board members of being DEI activists and telling followers they must “break the Barrel” through boycotts.
Even rival chain Steak ‘n Shake said on X that it “would never market ourselves away from our past in a cheap effort to gain the approval of trend seekers.”
To reassure its customers, Cracker Barrel first insisted on Monday that its iconic old-timer — officially known as “Uncle Herschel” — was “not going anywhere.”
“We love seeing how much you care about our ‘old timer.’ We love him too,” the company said in its initial statement. “Uncle Herschel will still be on our menu (welcome back, Uncle Herschel’s Favorite Breakfast Platter), on our road signs, and featured in our country store.”
Cracker Barrel’s nostalgic vibe would stay the same too, the statement said.
“The things people love most about our stores aren’t going anywhere [either]: rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table, unique treasures in our gift shop, and vintage Americana with antiques pulled straight from our warehouse in Lebanon, Tennessee,” it read.
But Uncle Herschel (and his barrel) did not return to the logo itself until Trump intervened.
”They got a Billion Dollars worth of free publicity if they play their cards right,“ the president wrote Tuesday on his Truth Social network. “Very tricky to do, but a great opportunity. Have a major News Conference today. Make Cracker Barrel a WINNER again.“
In its announcement Tuesday about Uncle Herschel’s return, Cracker Barrel made sure to describe itself as “a proud American institution.”
“Our 70,000 hardworking employees look forward to welcoming you to our table soon,” the company added.
Cover thumbnail photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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