Cracker Barrel co-founder Tommy Lowe, 93, says the corporate’s new management doesn’t perceive the model’s roots or the purchasers who constructed it.
Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino instructed an investing convention on Tuesday that the corporate up to date its emblem in order that it was extra seen on freeway billboards.
She famous that the transfer wasn’t meant to be ideological, in line with The Wall Avenue Journal.
“Part of this transformation is setting up success for the long term,” Masino mentioned through the 13D Monitor Lively-Passive Investor Summit in New York Metropolis on Tuesday.
CRACKER BARREL EXECUTIVE INSISTS RESTAURANT REMODELS ARE ‘WHAT THE GUESTS ASKED FOR’
These plans rapidly got here to a halt after public outcry pressured the corporate to reverse the transfer.
FOX Enterprise reached out to Cracker Barrel for remark.
The brand new Cracker Barrel emblem on a menu inside a restaurant Aug. 21, 2025, in Pembroke Pines, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Photos)
In mid-August, Cracker Barrel launched a brand new emblem, changing the acquainted illustration of “Uncle Herschel” with a contemporary design that includes solely the corporate’s title. It confronted an onslaught of backlash, together with from President Donald Trump, who posted on Reality Social that the corporate ought to admit it made a mistake and “manage the company better.”
CRACKER BARREL ADMITS IT ‘COULD’VE DONE A BETTER JOB’ AFTER NEW LOGO BACKLASH
Its inventory additionally took successful, and finally it prompted the restaurant chain to reverse course only a week later.
A Cracker Barrel restaurant in Dumfries, Va., Could 21, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg/Getty Photos)
The corporate initially defended its resolution to vary its emblem, saying the Uncle Herschel character “will still be on our menu (welcome back Uncle Herschel’s Favorite Breakfast Platter), on our road signs and featured in our country store. He’s not going anywhere — he’s family.”
The corporate additionally admitted it might have achieved a “better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be” after prospects expressed outrage over the restaurant chain’s new emblem. Nevertheless, it wasn’t sufficient to vary the general public sentiment.
In the course of the convention, Felss Masino additionally mentioned what it has been like being focused by an activist investor for over a decade, in line with the Journal.
Sardar Biglari has taken purpose on the restaurant chain since 2011. Biglari, founding father of Biglari Capital Corp., which owns 2.9% of Cracker Barrel’s frequent inventory, has run seven proxy contests on the chain.
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Biglari can be the CEO of Biglari Holdings Inc., which is the guardian firm that owns restaurant chains corresponding to Steak ’n Shake and Western Sizzlin.
Simply final month, Biglari tried to persuade the board to overtake its management for allegedly destroying shareholder worth.
“We are seeking shareholder support to vote against these directors not only due to the severe destruction of shareholder value but also a deeper failure to understand the brand, its customers, and its heritage, and a failure to fulfill the Board’s most important job, selecting the right CEO,” Biglari Capital wrote within the proxy submitting.
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Biglari Capital mentioned the board and administration each “betrayed the company’s heritage, alienated loyal customers and undermined investor confidence” by their methods.
