Cracker Barrel tight lipped as emblem swap incites backlash

‘Bar Rescue’ host Jon Taffer argues Cracker Barrel management needs to be ‘disempowered’ after rebrand catastrophe on ‘Varney & Co.’

Cracker Barrel’s board of administrators and high executives have remained tight-lipped after the restaurant chain’s resolution to alter its basic emblem angered its clients nationwide.

Timothy Calkins, affiliate chair of the advertising and marketing division at Northwestern Kellogg Faculty of Administration, informed FOX Enterprise that the corporate can flip the scenario round if it communicates properly with the general public and is clear about its choices. 

Clients take pleasure in meals on the Cracker Barrel Previous Nation Retailer in Mount Arlington, New Jersey on Aug. 22, 2025. (Gregory Walton/AFP by way of Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)

Whereas the statements are good, Calkins mentioned he would encourage management, notably Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino or the top of promoting, to “get out there and do interviews.” 

“The more I think you talk and explain what you’re doing, the better it’s going to be, especially because now they have clearly responded,” Calkins mentioned. “They clearly heard the feedback. And when people have feedback, they want to be heard.”

FOX Enterprise has requested interviews with executives and board members.

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Masino final week touted the success of the corporate’s new emblem, which erased Uncle Hershel in favor of plain fashionable textual content, telling “Good Morning America’s” Michael Strahan that the “feedback’s been overwhelmingly positive that people like what we’re doing.”

Within the days that adopted, the corporate misplaced $143 million in market worth and confronted sturdy backlash from critics. 

President Donald Trump even received concerned on Tuesday. 

“Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before,” Trump wrote in a submit on Reality Social.

Late Tuesday, the corporate, in a press release, mentioned it will scrap the redesign and reinstate its longtime emblem. 

Ticker Safety Final Change Change % CBRL CRACKER BARREL OLD COUNTRY STORE INC. 62.28 +4.57
+7.92%

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“We thank your guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel,” the restaurant chain mentioned in a press release to FOX Enterprise. “We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain. At Cracker Barrel, it’s always been – and always will be – about serving up delicious food, warm welcomes, and the kind of country hospitality that feels like family.” 

Regardless of reversing course on the brand, Calkins mentioned that the corporate nonetheless has to determine the best way to carry again its relevance and drive folks again into shops. 

“They need to make sure the brand is relevant in bringing people to the stores and to the restaurants, and I think there are some changes that are necessary,” Calkins mentioned.

“Maybe a step-by-step approach is going to work better than too big a change too quickly,” he added. 

Deputy White Home Chief of Employees Taylor Budowich mentioned Tuesday on social media that he appreciated a name earlier Tuesday night from Cracker Barrel.

After asking late Tuesday if any executives or board members had been accessible to elucidate what went unsuitable, Cracker Barrel informed FOX Enterprise “not at the moment.” 

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Final week, within the midst of the pushback, which some critics mentioned was “brand suicide”, the corporate informed FOX Enterprise in a press release that whereas the brand modified, the corporate’s values hadn’t and that the redesign is a good greater nod to its authentic roots. 

A Cracker Barrel restaurant in Dumfries, Virginia. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg/Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)

“Cracker Barrel has been a destination for comfort and community for more than half a century, and this fifth evolution of the brand’s logo, which works across digital platforms as well as billboards and roadside signs, is a call-back to the original and rooted even more in the iconic barrel shape and word mark that started it all back in 1969,” the corporate mentioned. 

When Cracker Barrel opened its first location in 1969, the brand consisted solely of a text-only design, that includes the title “Cracker Barrel.”