Cracker Barrel isn’t doomed just yet

Cracker Barrel abandoned its updated logo. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

NEW YORK — It’s been a nightmare few weeks for Cracker Barrel, taking a drubbing from random social media accounts all the way up to the White House over a fairly typical logo rebrand. But despite the fallout, the old-timey chain still has a chance to make a comeback.

Cracker Barrel was in the early stages of a major turnaround plan before its new logo and restaurant remodels ran into a right-wing revolt. The changes were bashed on social media, including by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The company stopped the updates in their tracks, reverting to its “Old Timer” logo and cancelling plans to remodel restaurants with simpler layouts and less cluttered antiques, ornaments and knickknacks. It said it had only completed four remodels out of its 660 total locations.

“Your old country store is here to stay,” Cracker Barrel said Monday after announcing the remodel suspension. “We hope that today’s step reinforces that we hear you.”

The logo and remodel plan were two parts of a much bigger overhaul that includes menu changes, improvements to technology and basic restaurant upkeep. Cracker Barrel was looking to draw new customers, especially younger ones, after years of sagging sales. The chain was trying to avoid tumbling into bankruptcy like Red Lobster, Hooters, TGI Fridays or other family dining chains.

But Cracker Barrel can still turn things around. Other parts of its comeback plan have already shown signs of progress, and the chain can learn lessons from other companies that have recovered from the blowback to rebranding or other changes, such as shaking up its management and implementing a clearer vision for the future, marketing experts say. And timing is crucial, as Cracker Barrel has an opportunity to harness its surge in publicity.

Cracker Barrel should make changes that strike a middle ground between appearing stale to younger customers and unrecognizable to their parents or grandparents who’ve eaten at the chain for decades, said Chekitan Dev, a professor of hospitality management at Cornell University.

“Instead of going to zero to 100 overnight, it’s not bad to go from zero to 25 to 50,” he said. “Polish it up a little bit. Upgrade it. Don’t throw it away.”

Nostalgia sells and is what Cracker Barrel does best. It also should rely more heavily on it, Dev said.

“Missteps from rebranding are hard to correct,” said Ernest Baskin, a food marketing professor at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. “It is important to own your mistake going forward and correct it immediately. Consumers typically value authenticity and honesty. They want to know that the brand understands where they went wrong and won’t make that mistake in the future.”

Cracker Barrel declined to comment to CNN on this article.

Botched rebrand

Cracker Barrel’s decor harkens back to a time of family restaurants with bric-a-brac covering the walls. The chain was trying to de-clutter and modernize its restaurants for a younger generation of diners.

But the 55-year-old company’s image was built around Americana. Cracker Barrel’s updated text-only logo and minimalist modern restaurant design stripped away the identity of the brand, experts say.

“What makes them different is the old-time, country feel. The rebranding made it look like they were walking away from that,” said Yanhui Zhao, a marketing professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha who studies rebranding.

Zhao found that in 2018 just over half of rebrands typically lead to positive stock returns. “It’s almost like tossing a coin or taking a shot in the dark,” he said.

Cracker Barrel could have gradually rolled out a new logo, as Starbucks, Dunkin’ and other brands have done, experts say.

But the blowback wasn’t just customers nostalgic for the old Cracker Barrel. The company faced political attacks from commentators on the right who accused it of embracing “radical left-wing politics,” such as promoting gay rights and having policies to hire and promote more minority candidates. Activists on the right have also targeted Tractor Supply, John Deere, Harley Davidson and other companies for their diversity policies.

This is also not the first time Cracker Barrel has been in the middle of the culture wars over gay rights and other issues. Experts say it should have been better prepared for the blowback.

Leadership questions

As the company moves forward, marketing analysts say one major question that remains is the future of Cracker Barrel’s management team, including CEO Julie Masino.

Cracker Barrel’s stock has dropped roughly 10 per cent in the last month and seven per cent this year. Foot traffic and sales have also reportedly fallen since the logo change controversy flared up around Aug. 20.

“Investors may be losing confidence in management’s ability,” said Zhao. “They need to do something to regain investor confidence.”

Masino was hired at Cracker Barrel in 2023 after holding top positions at Taco Bell and Starbucks’ smaller international divisions and as CEO of Sprinkles Cupcakes. She took the helm of Cracker Barrel without any prior leadership roles in the casual dining industry.

Masino stepped in as the chain was struggling to recover from the pandemic, had underinvested in restaurants and technology for years, and was losing customers to rivals. Cracker Barrel’s core older customer base remained cautious about dining out after the pandemic and visited the chain less often.

“We’re just not as relevant as we once were,” and were in the “middle of the pack” in the industry, Masino said in May 2024. Foot traffic to restaurants at the time was down 16 per cent from pre-pandemic levels, and the company’s profit margin had “significantly contracted” from 2019, she said.

Masino argued the company needed to update its image, menu and restaurants to compete in a difficult environment. Cracker Barrel cut its dividend by around 80 per cent and poured money into investments.

The company embarked on a three year, up to US$700 million transformation plan through 2027 to make basic maintenance and repairs to restaurants and improve technology — as well as 25 to 30 remodels a year; Menus with different items like green chili cornbread, banana pudding and other food; and improvements to back-of-the-house kitchen operations.

“We are not leading in any area. We will change that,” Masino said. “We will evolve the brand in a way that will resonate with, but not alienate, current guests while increasing our appeal to new guests.”

The plan was showing some signs of success: Cracker Barrel posted four straight quarters of comparable sales growth.

“Our transformation plan is working,” Masino said in June. She said later that month that she believed customers would warm up to its restaurant design changes: “People’s immediate reaction to things is like, ‘Oh, this isn’t the way it was,’ but they tend to come around,” she said.

But the company recently said the opposite: “The modern remodel design does not reflect what you love about Cracker Barrel.”

The future of Cracker Barrel

Even if the new logo and restaurant look are being left behind, Cracker Barrel said it would continue to make planned maintenance investments and invest in improving its menu.

Investors expect Masino to detail the next steps when the company reports earnings next week.

It’s not clear yet whether Cracker Barrel’s recent about-face will translate into better sales, but it can take note of other companies that failed with rebrands. Gap, Pizza Hut and Tropicana are just a few companies that tried new logos only to ditch them after poor responses.

Tropicana remains a business school case study on redesign blunders. In 2009, Tropicana replaced its familiar logo, an orange with a straw poking out, with a minimalist design featuring a glass of orange juice.

The backlash was swift. Tropicana’s sales dropped 20 per cent following the redesign, sinking by $30 million.

Tropicana abandoned the glass of orange juice just six weeks after rolling it out and brought back the old orange-with-a-straw.

“We heard our consumers, and we listened,” the company said at the time.

Tropicana bounced back from the mishap until it redesigned its bottle again last year and customers revolted.