Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino has explained why the southern-themed restaurant chain tried and failed to redesign its signature logo.
In August, Cracker Barrel removed the image of a seated man in overalls leaning on a barrel from its logo and opted for it to simply display the words “Cracker Barrel” against the classic gold background.
The move sparked outrage among prominent figures from President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, and the company saw a massive drop in customers, with Cracker Barrel losing $94 million in a day amid the fallout.
Masino said at an investing conference in New York City Tuesday the redesign had nothing to do with ideology, but rather with hungry travelers being able to read their logo.
She said the company was trying to make its logo easier to read on highway billboards.
“Part of this transformation is setting up success for the long term,” Masino said.
But Cracker Barrel got a rude awakening when the MAGA base railed against the company for the move, calling the redesign “woke” and “boring.”
Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida, who at one point worked for Cracker Barrel, wrote on X, “Their logo was iconic and their unique restaurants were a fixture of American culture. No one asked for this woke rebrand. It’s time to Make Cracker Barrel Great Again.”
Right-wing commentator Matt Walsh wrote: “Yes let’s remove everything charming and distinct from the logo and make it as generic and boring as we possibly can.”
“WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel ??!,” Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, wrote in response to a post by the Woke War Room account attacking Masino and her “DEI regime.”
Even the president himself chimed in, saying in a Truth Social post that 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.”
And Cracker Barrel listened. Just days after announcing the redesign, the company said it would return the old logo.
“We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel. We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain,” Cracker Barrel wrote on X at the time.
But Cracker Barrel’s shares are still down roughly 30 percent this year, bringing its value to about $825 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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