Restaurant company Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc (NASDAQ:CBRL) made national headlines for changing its logo and upsetting fans and non-fans alike. The company's decision led to store traffic declines that will impact the next quarterly earnings report.
CBRL is having a challenging session. Check the analyst take here.
Logo Change Sends Visits Down Double Digits
Cracker Barrel recently reported fourth-quarter financial results that saw revenue up 4.4% year-over-year, comparable restaurant sales up 5.8% year-over-year and figures that beat analyst estimates.
That was the good news. The bad news is that the company's logo change and national media attention happened in mid-August and will be reflected in the first-quarter financial results.
New data from Placer.ai shows just how much visitor traffic fell at Cracker Barrel locations after the logo change.
Data shows that visits fell 5.3% in the week of Aug. 25 through Aug. 31, which was after the logo change happened on Aug. 19.
Visits fell even more in the weeks after the company announced plans to revert back to the old logo on Aug. 26. Here are the visits tracked by Placer.ai:
- Week of Sept. 1: -10.1% year-over-year
- Week of Sept. 8: -10.0% year-over-year
- Week of Sept. 15: -9.9% year-over-year
- Week of Sept. 22: -7.2% year-over-year
"The consumer backlash to Cracker Barrel's new logo in August triggered a sharp decline in restaurant visits, with year-over-year traffic dropping by roughly double digits for most weeks following the announcement," Placer.ai Head of Analytical Research R.J. Hottovy said.
Hottovy noted the data showed "a modest improvement during the final week of September."
Read Also: Cracker Barrel Rebrand Backlash Overshadows Stronger Q4 Comp Sales, Analyst Says
Can Cracker Barrel Rebound?
The data from Placer.ai showed sharp declines in visits to Cracker Barrel for several weeks, but a potential recovery in the last week of September.
Visits fell 7.2% in the last week of September, reversing course from the 10% declines in three straight weeks.
Overall, September monthly visits were down 12.1% year-over-year according to the Placer.ai data. That comes after the month of August saw visits down 0.1% year-over-year.
That might be a key point in the first-quarter results, which will include the month of August. Even with the logo change happening in August and a 5.3% drop in the last full week for visits, the month ended almost even for visit growth, according to the report.
September will be marked with declines, which leaves the month of October as the key decider for how the first-quarter results may end up.
Before the logo change, Cracker Barrel had visit declines in six of the seven months before August, according to Placer.ai. This includes a 10.9% year-over-year visit decline in February and 7.9% decline in March.
Cracker Barrel's logo changes made huge headlines and sent shares down, but the early data could suggest things are mostly back to normal for the restaurant company.
Cracker Barrel Stock
Cracker Barrel shares traded at $42.70 at publication on Tuesday versus a 52-week trading range of $33.85 to $71.93. The stock is down 19.30% year-to-date in 2025.
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