Cracker Barrel got into all off our heads over the last week, by either corporate arrogance or sheer marketing genius.

We highly suspect the latter. But it’s a risky gambit with a beloved national brand.

Efforts by CBRL (their stock ticker name) to refresh the brand have been going on for many years. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has been attempting to recapture its market, which has been slipping, and for numerous reasons. Minor changes from booze on the menu in some locations to a lightening of their legacy logo in 2015 led some to believe the worst was around the corner — culiminating with the naming of a “woke” CEO in 2023.

Minority shareholders sounded the alarm. Biglari Capital, also owner of Steak ‘n Shake and other franchises, came up with several stockholder presentations at EnhanceCrackerBarrel.com in order to refresh the brand in a more conservative direction — whereas the majority had been favoring things like alcohol sales, a longer menu, and even (*gasp) taking numerous antiques off the walls.

Then came radio silence around October 2024. Cracker Barrel announced a new look was coming in the spring, followed by the logo refresh that lit social media on fire last week like a broken kerosene lamp on seasoned wood.

The company rescinded its decision this week, announcing it scrapped the plans to rebrand the logo and would instead “listen” to longtime fans of the chain.

We are skeptical as it happened so quickly — as if it was part of some master course in channeling conservative outrage. Was this all part of a marketing scheme to dip our toes into some changes (lighter colors, fewer wall decorations, beer, etc.) without rankling longtime customers? It’s seeming that way: the old “it could be worse” strategy. Catering to a hypothetical market that isn’t as-into antiques, brain teasers, and country-fried anything, and hoping to show them that they could at least be trendy if they wanted to be. Flexing a muscle of Gen Z cultural relevance while angering a subset of keyboard activists to unwittingly spread the word far and wide. Not afraid to take a temporary stock tumble if it means far-greater brand recognition and public curiosity. It’s nothing that a “We heard you, America” statement cannot fix (and here it is, right on schedule).

Here are some points that make us wonder if we were the subject of one of the most ingenious brand revivals in recent memory:

• Big PR firms. It’s more complex than a game of checkers. Cracker Barrel this month announced it had retained Prophet, a well-known corporate growth firm that recently rolled out a refresh for T-Mobile, as well as Viral Nation (the name says it all) and Blue Engine, a communications company. These decisions were not just made at a back table around a triangle peg game and a plate of hashbrown casserole. They were made carefully. Mathematically. Strategically.
• Too quiet. The aforementioned radio silence from minority stockholders is suspect. Did the “Enhance Cracker Barrel” rebels just wave the white flag and go home? Obviously not, as Biglari used their Steak ‘n Shake social media platforms as an avatar to blast Cracker Barrel’s announced brand refresh, accusing it of losing its soul. For nearly 11 months the internal opposition was quiet. Therefore some compromise was likely made behind the scenes.
• “Uncle Herschel” was there all the time. Inquisitive link-clickers would have found a logos section of Cracker Barrel’s website, featuring the “new” minimalist logo, but also … that’s right, the old man with the barrel, Uncle Herschel, on a secondary logo titled “The Herschel Way.” We’re not certain what this was for, but it’s clear CBRL was not getting rid of “the cracker” entirely.

  

   

• The test rollout. While some restaurants got the Chip and Joanna Gaines-like treatment with whiter walls, less bric-a-brac, and the universally despised minimalist logo, the rollout was far from comprehensive. This reeks of a limited test market, as was teased earlier this year to equally negative comments from regular customers.

If this is true, then bravo! We’ll see soon enough if the customers come trickling back in, or if the Barrrel has rolled off into a sinking pit with Bud Light, Jaguar, and Aunt Jemima.

FROM THE HIP

While it must be said that conservatives such as the readers of The Hayride much prefer the family atmosphere, celebration of history, and callbacks to a simpler, more hospitable time …

…it’s mostly a front.

Cracker Barrel is a publicly traded corporation like any other, complete with board rooms, ROI reports, and stockholder meetings.

Its founder, Dan Evins, worked for his family’s oil company and also a U.S. Congressman before graduating from Auburn and building a gas station in Lebanon, Tenn., that he would later brand as Cracker Barrel. He would joke that his business was “selling rocking chairs,” but it was really an extension of his work for Shell Oil. Hardly the rags-to-riches story one might expect, though Evin’s uncle, Heschel McCartney (the real “Uncle Herschel,” thought to be depicted on the new-old logo) has quite a bootstrap experience having been a traveling flour salesman for three decades. So a mixture of rags and riches there.

This writer once worked as a server for a Cracker Barrel near his college campus, which helped pay for most of his tuition. I’m grateful to have found a lucrative restaurant with good tips that didn’t require me having to play bartender at later hours or a certain amount of “flair” on my apron. It was decent work, but at times trying due to conflicting rules written by those who obviously have never worked a shift in a restaurant.

While the country kitsch was unbiquitous in the store and the dining room, turning the corner into the service alley revealed the truth. White plastic wall paneling, flat-panel touchscreens, stainless steel tables, and everything you’d expect in the hygeinic back of the house of any chain restaurant. Even a Chili’s or an Applebee’s.

The corporate policies weren’t that much different than what you’d expect in any national operation. We ran into many conflicting rules between the company handbook, district memos, and local store rules, which were the source of numerous hassles and headaches, and no shortage of “write-ups,” memos, and firings. We were often subject to the downside of corporate decisionmaking. For example, servers (making a glorious $2.13 per hour plus tips in those days) were chained inside the store with a padlock on the door at store closing and not allowed to leave until a manager had checked things out. The problem is, the managers had reciepts to count, leaving us playing checkers until they were finished. This idle time led to various “closing duties” thrust upon us that we were not always compensated for — the subject of a few class-action lawsuits. I won’t say we were perfect, either, and I’ll plead the Fifth when it comes to the many pranks we pulled. In general, my co-workers and mangers were honorable people, and I maintain friendships with many of them,

But if you’re upset that a great American franchise like Cracker Barrel was ready to sell its soul to the devil, then consider that the Old Country Store facade itself is a callback to the actual country stores Uncle Herschel remembered from his sales trips. They may not be off every highway ramp, but they’re out there. We’re talking some stores that have been around more than a century and aren’t going to hire a New York-based marketing firm anytime soon to bump up sales.

Shop local. Do some driving around to small towns, and maybe leave the pavement for a mile or two. And bring along some cash. Mom and Pop would be glad to have you. So might the next Uncle Herschel.