Cracker Barrel fans SLAM new redesign, woke CEO insists feedback 'overwhelmingly positive'

Cracker Barrel is facing a wave of backlash after unveiling its first major logo redesign since 1977, with longtime customers and fans furious that the company quietly dropped its signature cowboy from the image that defined the chain for nearly five decades, says Gray News. The company's CEO is now under attack from Cracker Barrel traditionalists who believe the brand is being mismanaged.

The country-style restaurant chain rolled out the new look keeping its gold and brown palette but removed the iconic figure of a man leaning against a barrel with a minimalist design focused solely on the barrel itself. In a statement, the company said the refreshed logo is “rooted even more closely to the iconic barrel shape and word mark that started it all.”
 

The controversy comes on the heels of other missteps by CEO Julie Felss Masino, who took the helm less than a year ago. Last year, she sparked outrage during an investor call by declaring, “We’re just not as relevant as we once were,” while admitting that “some of our recipes and processes haven’t evolved in decades.”

Those remarks, combined with sluggish post-pandemic business, rattled investors. The company’s stock plunged nearly 20 percent in the weeks following her comments, sinking to a 52-week low of $45.35—its weakest trading level in more than ten yers, according to Daily Mail.

The logo uproar also follows a separate incident , when Cracker Barrel celebrated Pride Month with an Instagram post featuring a rainbow-painted rocking chair. “Everyone is always welcome at our table (and our rainbow rocker),” the caption read.

Many longtime customers blasted the move as “woke,” saying that it clashed with the chain’s down-home, wholesome country image. The Tennessee-made rocking chairs have long been a signature feature of Cracker Barrel’s porch-lined stores, and critics saw the rainbow version as needlessly hijacking an iconic symbol.

Cracker Barrel operates 662 locations across the United States, most of them in the South, and has built its reputation on traditional comfort food and rustic Americana décor. But the brand has struggled to draw younger diners while also holding onto its older, loyal customer base.

Masino has defended the redesign and other recent moves, insisting that the company is listening closely to customer feedback.

Yet she maintains that the response to the rebrand has been “overwhelmingly positive,” even as critics yell back.