Cracker Barrel’s stock tanked Thursday, losing $94 million in value after the Southern country restaurant rolled out a rebranded logo that many say is a betrayal of its customer base.
Known for its old-fashioned atmosphere, the company’s share value dropped 7.2% following the corporate decision to remove the old man and the barrel from its logo. The flourish over the “K” in the restaurant’s name is gone, and the logo’s shape and colors have changed as well.
“Our values haven’t changed, and the heart and soul of Cracker Barrel haven’t changed,” the company said in a statement. “And Uncle Herschel remains front and center in our restaurants and on our menu. He is the face of ‘The Herschel Way,’ the foundation of how our 70,000 plus employees provide the country hospitality for which we are known.
“Cracker Barrel has been a destination for comfort and community for more than half a century, and this fifth evolution of the brand’s logo, which works across digital platforms as well as billboards and roadside signs, is a call-back to the original and rooted even more in the iconic barrel shape and word mark that started it all back in 1969,” the statement added.
The Hill reported that the public relations firms Prophet, Viral Nation, and Blue Engine each contributed to the launch of the redesigned logo with new social platform messaging featuring refreshed menus and 20 renovated restaurants.
Blowback from politicians, other restaurants, and fans has been massive, however, with many claiming Cracker Barrel’s executives were stripping the iconic brand of its Americana roots.
“WTF is wrong with @CrackerBarrel??!” Donald Trump Jr. wrote Wednesday in a post on X.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office, which has taken to imitating President Donald Trump’s social media style, added to the chorus of discontent with a post on X Thursday.
“WHAT IS WRONG WITH CRACKER BARREL??” Newsom’s office wrote. “KEEP YOUR BEAUTIFUL LOGO!!! THE NEW ONE LOOKS LIKE CHEAP VELVEETA ‘CHEESE’ FROM WALMART, THE PLACE FOR ‘GROCERIES’ (AN OLD FASHIONED TERM)!!! ‘FIX IT’ ASAP! WOKE IS DEAD!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.”
Steak ‘n Shake acknowledged that sometimes “people want to change things just to put their own personality on things,” but said, “[a]t CB, their goal is to just delete the personality altogether.”
“Hence, the elimination of the ‘old-timer’ from the signage,” the burger chain wrote on X. “Heritage is what got Cracker Barrel this far, and now the CEO wants to just scrape it all away. At Steak n Shake, we take pride in our history, our families, and American values. All are welcome. We will never market ourselves away from our past in a cheap effort to gain the approval of trend seekers.”
There has been no indication from Cracker Barrel that it intends to change course, despite the plummeting market share value and the widespread criticism.
On Friday, the company’s stock was recovering some of its losses, with its stock price up $0.67, or 1.22% as of 12:55 p.m.
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