Well it can't be that stupid... no one is going to start or stop going to their restaurant over a little logo change, and overnight they just got everyone talking about their restaurant. They probably had their own people hit social media to start talking negatively about the change to begin with.
Wait a minute. Are you working for Cracker Barrel?
After looking online I see this is more than just a logo change, they're changing the look of the restaurant too which I agree is kind of a lame one. This made it seem like it was just the logo. Resume ranting 😂 texastweeterPanhead John
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I know that most of us don’t eat there on a regular basis, if at all, and that some of you don’t give a crap……but this is just another example of corporate stupidity. A CEO or “Marketing” genius comes in, totally out of touch with the real world, and proceeds to ruin an iconic or beloved brand. Trying to appeal to 5-10% of their customer base while ignoring the ones who got em to where they are today….
I agree! For the most part I've typically been on the technical side of the house, so marketing was never something I focused on much in my career. These days, I'm wearing multiple hats (smaller company, which I am enjoying) including some marketing strategy. We were regularly meeting with a marketing guy to help us grow our digital and social information automation side of the house when the whole Bud Light thing (along with a few other "rebranding disasters") happened, and he was just ripping those decisions up and down for all kinds of reasons.
Essentially, he said it boils down to this (and I'm paraphrasing): They have not bothered to learn anything about their current customer base. They probably don't want to know anything about their current customer base and might even despise them. Which means they probably don't even use or consume their own product and if they do, they certainly don't champion it personally. They probably believe it's outdated, and can't appeal to "their generation". They also find that (for their tastes) the product or service is too labor intensive to do correctly, meaning they're lazy and just want cash and could care less about the brand. And finally, profit margins may be low and they're too impatient or greedy to suggest strategies that make people wait for long-term slow growth.
Or, they're just incompetent morons who tricked a corporation into giving them a job, and when they finally have to do something out of the ordinary to help sales, they're useless, have bad ideas, and are too lazy to actually learn how to do their job.
I've actually met a my share of CEO's over the years that were absolutely terrible businessmen/women and literally tanked multi-million dollar companies. (Yes, Miss Mary! No problem Miss Mary! That's a great idea Miss Mary!). Mary's ideas were terrible and the company no longer exists. And no, Mary wasn't her actual name.
I have more real-world examples locked away in my tiny mind.
I’ve personally seen the destruction a CEO and corporate mind set can do to a company. The large oil field NDT (nondestructive testing ) company I worked in for 20 years was privately held and very profitable. It sold and over the next 7 years the corporate way drove it to bankruptcy. Where the original owner bought it back for near nothing and have it running beautifully again. I lasted a year in the corporate world and retired. HR hated me!
texastweeter I didn’t know that! I’ll bet that’s one of the reasons that franchise is so successful. It weeds out a lot of potential franchisees that can’t cut it.
It looks very minimalist and the interior looks sterile. I'm sure they are getting rid of the fireplaces too which will be a shame. One thing I liked about Cracker Barrel was going in on a cold, damp Sunday morning and sitting within view of the fireplace while enjoying a hot cup of coffee with all the warm and inviting surroundings... Anticipating a plate of fresh biscuits and sausage gravy and crisp bacon. We have one here in Kernersville that opened sometime during COVID and that place never got off the ground. Service and food was awful yet there are two in Greensboro that are excellent on all fronts.
Last edited by Hulagn1971; August 22, 2025, 12:33 PM.
I have a somewhat fond memory of Cracker Barrel. My wife and I reconnected at one 40 years after dating in high school. But, wow, has the quality of the food and service taken a dive in the past 12 years. We won't go there anymore because the food and service is so bad.
One of the worst practices corporations ever did was hire CEO's for millions of dollars a year AND give them "golden parachute" options in the event they had to be fired. You want real incentive to know your customers, employees and market? Start your CEO job at $1.00 per year and bonuses based upon profits and stock price increases. Failure - don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out loser!
But I don't really have an opinion.....
My uncle worked in the oil field (drilling) for about 50 years. Salary was good, but the bonuses were 3-4× what his salary was. "Holy crap!!" was all I could say.
Oil field bonuses are the stuff of dreams. My first Christmas bonus was a Christmas card with 10,000 dollars cash in it. That was just for Christmas! One of the things I’ve told young people for years is “ work for a company that makes really good money” if they aren’t doing great neither will you.
This here guy, Matt Walsh, is really good. I’ve seen several of his clips on YouTube and he always speaks common sense and the truth. This one is partly humorous and is pretty dang interesting. It’s worth 7 minutes of your time IMO...
P.S. When you hear the out of touch CEO talk, you’ll be amazed at the B.S. coming out of her mouth. 🙄
Their stock is down 34% since her arrival. Aren’t these folks results driven? She’s made some quotes I won’t repeat but it looks as though she’s striving to attract the brokest section of the population. If this one is in your portfolio I’d talk with my financial advisor.
Oak Smoke the results to drive towards aren't always profit... sometimes it's squeeze every dime until bankruptcy until your friends can buy the assets dirt cheap. I just don't get how some of these CEO's do it multiple times and still get approved by share holders.
Let me guess, the three marketing firms used are the same ones that came up with the Golden Corral logo (posted above), Denny's logo, and Jack in the Box's logo:
You should have made "Why would I care?" One of the choices. Much like the Bud Light thing I think it's much ado about nothing. It doesn't take a dollar out of, or put one in my pocket, or effect my life in any way. Near as I can tell it's just another heat wave melting the snow flakes. And it's not like I would miss going to Cracker Barrel if they all closed down. So yeah. Giant nothing burger IMO.
you mean you only go once a year or less like me? Honestly at least with this one it's kinda nice that even a lot of political folks of differing opinion can agree on this change not being the best investment.
I would have considered making the barrel and person lightly drawn in as part of the orange background with the Cracker Barrel name superimposed over it. Seems like a better approach.
I can understand, to an extent, wanting to modernize or at least refresh a brand….but the entire point of Cracker Barrel is that it is an Old Time Country Store with a restaurant.
Modernizing it….seems an odd choice.
The weirdest branding with which I have ever been involved was with us hiring a major firm to refresh my university’s “brand.” We spent several hundred thousand dollars on it.
The firm came back with a very aggressive redo, including changing our colors to that of LSU. We, uh, neglected to take their recommendations lol.
I actually like Cracker Barrel. Don’t eat there often, but when I do it’s ok. Don’t like the new logo and rarely do brand changes succeed on established brands like this. Bad move imho…
Last edited by DavidNorcross; August 27, 2025, 03:28 AM.
SheilaAnn I thought that went away? At least most of the fast food places around here no longer have them or at least are no longer prominent on their menus.
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While traveling across the country a few years ago we stopped by one or even two and the service was great at both. Much better than some of the other places we’d stopped at. Was the food amazing? No, not exactly but it was predictable and decent enough. Funny thing was, the portions were pretty big, so much so everyone else in the family couldn’t finish theirs.
I think it’s funny when these fancy CEOs have no idea about the business they take over and make changes that smack of marketing 101 corporate speak bull.
there was a great article a week ago about Chili’s rebranding where the executives went and actually talked with their frontline workers and their test kitchen staff who were all Chili’s cooks at one time.
that’s the kind of stuff marketing classes should talk about. I’m try to remember where I saw it.
Honestly at least with this one it's kinda nice that even a lot of political folks of differing opinion can agree on this change not being the best investment.
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