Vocal minority, eh?
By this point, you’ve likely heard about the Cracker Barrel controversy. After rolling out the same logo for close to fifty years, the eatery known as Cracker Barrel just announced a major rebrand. They’re opting to go with a more minimalist logo, and they are making a huge mistake. There’s no amount of buttered and jellied biscuits that could save them from this.
As you can see, the old logo that we’ve all come to know and love – featuring an old man sitting next to a barrel – is no more. They’ve opted to “clean things up,” and got rid of the a) the old man b) the barrel and c) every ounce of character the original logo had to debut a lifeless, sterile, pointless, boring new symbol.
I’m baffled by the fact that modern brands insist on ruining their own aura.
I have never believed the phrase “embrace tradition, reject modernity” more in my life.
Could I interest anyone else in a “Cracker Barrel Boycott?” Only until they say they’ll bring back their original logo? The original was only TWO YEARS from making it to its 50th birthday. Cracker Barrel couldn’t have at least let their iconic old-man-sitting-next-to-barrel emblem reach the five decade mark? If it’s not broken, don’t fix it… especially if it’s close to a milestone.
As you might imagine, the logo change – and the restaurant interior remodel to a boring, overdone farmhouse look – has people up in arms. Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino insists that people are loving the restaurant’s rebrand, and suggested that the response has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
Try telling that to the stockholders. Right after the logo change announcement was made, Cracker Barrel’s stock saw a nasty 14% drop, something to the tune of $100 million in value. It’s since recovered a bit (buy the dip, right?), but still has a 9.9% drop over the past five days.
You’d think that the Tennessee-based restaurant franchise would take notice of stockholder response like that, right?
Doesn’t seem that way when you read the statement that they provided to Fox News Digital. A spokesperson for Cracker Barrel was asked to comment on the backlash that the beloved (formerly beloved?) eatery was facing, and they basically denied that anything was wrong:
“All of the elements of our remodels were informed by direct input from our guests and team members alike. These changes are for them. There may be a vocal minority who feel differently.
However, the strong performance of these locations affirms that we are moving in the right direction. We hope people who haven’t yet visited a remodeled store will visit us and experience the country hospitality proudly on display at every table and in every dish.”
Sheesh… that “vocal minority” line sure seems to be a bit naive, considering I’ve seen plenty of uproar about the restaurant’s interior and logo changes.
I do wonder if that “vocal minority” will start to get bigger and bigger for Cracker Barrel if restaurant goers choose to dine elsewhere, and their stock price continues to drop. We’ve seen something like that happen before with Bud Light, so only time will tell how things shake out for Cracker Barrel.
