This whole rebrand really isn’t going well…
Cracker Barrel has found themselves in quite the firestorm lately after announcing some massive changes to their brand over the past few months.
The southern restaurant chain has recently been remodeling their stores, eliminating the familiar cozy look in favor of their new, modern take that looks like something out of a Chip and Joanna Gaines show:
And of course there was also the recent backlash over their logo when Cracker Barrel announced that they would be removing the “old timer” from their iconic logo and going with a much more minimalist approach:
The logo change prompted a strong outcry, not only from people who (rightfully) hated it, but the company’s stock also took a big hit after the new logo was announced.
In fact, the controversy has even reached the White House, with President Donald Trump chiming in earlier this week urging them to go back to their old logo.
“Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before.
They got a Billion Dollars worth of free publicity if they play their cards right. Very tricky to do, but a great opportunity. Have a major News Conference today. Make Cracker Barrel a WINNER again.
Remember, in just a short period of time I made the United States of America the ‘HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World. One year ago, it was ‘DEAD.’ Good luck!”
At first Cracker Barrel tried to stand their ground, defending the logo and dismissing the critics as a “vocal minority,” but eventually they were forced to cave and announced earlier this week that they would be going back to the classic logo that everybody knows and loves.
The recent rebrand has resulted in a lot of people accusing the restaurant of “going woke,” including country star John Rich criticizing Cracker Barrel and questioning whether this would be their “Bud Light moment.”
But it seems the restaurant is finally doing their best to keep that from happening.
The company recently removed their webpage boasting of Cracker Barrel’s support of “pride,” redirecting the page that once claimed the company was “bringing the porch to Pride” to instead take visitors to their “Culture and Belonging” page.
The quiet change came after the company found themselves under intense scrutiny from conservative activists like Robby Starbuck over their funding of pride parades and LGBT activities.
And after people began to notice that the pride page was gone, Cracker Barrel issued a statement confirming the change and calling it an attempt to “remove out-of-date content.”
“In connection with the Company’s brand work, we have recently made updates to the Cracker Barrel website, including adding new content and removing of out-of-date content. Several months ago, the Company also made changes to our Business Resource Groups that now focus all sponsorships or events on our corporate giving initiatives: addressing food insecurity, supporting community needs through food, and reducing food waste.”
What a mess. It seems like this whole thing is a classic example of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I’m not sure why these companies bring in overpaid executives who look like they’ve never eaten at their restaurant a day in their life to tell them what they’re doing wrong, and then get caught off guard when they alienate their entire customer base.
