Not a fan of what they’ve done to the brand he created.
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.
And one of the people who’s not happy about the changed being made by new Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino is the restaurant’s co-founder, Tommy Lowe.
NewsChannel 5’s Carrie Sharp spoke to the 93-year old founder of the restaurant in an exclusive interview, and he had harsh words not only for the rebrand but for Masino – who’s never even reached out to Lowe.
“I heard she was at Taco Bell. What’s Taco Bell know about Cracker Barrel and country food? And the food is something that they need to work on.”
He also made clear that he wasn’t a fan of the new logo that was quickly scrapped:
“That’s crazy. That’s bland nothing. It’s pitiful… Spending $700 million to do that, doing that’s just throwing money out the street.”
And he has a message for the new founders – one that he himself learned from a Grand Ole Opry member who used to frequent his restaurant:
“They’re trying to modernize to be more like the competition. Cracker Barrel doesn’t have any competition…
There was a Grand ‘Ole Opry guy when we opened named String Bean and String Bean came in there one day when we were open about a month or two and he said, ‘It looks good but just keep it country.’… If they don’t get back to keeping it country, then it ain’t gonna work.”
It seems like a lesson that Masino was forced to learn the hard way, but one that she could have learned simply by reaching out to Tommy Lowe.
