Steak ‘n Shake has blasted Cracker Barrel’s new stripped-down logo and redesign as a “soulless” rebrand that erases the chain’s heritage, joining a wave of backlash that has rattled customers, lawmakers, and even Wall Street, Breitbart reported.
Cracker Barrel is facing intense criticism after unveiling a major rebrand that ditched the company’s decades-old imagery, including its iconic logo of an elderly man leaning against a barrel and the words “Old Country Store.” The new look, featuring a plain “Cracker Barrel” name in gold and brown tones, has been slammed by detractors as bland and overly generic.
The backlash has come not only from longtime customers but also from rival chain Steak ‘n Shake, which used its platform on X to accuse Cracker Barrel of erasing its identity.
“Sometimes, people want to change things just to put their own personality on things. At CB, their goal is to just delete the personality altogether,” Steak ‘n Shake wrote. “Hence, the elimination of the ‘old-timer’ from the signage. Heritage is what got Cracker Barrel this far, and now the CEO wants to just scrape it all away.”
The post continued: “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.”
Steak ‘n Shake even went as far as calling for Cracker Barrel’s CEO to be fired, signing off with President Donald Trump’s familiar line: “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., also weighed in, recalling his own connection to the restaurant chain.
“In college, I worked at @CrackerBarrel in Tallahassee [Florida]. I even gave my life to Christ in their parking lot. Their logo was iconic and their unique restaurants were a fixture of American culture,” Donalds said on X. “No one asked for this woke rebrand. It’s time to Make Cracker Barrel Great Again.”
The controversy has spilled over onto Wall Street, where Cracker Barrel’s stock has plunged following the rollout.
Shares fell $4.22, or 7.2%, to $54.80 on Thursday, wiping out about $94 million in market value. The stock had dipped as low as $50.27 earlier in the day, before partially recovering.
In early trading Friday, shares gained, but they later resumed their slide and closed down 40 cents, or less than 1%, to $54.40.
Cracker Barrel defended its decision, saying the “updated visuals” tied the brand closely to its original barrel motif while giving the company a modernized identity.
“Anchored in Cracker Barrel’s signature gold and brown tones, the updated visuals will appear across menus and marketing collateral,” the company announced.
Founded in 1969, Cracker Barrel grew rapidly in the 1990s but has struggled to maintain the same momentum in recent years. For 2024, the chain reported $3.5 billion in revenue, a slight increase from the previous year, while net income declined sharply to $40.9 million, down from $99 million in 2023.
The company reported quarterly revenue of $821.1 million, a slight increase from $817.1 million, according to a regulatory filing.
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