Cracker Barrel’s headquarters in Lebanon, Tennessee, is nestled within a 98-acre park. This serene environment, populated by ducks, turkeys, and deer among the abundant trees, borders the neatly kept office lawns.

This peaceful ambiance is reflected in the chain’s close to 660 restaurants, where cooks produce 210 million buttery biscuits annually, and patrons purchase thousands of rustic rocking chairs.

But the calm has been shattered over the past ten days — the most tumultuous stretch in Cracker Barrel’s 56-year history. 

During that period, the company’s stock dropped by $100 million, prompting a boycott from loyal customers, staff unrest, criticism from the 93-year-old founder towards the CEO, and commentary from Donald Trump himself.

Analysts now wonder if the uproar was no accident, but a calculated marketing stunt. 

Incredibly, it was all over a new logo unveiled on August 19  — but one that became the poster child for a controversial rebrand MAGA critics labeled ‘woke.’ 

The botched modernization — the brainchild of CEO Julie Felss Masino — killed the iconic, cross-legged old man on the logo and stripped away the company’s rustic charm. 

‘The company was caught flat-footed in the glare of their customers’ headlights,’  Jerry Thomas, the CEO of Decision Analyst, a restaurant advising firm, told the Daily Mail. ‘It’s a major failure of Cracker Barrel’s senior management.’ 

Cracker Barrel, the rustic, homey chain, came under a storm of scrutiny after unveiling a new logo — replacing the classic image pictured above — on a sign outside its Florida City, Florida, restaurant on August 27 

Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino hadn’t been seen in public for nearly two weeks after the logo swap until she appeared on Friday morning

Americans flocked to X to complain and, true to form when a company stumbles, flood the site with memes.

As outrage spiraled, CEO Masino vanished from view. She was not seen until Friday, and even then refused to comment.

Critics compared the rebrand to Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney fiasco. Memes showed Mulvaney alongside the ‘new’ logo, others recycling her 2023 Bud Light images with beer cans swapped for the barrels dropped from Cracker Barrel’s design.

Another viral image featured Sydney Sweeney wearing a T-shirt with the old logo, with users joking: ‘There’s only one person on the planet who can save Cracker Barrel.’

Even Donald Trump piled in on Tuesday, a week after the logo launch: ‘Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response, and manage the company better than ever before.’  

Hours later came a screeching U-turn. The classic yellow signs — complete with a cross-legged old man named Uncle Herschel and a wooden barrel — are coming back.

Yet despite the pivot back to its rustic roots, the rebrand attempt left the company looking harsh and cold. 

‘It’s obvious that Cracker Barrel did not do its homework before launching its “rebrand,”‘ Thomas added. 

Calls for a change started back in 2024 when Masino told investors, ‘We’re just not as relevant as we once were.’ Her statement knocked 20 percent off the company’s share price in one day.

But there was truth behind her warning. The chain was seeing early signs of stress, including decisions to close underperforming restaurants that year, and reports that most of the stores were in lower-income areas. 

At the time, Cracker Barrel was running into an age problem: 26 percent of their customers were over the age of 65, while only 12 percent of visitors were between 25 and 34 years old. 

Restaurants need to attract younger families to show they will maintain relevance for future generations. Executives launched a $700 million campaign to makeover stores with brighter colors, build a new logo, and update menus.

The new logo without the old man drew immediate backlash 

Social media users believe the fate of Cracker Barrel rests in Sydney Sweeney’s hands. On X, this mocked up photo of her ¿ which appears to have been created using AI ¿ has also gone viral

Cracker Barrel’s stock price has gone on a roller coaster in the past couple of days

A remodel of Cracker Barrel restaurants has stripped them of their charm, customers have complained 

Previously, Cracker Barrel locations were a lot busier inside 

‘Cracker Barrel is an iconic brand, but even iconic brands have to evolve. We know from our research that despite high levels of consumer affinity, we’re just not as relevant as we once were,’ Masino said when announcing the plan.  

Restaurant’s walls adopted a farmhouse look. Menus introduced leaner options. The old man was kicked off the logo. And fans revolted. 

‘The new interior design scheme was clean, but it lost some of the charm and character of the old design,’ Neil Saunders, a retail expert at GlobalData, told the Daily Mail. 

‘The problem is that it is moving too fast, and for its core customers, that’s a problem.’

Marketing brilliance? 

Cracker Barrel’s decision to unveil the controversial logo has touched off conversations about a potential big-play marketing scheme. 

The company, which doesn’t normally generate consistent front-page headlines, has seen weeks of breathless media coverage on the rollout and controversy. 

‘Cracker Barrel has received a lot of publicity over the past couple of weeks,’ Saunders said. 

‘That is helpful for brand visibility, but it probably won’t drive sales by all that much.’ 

Surveys agree: a recent YouGov poll found that 65 percent of Americans were aware that the brand went through a logo change. But, only 29 percent of respondents said the changes made them less likely to dine there. 

At Cracker Barrel, over 65s are the most common age group of customers

The attempts to revamp the branding frustrated the company’s co-founder

Masino took over as CEO tin November 2023 – she is facing calls to resign over the branding disaster

Nearly 40 percent of respondents said they had a negative view of the new logo. 

‘In the short-term, Cracker Barrel’s awareness will increase, and its sales will likely increase,’ Thomas said. 

‘But longer term, the debacle raises serious questions about the leadership of Cracker Barrel and how its executives make strategic decisions.’ 

Tommy Lowe, one of the company’s co-founders, was also offended by the design changes. 

‘They’re trying to modernize to be like the competition — Cracker Barrel doesn’t have any competition,’ he told WTVF. 

Cracker Barrel said its decision to go back to its original branding is because it is listening to the criticism and reacting positively. 

‘We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel,’ they said, when announcing the decision to keep the old logo. 

Trump later congratulated the brand for listening to consumers. 

Writing on Truth Social, he said: ‘Congratulations “Cracker Barrel” on changing your logo back to what it was.’

The company is also making major changes to its policies in response to the criticism that it had gone too ‘woke.’ 

Today, hawk-eyed fans spotted that the company had stripped any mention of DEI and Pride celebrations from its website. 

Cracker Barrel declined to comment.