Cracker Barrel to return to its old logo after backlash
MGN
Less than a week after unveiling a controversial new logo that prompted the company’s stock value to take a dive and even President Trump to weigh in, Cracker Barrel announced Tuesday that it will return to its old logo.
“We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel,” the popular Southern-themed restaurant chain announced in a post to social media. “We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain.”
Last week, the restaurant chain suddenly announced it was changing its logo to remove the image of a man sitting in a chair leaning against a barrel, and replacing it with a logo that only featured the chain’s name.
The Tennessee-based Cracker Barrel, which has more than 650 locations in 44 states, saw a Wall Street revolt of sorts, as it lost a staggering nearly $100 million in market value after releasing the new logo, which was part of an ongoing effort to update its image by adding new menu items and redecorating its stores.
“Rather than just showing one person, we wanted to feature lots of people,” the company said on its website of the new logo. “The idea was to celebrate the diversity of all our guests with a logo that represented our continued passion for pleasing people of all races, colors, and genders.”
The move also drew criticism from customers and some conservative commentators, who saw the change as potentially politically motivated. Branding expert Nick Yeonakis told CBS News the original logo was a “throwback to a simpler time that was about home cooking.”
“So, people have this image in their mind of a Cracker Barrel that is constant and stable, and that’s why when they rebranded, backlash happened,” he said.
On Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump called on Cracker Barrel to scrap the new 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,” Mr. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Mr. Trump followed up Tuesday evening by praising the company for returning to the old logo, writing that “all of your fans very much appreciate it.”
And in a post to X, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich said he spoke by phone with Cracker Barrel executives on Tuesday, who “thanked President Trump for weighing in on the issue of their iconic ‘original’ logo. They wanted the President to know that they heard him, along with customer response (the ultimate poll), and would be restoring the ‘Old Timer.'”
Cracker Barrel has seen its growth slow in recent years after its business soared in the 1990s. In 2024, it reported revenue of roughly $3.5 billion, up less than 1% from $3.4 billion the previous year, while net income fell to $40.9 million, down sharply from $99 million in 2023.
According to the company, the iconic logo was created in 1977 on the back of a napkin by a designer named Bill Holley “with the goal of creating a feeling of nostalgia with an old-timer wearing overalls.”
