Real talk: I enjoy Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel has good Southern food at affordable prices. Does Cracker Barrel’s vibe and interior also give off a vibe of “the South shall rise again?” Yes. It absolutely does. But damn, they make good corn and chicken-fried steak. Well, there’s been a lot of talk about Cracker Barrel this week because of a logo change. The old logo used to actually feature an old white guy and a barrel, which is pretty self-explanatory iconography for a restaurant chain called Cracker Barrel. Well, over the past year, the chain has been undergoing a redesign of their logo and their interiors. They’re Millennial-greying everything and removing all of the “character.” They’re clearly trying to make Cracker Barrel look less like a place which might feature a “whites only” sign. Well, everything has come to a head this week because MAGA is trying to make this into their new culture war.
Restaurant chain Cracker Barrel lost $94 million in market value just days after releasing a new logo that has become rage-bait for MAGA. Their stock plummeted on Thursday, according to CBS News, with shares falling over 7 percent to $54.80. The stock fell to a low of $50.27 earlier in the day. In May, the company’s third quarter revenue was $821.1 million.
Last year, Cracker Barrel announced a $700 million transformation plan, which included updating the decor at their chain of restaurants, enhancing the menu and keeping core customers while also finding new ones. The plan included refining the brand, although tweaking their trademark logo by removing the elderly man and his barrel has been a divisive move for conservatives, with Donald Trump Jr. posting on X, “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel??!”
The rebranded logo with text only launched on Tuesday. The company stated it was a return to the original text-only logo when the chain launched in 1969. As well as the 658 Cracker Barrel stores in 44 states, the company owns 68 Maple Street Biscuit Company stores in 10 states. In June, CEO Julie Massino said tariffs on goods imported for its retail shops would cost the company $5 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. The Daily Beast has contacted Cracker Barrel for comment.
I honestly get why the right-wing believes that this is some kind of politics-tinged culture war, because Cracker Barrel, as it exists in the American zeitgeist, is absolutely white-Southern-Republican-coded. That’s probably WHY CB corporate decided to rebrand, to make everything more inclusive and to make the restaurants look like they fully accept non-hillbilly customers. It’s also a generational shift in general – we no longer have colorful McDonald’s franchises with play areas, we no longer have have rocking Pizza Huts with faux-Tiffany pendant lamps, and it’s why all of this suburban chain restaurants are trying to bland-down their vibes to appeal to more customers. But again, Democrats didn’t have anything to do with this! I swear! I’m a huge Democrat and I f–k with Cracker Barrel and I don’t mind the Southern vibe either.
We think the Cracker Barrel rebrand sucks too pic.twitter.com/XSzZcVQVd0
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) August 21, 2025
For everyone whining about Cracker Barrel—remember this: when Joe Biden left office, the old logo was still there. It was Trump’s weakness that let the change happen.
Never would’ve happened under 46. pic.twitter.com/L19KzdCZW8
— Chris D. Jackson (@ChrisDJackson) August 21, 2025
Side-by-side logos, made by Celebitchy. Background image credit Brandon Ricketts on Pexels. Additional photo courtesy of Backgrid.
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- Fredericksburg, PA View of a Cracker Barrel in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania, as stock shares plummeted about 10% after it announced its logo change as part of a brand update. Pictured: Cracker Barrel BACKGRID USA 21 AUGUST 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Poor magas their very fancy restaurant is doing them a dirty. Wherever shall they eat now lol.
wonder if MAGA has the same clout that we had over Target, or if their boycott will be lame and small because they have nowhere else to go.
i’m sorry but Cracker Barrel has always been gross and is to “southern food” as Taco Bell is to “mexican”
I totally agree. Im not going out of my way to eat stuff that i can make better and cheaper at home. However, the store is great. I have found many unique gifts in there.
I had a total Mandela-effect over the old logo. I could have SWORE the old man was sitting with his legs apart, elbows on knees, whittling a stick. Why did I think that?
Juls—yep, I still have some really cool vintage radio replicas from there I bought ages ago.
Juls, I totally agree. They must have changed the man in the logo already, because that is not my memory of what he looked like, either.
I may know someone *cough*me*cough* who owned a CB atlas and planned roadtrips with CB stops. My order: Sunday chicken, sides: mashed potatoes with sawmill gravy on the side, green beans, biscuits and don’t forget the jam.
On these roadtrips, I noticed the parking lots were nearly always full. So I bought stock. It has done very, very well. I would prefer that continue. I would also prefer that everyone feel welcome.
As for whites only, yes in the middle of, say, Nebraska. But in Milwaukee? It’s everybody.
Agreed, I’ve planned road trips around Cracker Barrel stops. I first discovered it on a cross country road trip in 1995. My fave is their sampler; meatloaf (yum) sugar ham and chicken and dumplings. I do not get the hate for Cracker Barrel at all. The southern zeitgeist is what’s so homey. I drive 90 miles to the nearest one which is outside of Sacramento. This myth that this is a bastion of white Republicanism is ridiculous. If I recall They stopped a Neo Nazi meeting at one of their restaurants. I’m not willing to cede Cracker Barrel to Maga. Just like I’m not willing to cede the military or patriotism or this country to them. My husband’s family came from Tennessee during the great migration, and he said CB reminds him of his grandmommy’s cooking. BTWI, I’m black Caribbean and Latina (Yucateca) and grew up in the Bronx. I live in Berkeley, I’m pretty liberal, trust. I love Cracker barrel as do my 20 something kids. The candy store and their holiday gifts are my seasonal shops. Love, love love that place.
As if this is the thing people need to be up and arms about.
The only things good about Cracker Barrel are the shop (great candy and gifts) and the fireplace.
I’ve only been once, 10+ years ago, so I don’t have specific memories but I did like the shop, not the restaurant so much. It’s tough to be a vegetarian in the south. I think fried catfish was my only option and all the greens came with fatback or bacon. Once was enough. I love when MAGA displays their stupidity in their outrage over things like this. President acting like he can personally arrest anyone he wants? Fine. Take away my healthcare & make my meds more expensive? No problemo. Change the Cracker Barrel logo?? How dare they??? 🙄
Loved going there. Coming from Canada it was the first place I ever went where real iced tea was not only available but being circulated through the restaurant for refills. MAGA being mad delights me.
THIS is what distracted them from the Epstein files?
I’m going to be honest, I think it’s pretty ugly too. The simplification of so many classic logos really is kind of a bummer.
The simplification of the American Express logo I find to be particularly annoying, but unless the take a hard right turn I won’t be cutting up my card.
I enjoy most of Cracker Barrel’s menu, especially the biscuits. I don’t really care about either logo, but the new one does make my eye twitch for some reason. It isn’t centered correctly? The B should be higher? It should have brown border with or instead of the white? Something is off…
There’s too much blank yellow space around the text. Make the text bigger or shrink the margins (same effect).
My understanding is that Cracker Barrel is rebranding because it has been financially stagnant for years. It is carrying a sizable amount of debt, but its sales are shrinking. This rebrand is about making the chain relevant again to attract younger customers. That logo is a bad start. Was it created by the same unimaginative person who created the wholly lackluster MS Now logo?
I would bet that most of the people freaking out about this change have never actually eaten at a Cracker Barrel.
Stopped going there when they said they don’t hire gay people. Same reasons I stay away from Chik-fil-a and Hobby Lobby. None of my money goes to obvious prejudiced businesses.
Is this a recent thing? They have a sign right by the front door talking about their inclusive policies, and I’ve met more than one queer-presenting employee at Cracker Barrel.
Hmm, well that’s good to know!
I am against them taking away its character. McDonald’s did that, and now we are stuck with “prison McDonald’s,” as we call it in our family. All the joy is taken out of it. It’s like tearing down quaint architecture for a brutalist building or a parking lot. Depressing. Cracker Barrel’s food is hit or miss with me, but their gift shop, as I describe it, is a solid winner.
Yeah, I didnt realize that aside from their logo, the interior was becoming grey. That old-fashioned wood was their signature. Making it grey is just making it like anything else.
Self proclaimed, right-wing “thought leaders” Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh have declared the CEO a DEI hire because she’s a woman and claim that this is an attack on white people.
This is all to continue promoting their white fake victim complex, incite outrage, and distract from the Epstein mess, the flailing economy, Putin dog walking Trump, and the censorship of the Smithsonian
What in the actual hell is wrong with these people? The world is literally burning and these people are losing the ever loving minds over a logo. They act like they have been jilted by a lover. Last time I checked a corporation is not a person, despite what the Supreme Court might say.
Yes I saw that the CEO is a woman and I’m pretty confident that a large part of the right wing outrage about this is good old misogyny at work.
Imagine being so attached to a crappy chain restaurant that you have a meltdown over a logo update.
I don’t eat at Cracker Barrel very much anymore–it was my family’s favorite restaurant for a long time. We used to travel for my family’s business and my parents liked to go there because the food was consistent and there were things to occupy kids like checkers and the store and the golf tee game.
These days I really only go when visiting family, and we usually get takeout. Their online ordering system is a hassle and most of the time the order gets messed up. It’s not like that dining in the restaurant though. And the food is still consistently good, for affordable prices.
Cracker Barrel also started serving mimosas a few years ago! The one near me just closed though I normally only eat there on road trips.
“I’m a huge Democrat and I f–k with Cracker Barrel and I don’t mind the Southern vibe either.”
LOL. SAME, Kaiser, SAME. 🙂
I’m in New England, land of the very few Cracker Barrels. That said, I’ll frequently stop there when driving because the food isn’t the usual, it’s interesting and different for me. You can also stay a while and rest without feeling pushed out the door.
Why do they always have to politicize every fucking thing? Why can’t they just say the rebrand sucks without assigning one of their boogeyman buzzwords to it like “woke”?
Sometimes things are just bad and it’s not some Democratic conspiracy to make your fave shitty restaurant more commie or whatever.
Granted, it’s easier than talking about the Epstein files but damn these people exhaust me.
I agree. I would guess most people are angry because it’s so BOORRRRINNNGGGG. It’s up there with the equally horrible and damaging New Coke fiasco. People went berserk over that and not a hint of political about it.
Though New Coke was infinitely ghastly. The idea of that replacing Classic Coke is what really got people up in arms.
Is it really going to bring in millennials and GenU because it’s now going with the palette of a mid-priced hotel chain breakfast area? Also, they risk ticking off the older and senior crowd, which, every marketing and consultant seems to forget, actually has money, spends it, and is usually pretty loyal.
Having been to Cracker Barrels up/down the east coast and across the south….there’s always been a pretty mixed demographic albeit trending a bit older (seems to be a big spot for after church in some areas). I’ve always thought of it as a place to stop on a road trip, grab something slightly more elevated than fast food and is filling, decent and affordable. Stretch the legs looking through the kitsch and they usually have grassy spots to walk the dog. Bathrooms used to be reliably clean and stocked but they have gone WAY downhill the last few years.
Anyway, we’ll see. But the logo?! Meh!
It’s terrible. I don’t like Cracker Barrel, but this is one of the worst rebrands ever. Right up there with the New Coke fiasco in the 80s. Taking the politics out of this, I would consider this a firing offense as the new BORING logo is so off target it’s not even funny.
What really pisses me off is this has found me actually agreeing with Little Donny Jr that this is sterile and soulless.
I hate Cracker Barrel. The food is mid and all that stuff they have packed into the place made me feel claustrophobic, like I’m eating in someone’s hoarder house. That being said, they could have done a better job with the “updated” decor. It’s giving Golden Corral vibes.
Crackers used to come in barrels. Hence the name. “Cracker” didn’t refer to the person.
So, this story is actually interesting to me and I’ve been following it and have thoughts, but I am really upset with it being framed as a MAGA/Dem issue. I don’t even agree that Cracker Barrel is white southern Republican coded. It’s southern food and it’s soul food.
The logo change is bad only because they changed too much, too fast. They should have started my changing the font and updating the cracker and the barrel with a contemporary style of drawing. Then in a few years shift again slightly. It’s bad from a branding perspective and the logo is ugly, but they could have done a redesign and been successful
I hardly have eaten at CB but I remember I went once as a friend really wanted something on the menu there. I like comfort food like fried chicken and biscuits and I’m a liberal WASP. I agree the logo changed too drastically but also blandly. One time when I was in the store I saw they they had an audio book loan program—you could take an audio book and leave it at another CB down the road—I thought it was a great idea.
I don’t really care about this (and damn sure not maga), but the decor change is not for the better. It looks like IHOP