When the cracker barrel unveiled its new people last week, they were running Brand refreshIt will not be expected that the marketing move will be taken to publicly bounce and lead to the series value of restaurants. About $ 100 million sink,
Nevertheless, this episode highlights the dangers of tampering with a company brand. Cracker barrel admitted in a statement on Monday that “we can share a better job that we are and who we are always.”
Brands as stories
Marketing experts are more blunt about the cracker barrel’s missfire.
David E, CEO of Strategic Vision PR Group, Branding Agency of Cracker Barrel, Branding Agency of Redigation. Johnson said, “From a branding perspective, it is basically a flop.” “What he did wrong is that he went against his brand story, which was an old logo, which showed the southern, eccentric atmosphere in shops.”
In Johnson’s view, the Cracker barrel’s mistake was that it “replaced a logo with a real symbolic posture for people who look very common that does not tell a story.” Other branding experts say that the hubb is the result of a business separating its design from its roots – a cardinal sin for a company like Cracker Barrel, whose folk image The “homestay country cooking” is to incite.
More especially, the new logo of the cracker barrel retains the rustic color palette of the original design, while the wicker bending against a barrel removes the image of an old gentleman sitting on the chair.
The first cracker barrel was launched in 1969 by Dan Evins working for his family’s gasoline business at Lebanon, Tennessee. According to the company, the way the house restaurant was enjoyed as a child was the idea of ​​rebuilding it. WebsiteIn the original people of the cracker barrel, man is called Evins Chacha, HerselWhich is still a lot of restaurant branding and many central.
Cracker barrel 
Cracker barrel 
Step to remove both Herschelle and name barrels from the logo harassed some cracker barrels as the original image represented that franchise consultant and branding expert Nick Yonakis said “said throbac for a simple time about cooking in the house.”
“So, people have this image in the brain of a cracker barrel which is constantly and stable, and that is why when they are ready, there is a backlash.”
Nevertheless, marketing experts agree that the cracker barrel, which operates around 660 corporate-owned places across the US, was due to an image improvement. The company’s growth, which increased in the 1990s, has slowed down in recent years. In 2024, the company recorded a revenue of about $ 3.5 billion, which was less than $ 3.4 billion last year, while the net income fell to $ 40.9 million below $ 99 million in 2023.
In 2024, concerns over its competitiveness and stable growth inspired the company, led by the new CEO and former Taco Bell’s executive Julie Fails Macino. Announce the change For its restaurant, menu and pricing.
The chain part became less relevant because it was very much bent over “the timeless nature of our concept”, Massino said in May 2024 in a conference call with Wall Street analysts. “The goal, directly, had to refresh things in such a way as noticeable and attractive, but still feel like a barrel,” he said.
Today, the cracker barrel says that its restaurants will maintain their old -time vibe, which includes Uncle Horschels in its marketing.
“We love seeing how much you care about our ‘old-timer’.” We also love him.
sign of the times
Customer anger on the new people of cracker barrels also shows cultural and politically charged environmental companies. For example, when Bud Light participated in 2023 with transgender influential person Dylan Mulvenne, some customers called for boycott of beer brand, badly denting Beer brand sales,
In a social media post, an account called some criticisms of the cracker barrel, called the “Vok War Room”, called Masino to resign. “The new logo of the cracker barrel is not an accident – this is the project of CEO Julie Fails Messino. She scattered a dear American aesthetics and replaced it with sterile, solid branding,” post Reading,
Such critics describe that fine line companies are often forced to run, Carine Winters, Chairman of Pratishtha at Mikeworld, told CBS Manivatch.
He said, “Today it is very difficult for everyone to be a brand because we are very polarized, and people look at things through political lenses, even if there is no political intention,” he said. “When you are a heritage brand, it is really important to understand who your core is, and nothing is to do anything to separate your future or next generation customer when cultivating them.”
Other experts suspect that the new form of barrel was politically motivated.
“I really doubt that the cracker barrel officials sat down and said,” We will go through this expensive venture to change everything to change everything on our signs and social media, because we think we want to wake up, “Thomas Murphy, a business professor and branding expert at Clarke University, CBS Manivach.
Instead, the cracker barrel recalled the mark by failing to keep the emotional investment of the people completely in his brand completely, said the Winters said.
“If you are a heritage brand and you are modernized, you have to make sure that you have honored that heritage properly because at the end of the day, your stakeholders own your brand – you don’t,” he said. “Do not understand the customer and the rest of the stakeholders and they really mean, and it seems what was here.”
