Cracker Barrel lost $100M in market value after changing iconic logo — but what’s really eating away at fans?

Owners of Cracker Barrel stock may feel as though they’re over the barrel as the fallout of last week’s logo rebrand continues to rock the restaurant chain.

The rebrand removed Uncle Herschel — the iconic man seated at a barrel — from the logo, leaving just the restaurant name against a golden yellow background. Cracker Barrel says the logo “is now rooted even more closely” to the original, from when the mom-and-pop-styled restaurant chain opened in 1969.

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But fans of the classic logo clapped back, both those who find the new one dull and uninspired to others — including high-profile conservative voices such as Donald Trump Jr. and Anne Coulter — who turned the issue into the latest battleground for an “anti-woke” culture war.

The result saw the stock [CBRL] fall 13% in a week, losing around $100 million in market value.

And if you’re thinking of snatching the stock up at a discount, Experts with Trefis warn that “weak growth, slim margins, significant leverage, and limited resilience during downturns overshadow the allure of its nostalgic brand.”

However you look at it, it’s clear that the logo change is a disaster. But is it a question of “go woke, go broke” — or simply a failure of leadership in not understanding their customer base?

A rotten logo spoils the barrel

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that Cracker Barrel’s traditional 65-plus customer base “has been slow to return” post-pandemic. The logo switch is part of the company’s response — the chain wants to engage a younger customer base with a fresher, more modern feel.

It’s all part of an ongoing three-year rebrand of more than of the chain’s 660 locations. The WSJ adds that sales and traffic are up in the locations that completed the refresh.

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That said, it’s still a risky proposition for a brand so deeply associated with nostalgic Americana — a risk that Babson College marketing prof Anjali Bal told CNN was “amplified,” because it “could spark curiosity among new customers, but it may also upset long-time patrons.”

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That’s an understatement.

“No one wants a minimalist Cracker Barrel. We want Hoarders: Southern Grandma Edition,” conservative pundit Mary Katharine Ham railed on X. “If it doesn’t look like Meemaw and Peepaw’s, with the only concession to modernity [being] removing ashtrays, I’m out.”

Many now compare the logo blunder to the 2023 Bud Light partnership with transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which caused a widespread boycott of the beer by its consumers while reportedly costing the brand a billion dollars in lost sales.

“Bud Light's failings came from the company's failure to acknowledge the values of its target audience,” Entrepreneur.com wrote, citing the company’s key demo as men aged 21 to 34 who love sports, humor and socializing and “likely to hold conservative values.”

Or, as Forbes succinctly put it, “Their problem wasn’t about being woke. It was about not being customer-centered.”

And that’s exactly where Cracker Barrel blundered. Because the reality is that, while the outcry is loudest from the right-wing rage machine, people on all sides of the political spectrum dislike the stripping away of the brand’s nostalgic currency for a faceless, uninspired corporate stamp.

The Street noted “From the cheesy old-time gift shop to the rockers on the front porch, going to a Cracker Barrel felt like stepping back in time,” The Streetnoted, “The company may be driving away loyal customers who visited not just for the food, but also for the experience of dining someplace that broke the mold.”

Whether the logo rebrand was market-tested first is unclear. But Wharton School marketing prof Americus Reed called it Logo Change 101 to do “a pressure test” with your most loyal customer base to suss out their feelings on stylistic changes.

Can the barrel bounce back?

Whether the brand can rebound remains to be seen. As an unwitting participant in a raging culture war, Cracker Barrel now also has to contend with the “go woke, go broke” stigma.

The good news on that front is that a 2024 global study by the Unstereotype Alliance — a UN Women initiative — found that brands perceived to have “gone woke” don’t suffer in the long run and, in some cases, end up more profitable.

But the winning strategy involves remaining steadfast in your decision.

Nike, for example, stood by its support of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the wake of his taking a knee against racial injustice and police brutality and, thus, earned both laurels and a boost in sales.

In contrast, Bud Light wavered on its Dylan Mulvaney partnership, losing face with customers on both sides of the political spectrum.

So what does that ultimately mean for Cracker Barrel as it battles a marketing blunder turned political and cultural firestorm? The reality is there are no easy answers.

To start, the logo change isn’t politically “woke” in the sense of the Nike or Bug Light controversies so, as lingering outrage dies down, some patrons may quietly return — particularly if the rebrand is held, as reported, to only a handful of locations.

Or, conversely, if reports of the rebranded locations showing increased sales hold true, then that might give the company confidence to endure the social media noise and continue — or possibly even expand — the rebrand strategy.

The flip side is that the overwhelming hate for the new logo impacts the market value and profits enough that Cracker Barrel switches it back like nothing ever happened. At that point, though, the damage could be done.

The restaurant chain responded to the controversy — and directly to customers — on social media and on its website. In a statement entitled "Our Promise To You", it says the furor has “shown us that we could’ve done a better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be,” adding:

“What has not changed, and what will never change, are the values this company was built on.”

That may be true. But perhaps the most telling sign of what has or hasn’t changed will be if Uncle Herschel returns to the Cracker Barrel logo in the near future.

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