New York
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It’s been a nightmare few weeks for Cracker Barrel, taking a drubbing from random social media accounts all the way in which as much as the White House over a reasonably typical emblem rebrand. But regardless of the fallout, the old-timey chain nonetheless has an opportunity to make a comeback.
Cracker Barrel was within the early levels of a significant turnaround plan earlier than its new emblem and restaurant remodels ran right into a right-wing revolt. The adjustments had been bashed on social media, together with by President Donald Trump.
The firm stopped the updates of their tracks, reverting to its “Old Timer” emblem and canceling plans to transform eating places with easier layouts and fewer cluttered antiques, ornaments and knickknacks. It stated it had solely accomplished 4 remodels out of its 660 whole places.
“Your old country store is here to stay,” Cracker Barrel stated Monday after asserting the transform suspension. “We hope that today’s step reinforces that we hear you.”
The emblem and transform plan had been two elements of a a lot larger overhaul that features menu adjustments, enhancements to know-how and primary restaurant repairs. Cracker Barrel was wanting to attract new clients, particularly youthful ones, after years of sagging gross sales. The chain was attempting to keep away from tumbling out of business like Red Lobster, Hooters, TGI Fridays or different household eating chains.
But Cracker Barrel can nonetheless flip issues round. Other elements of its comeback plan have already proven indicators of progress, and the chain can be taught classes from different corporations which have recovered from the blowback to rebranding or different adjustments, akin to shaking up its administration and implementing a clearer imaginative and prescient for the long run, advertising and marketing consultants say. And timing is essential, as Cracker Barrel has a chance to harness its surge in publicity.
Cracker Barrel ought to make adjustments that strike a center floor between showing stale to youthful clients and unrecognizable to their mother and father or grandparents who’ve eaten on the chain for many years, stated Chekitan Dev, a professor of hospitality administration at Cornell University.
“Instead of going to zero to 100 overnight, it’s not bad to go from zero to 25 to 50,” he stated. “Polish it up a little bit. Upgrade it. Don’t throw it away.”
Nostalgia sells and is what Cracker Barrel does finest. It additionally ought to rely extra closely on it, Dev stated.
“Missteps from rebranding are hard to correct,” stated Ernest Baskin, a meals advertising and marketing professor at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. “It is important to own your mistake going forward and correct it immediately. Consumers typically value authenticity and honesty. They want to know that the brand understands where they went wrong and won’t make that mistake in the future.”
Cracker Barrel declined to remark to NCS on this text.
Botched rebrand
Cracker Barrel’s decor harkens again to a time of household eating places with bric-a-brac masking the partitions. The chain was attempting to de-clutter and modernize its eating places for a youthful era of diners.
But the 55-year-old firm’s picture was constructed round Americana. Cracker Barrel’s up to date text-only emblem and minimalist trendy restaurant design stripped away the identification of the model, consultants say.
“What makes them different is the old-time, country feel. The rebranding made it look like they were walking away from that,” stated Yanhui Zhao, a advertising and marketing professor on the University of Nebraska Omaha who research rebranding.
Zhao discovered that in 2018 just over half of rebrands usually result in constructive inventory returns. “It’s almost like tossing a coin or taking a shot in the dark,” he stated.
Cracker Barrel might have steadily rolled out a brand new emblem, as Starbucks, Dunkin’ and different manufacturers have executed, consultants say.
But the blowback wasn’t just clients nostalgic for the outdated Cracker Barrel. The firm confronted political attacks from commentators on the appropriate who accused it of embracing “radical left-wing politics,” akin to selling homosexual rights and having insurance policies to rent and promote extra minority candidates. Activists on the appropriate have additionally focused Tractor Supply, John Deere, Harley Davidson and different corporations for his or her range insurance policies.
This can be not the primary time Cracker Barrel has been in the course of the tradition wars over gay rights and different points. Experts say it ought to have been higher ready for the blowback.
As the corporate strikes ahead, advertising and marketing analysts say one main query that is still is the way forward for Cracker Barrel’s administration staff, together with CEO Julie Masino.
Cracker Barrel’s inventory has dropped roughly 10% within the final month and seven% this yr. Foot visitors and gross sales have additionally reportedly fallen because the emblem change controversy flared up round August 20.
“Investors may be losing confidence in management’s ability,” stated Zhao. “They need to do something to regain investor confidence.”
Masino was employed at Cracker Barrel in 2023 after holding prime positions at Taco Bell and Starbucks’ smaller worldwide divisions and as CEO of Sprinkles Cupcakes. She took the helm of Cracker Barrel with none prior management roles within the informal eating business.
Masino stepped in because the chain was struggling to get better from the pandemic, had underinvested in eating places and know-how for years, and was dropping clients to rivals. Cracker Barrel’s core older buyer base remained cautious about eating out after the pandemic and visited the chain much less usually.
“We’re just not as relevant as we once were,” and had been within the “middle of the pack” within the business, Masino stated in May 2024. Foot visitors to eating places on the time was down 16% from pre-pandemic ranges, and the corporate’s revenue margin had “significantly contracted” from 2019, she stated.
Masino argued the corporate wanted to update its picture, menu and eating places to compete in a troublesome atmosphere. Cracker Barrel reduce its dividend by round 80% and poured cash into investments.
The firm launched into a 3 yr, as much as $700 million transformation plan via 2027 to make primary upkeep and repairs to eating places and enhance know-how — in addition to 25 to 30 remodels a yr; Menus with totally different objects like inexperienced chili cornbread, banana pudding and different meals; and enhancements to back-of-the-house kitchen operations.
“We are not leading in any area. We will change that,” Masino stated. “We will evolve the brand in a way that will resonate with, but not alienate, current guests while increasing our appeal to new guests.”
The plan was displaying some indicators of success: Cracker Barrel posted 4 straight quarters of comparable gross sales progress.
“Our transformation plan is working,” Masino stated in June. She stated later that month that she believed clients would heat as much as its restaurant design adjustments: “People’s immediate reaction to things is like, ‘Oh, this isn’t the way it was,’ but they tend to come around,” she said.
But the corporate just lately stated the alternative: “The modern remodel design does not reflect what you love about Cracker Barrel.”
Even if the brand new emblem and restaurant look are being left behind, Cracker Barrel stated it might proceed to make deliberate upkeep investments and put money into bettering its menu.
Investors count on Masino to element the subsequent steps when the corporate experiences earnings subsequent week.
It’s not clear yet whether or not Cracker Barrel’s latest about-face will translate into higher gross sales, however it may pay attention to different corporations that failed with rebrands. Gap, Pizza Hut and Tropicana are just a number of corporations that attempted new logos solely to ditch them after poor responses.
Tropicana stays a enterprise faculty case examine on redesign blunders. In 2009, Tropicana changed its acquainted emblem, an orange with a straw poking out, with a minimalist design that includes a glass of orange juice.
The backlash was swift. Tropicana’s gross sales dropped 20% following the redesign, sinking by $30 million.
Tropicana deserted the glass of orange juice just six weeks after rolling it out and introduced again the outdated orange-with-a-straw.
“We heard our consumers, and we listened,” the corporate stated on the time.
Tropicana bounced again from the mishap…till it redesigned its bottle once more final yr and clients revolted.