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- Manlobbi
Personal Finance Topics / Macroeconomic Trends and Risks❤
No. of Recommendations: 1
In a rare display of management admitting it honked up, Cracker Barrel is going back to it's old logo.
Cracker Barrel shares rise after restaurant chain gets rid of controversial new logohttps://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/27/cracker-barrel-cbr...I can't help but wonder how much companies spend on logo changes. I know VW and Renault have each changed the appearance of their logo multiple times over the years. A few years ago, VW changed the font used in their "Das Auto" slogan, but the change was so slight that I could barely see it, when the two versions were shown side by side. I don't get it. How much capital do companies pee away having new logos designed, and "new logo" materials being distributed around the company, instead of doing something productive with the money?
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 10
In a rare display of management admitting it honked up, Cracker Barrel is going back to it's old logo.
In another era this would have passed with minor grumbling, but the victimhood of the MAGA made it a cause célèbre, turning it into a faux issue on a scale with “the War on Christmas” and so many others.
Cracker Barrel’s sales have been declining for several years, and they’re trying to “refresh” the place with new interiors and new ambience. But like Trump and Co’s taking us back to the glory days of US Steel, Intel chips, and all white schools, they were unhappy that a failing corporation like Cracker Barrel would try something “new.”
Personally I didn’t like the new logo either: too bland, too sterile, too nothing - but sticking with what they had was a sure loser too. Now they have the worst of both worlds. They’ll get a short bump as Team MAGA goes in to complain about the decor, but they’re over. And out.
No. of Recommendations: 2
They’ll get a short bump as Team MAGA goes in to complain about the decor, but they’re over. And out. If I had a higher opinion of honchos, I would suspect they made the change, then hired a mob wrangler to start an Astroturf campaign to draw the media's attention, entirely for the publicity. Prior to this uproar, the only mention I have heard of Cracker Barrel, in years, was when a serial shooter in Kalamazoo killed several people at a Cracker Barrel, after shooting several other people in other locations.
On the night of February 20, 2016, a spree shooting took place at an apartment complex, a Kia car dealership, and outside a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Six people were killed, and two others were injured. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Kalamazoo_shoot...The reality is probably much more mundane: clueless management hired McKinsey to make recommendations. A big stack of cash later, McKinsey, having no understanding of the company or it's customers, recommended the logo change. (insert video of the "B Ark" marketing consultant here)
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 0
Personally I think it is a big ado about nothing but it is also nice to see a company say they made a mistake, own it and move on. That sadly seldom happens in today's society. (Despite all of the eating out I've done, I've never been in a Cracker Barrel)
No. of Recommendations: 0
...nice to see a company say they made a mistake, own it and move on. That sadly seldom happens in today's society.
Indeed. The other really big one I remember, is "New Coke", in the late 80s.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 4
The reality is probably much more mundane: clueless management hired McKinsey to make recommendations. A big stack of cash later, McKinsey, having no understanding of the company or it's customers, recommended the logo change. (insert video of the "B Ark" marketing consultant here)
Your cynicism is showing. They did not hire McKinsey, the logo change (and interior refresh) were all done by an internal team made up of long time Cracker Barrel employees. They recently got a new CEO thanks to the years’ long downward trend in sales, and she OK’d the changes.
No consultants involved at anh level, according to every analysis I have seen. It was a minor mistake, amplified to the skies by the aggrieved MAGA cult. Trump even weighed in (as though he’s ever been in one of them, or even driven past, probably.)
No. of Recommendations: 2
Your cynicism is showing...It was a minor mistake, amplified to the skies by the aggrieved MAGA cult.
Yep.
The 'mistake' was only a mistake in retrospect, of course. Could it have been foreseen that a backlash of such intensity would have resulted? Maybe, maybe not.
The point was, though, that CB is a failing business now and management was trying to nip a small piece of this in the bud and update the logo along with the actual stores. Now, CB has the worst of all worlds: will they enlarge their regular customer base (many of them the whiners and complainers)? Of great doubt since they are now seen as suspect in their politics having once violated the sacrosanct and been influenced by DEI or something. Will CB now get a new customer base with this action? Hardly.
Lose/lose.
Pete
No. of Recommendations: 0
The 'mistake' was only a mistake in retrospect,
That is true. I'm sure management though New Coke was genius too. Coke must have had taste test clinics, and the data told them it was a good idea. It's been so long, I really don't remember what it tasted like. Google's AI thing says that, adjusting for splits and divis, the return on a share of Coke bought when New Coke was introduced, in 85, would be 950,000%. Apparently, adjusting for splits, a share of KO in 85 cost 53 cents, so seems the company recovered it's footing. But then, Coke holds quasi-religious status. People have shrines to Coke in their homes. I have never heard of anyone having a Cracker Barrel shrine in their home. Probably something that management, of any company, should do, before launching an image change, is see if artifacts of the existing image are "collectable"?
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 3
No consultants involved at anh level, according to every analysis I have seen. It was a minor mistake, amplified to the skies by the aggrieved MAGA cult. Trump even weighed in (as though he’s ever been in one of them, or even driven past, probably.)
I don't know how the could have known it was a mistake.
18-45 is the target audience. I doubt they have any nostalgia for when there were actually such things as cracker barrels. The old logo was for their parents' parents who had nostalgia for such things. The new logo is less cluttered, more symmetrical, yet keeps the same font. I don't see why there should be a problem. I think the problem is some people are wound just a little too tight.
No. of Recommendations: 1
They did not hire McKinsey, the logo change (and interior refresh) were all done by an internal team made up of long time Cracker Barrel employees.You are right. They did not hire McKinsey. They hired three other consultants.
from last March:
Cracker Barrel Appoints New Agency Partners to Support Brand Refresh Prophet, a global strategic and creative growth consultancy, is partnering with Cracker Barrel to refresh the brand and create engaging guest and employee experiences.
Viral Nation, the leader in social-first innovation, supports social media transformation for the brand, scaling reach, engagement, and ROI with advanced social-first strategies and proprietary AI-powered technology.
Blue Engine, a leading global strategic and creative communications firm, supports company storytelling, consumer public relations, experiential marketing and strategic partnerships.https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cracker-b...Steve
No. of Recommendations: 0
are right. They did not hire McKinsey. They hired three other consultants.
I’m not surprised. (Well, maybe a little as they claimed to have done it “in house.”) It’s not unusual to get “new eyes” on a situation, especially when it comes to graphics design, restaging restaurants, etc. I have done it myself, but at the end of the day it was “all inside” who decided what to do.
My impression of McKinsey is that it is hired by weak CEO’s, and when the report comes back - usually generated by a few 20-something MBAs - the weak CEO says “Well, this is what McKinsey says, so that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Cracker Barrle had a definite image, both in the logo and in the restaurant. The tchotchkes on the wall, the signage, the layout all spoke to “rural restaurant”. That was great right up until it wasn’t. Pivoting for that to something more contemporary is a near impossible task (even assuming it’s the right thing to do) because of image momentum. Everybody already knows what Cracker Barrel is, and now you get to change their mind, except they’re not going because they think they know what Cracker Barrel is. They had already demonstrated that wasn’t a growth segment, so what to do?
As I have said, the new logo was just blah. Colorless, lifeless, generic, nothing, and now they’re locked back into the old one. I’ma guess wiping the chicken fried steak drippings off the menu isn’t going to be enough for a turnaround
