A struggling chain of Southern-style restaurants has found itself at the center of the American cultural and political world.

On Aug. 26, following intense discussion and controversy that even reached the Oval Office, Cracker Barrel reversed its decision to launch a simplified logo that omitted a character the casual dining operator calls Uncle Herschel.

The chain of more than 660 restaurants and old country stores stated: “We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel.

“We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away, and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain.”

That move reversed a decision to change the company’s longstanding logo from an image of Uncle Herschel sitting in a chair and leaning on a barrel to a more simplified yellow and brown logo in the shape of a barrel with the name of the restaurant and store.

The rebrand was part of a broader effort that the company, based in Lebanon, Tennessee, is carrying out as it faces prolonged financial struggles.

Since the middle of 2024, the company has been steadily remodeling its locations with a brighter and less cluttered design scheme.

Here’s what to know about the controversy and the company’s financial woes.

Logo Change Controversy

On Aug. 19, Cracker Barrel’s soft launch transitioned into a full rebrand in what the company called a “new creative campaign,” called “All the More.”

The backlash online was immediate and intense, particularly in conservative circles; some commentators accused the company of throwing away its Americana tradition for a look that is more bland.

The negative press even caused the price of shares in Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. to dip by about 12 percent in the four trading days following the announcement.

By the morning of Aug. 26, even President Donald Trump had weighed in on the matter.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that the company should reverse its decision on the logo and “admit a mistake based on customer response ... and manage the company better than ever before.”

That evening, Trump posted again about the subject with a congratulatory message for changing the logo back.

“All of your fans very much appreciate it. Good luck into the future,” the post said. “Make lots of money and, most importantly, make your customers happy again!”

Cracker Barrel’s acquiescence followed a mea culpa the company published on its website in response to the controversy, acknowledging that it “could’ve done a better job sharing” the new campaign.

“What has not changed, and what will never change, are the values this company was built on,” the undated statement that appeared on about Aug. 25 said.

One former employee disagrees with that sentiment. He said the values have been steadily changing for nearly 20 years.

More Than the Logo

Erik Russell, who worked at numerous Cracker Barrel restaurants between 2007 and 2016, said he observed how things changed firsthand.

Russell, who is now a designer at his own consulting company, Halcyon, told The Epoch Times that he observed first subtle, then significant, changes in how the company operated during and after his nine years of employment.

The biggest change was the addition of alcohol to the stores’ menus in 2020.

Serving beer, wine, and mixed drinks is common in casual dining, but the brand originates from Tennessee, a state where the sale of alcohol was long banned on Sundays and is still illegal in certain jurisdictions.

The Volunteer State only lifted Sunday prohibition in 2021.

Russell attributed that change to the shock the entire dining industry experienced during the COVID-19 era.

“I think the whole restaurant industry freaked out,” Russell said. “Cracker Barrel’s version of the freak out was, ‘Hey, let’s start serving alcohol, let’s take a look at our whole business model. Maybe we’re out of date.’”

After he left the company, Cracker Barrel began to relax its dress code governing the attire and hygiene of all staff in the restaurant.

In the past, employees were required to wear specific types and colors of long-sleeve button-down shirts and khaki pants.

Men were expected to be clean-shaven with hair that did not touch their shoulders. Women were expected to wear their hair up.

Over time, that dress code permitted any collared shirt and blue jeans, and other appearance standards were relaxed.

Russell said those changes are emblematic of a wider abandonment of long-held standards in search of corporate profit.

“From a marketing perspective, it looks to me more like they became disenchanted with their current customer base, and they felt like they had to push into new markets,” Russell said.

As for the logo redesign choice, Russell said removing the most distinctive and famous feature from Cracker Barrel’s branding was an unforced error.

As evidenced by the reaction, getting rid of the Uncle Herschel character from the logo risked severing the strong emotional connection customers have with the brand.

Furthermore, the new logo, Russell said, was too similar to that of its competitors in the diner and breakfast-focused space.

Russell said the rest of the brand facelift is less harmful and is probably going to be beneficial in the long run.

In a recent trip to the restaurant in Greenville, South Carolina, where he worked, he observed the dining room and store remodel and spoke with former coworkers about the change.

He said the employees viewed the brighter color scheme as more inviting than the dark and somewhat cluttered interior of the past.

Representatives of Cracker Barrel were not immediately available to comment on Russell’s analysis and observations.

Fewer Customers

Like other restaurants, Cracker Barrel finds itself in a difficult business environment.

In recent years, high inflation and slow wage growth have forced Americans to make fewer discretionary purchases and avoid small luxuries such as dining out.

Gauged by stock price, Cracker Barrel has been in a protracted decline since 2018.

Since trading for more than $180 a share at the end of 2018, the company’s stock has fallen in value by more than 65 percent in the past seven years.

According to its most recent annual earnings report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cracker Barrel saw its annual net income fall in each of the past three fiscal years.

Between 2022 and 2024, according to the 2024 filing published in September of that year, the company’s profit shrank by nearly 69 percent to $40.9 million from $131.9 million in 2022.

Only two years prior, in 2021, the company reported an annual profit of about $254.5 million, according to its regulatory filing published in September 2021.

Turnaround Plans

For more than a year, Cracker Barrel has been steadily rolling out a redesigned, brighter aesthetic in its locations.

In May 2024, the company detailed a “strategic transformation plan” designed to restore profitability.

It called for “refining the brand,” reviewing the menu to focus on its best-selling dishes, changing the look and feel of its locations, boosting its appeal to carry-out diners, and improving its employee training regimen.

In the company’s most recent earnings call, Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Masino said the August launch of the new logo is just another part of its long-term brand refinement.

Nevertheless, in October 2024, a major holder of Cracker Barrel stock, Sardar Biglari, the CEO of Biglari Holdings Inc., published a letter to fellow investors that pointed out its long-running trend of poor financial performance, said that Masino and her turnaround plan did not restore shareholder confidence in the company, and declared that Cracker Barrel was “in crisis.”

In the letter, Biglari was highly critical of Massino, the entire board of directors, and Massino’s predecessor, Sandra Cochran.

Specifically, the letter identified the company’s current turnaround plan as a $600 million to $700 million mistake.

The plan followed other moves Biglari disapproved of, such as building new stores, launching the urban-focused brand Holler & Dash in 2016, now called Maple Street Biscuit, and a 2019 investment in Punch Bowl Social, a tavern chain.

Biglari recommended that rather than continue to spend, the company focus on appealing to its core demographics and improving the profitability of its stores.

Russell said the past and current changes, along with the logo controversy, could alienate the exact customers Cracker Barrel needs to keep to navigate a difficult economy for restaurants.

“From a political perspective, you would call this abandoning your base a little,” he said.