Cracker Barrel’s sales took a hit after conservative backlash to its new logo which removed its “Uncle Herschel” character from its sign. The company has since reversed course to restore its previous design.
Beginning on August 19, the day after the logo was revealed, transactions at the restaurants slowed down, according to credit and debit card data collected by analytics provider Bloomberg Second Measure.
The decline continued through August 26, when conservatives slammed the logo as “woke” and a broader swath of diners complained that the new, modern look of its restaurants removed the folksy charm associated with the restaurant.
Even President Donald Trump weighed in, advising the restaurant to revert to its old logo, and later taking credit when the restaurant did just that.
“Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social amid the backlash.
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich said he took a call with Cracker Barrel executives who reportedly told him they saw Trump’s comments and changed the logo.
“I appreciated the call earlier this evening with @CrackerBarrel. They thanked President Trump for weighing in on the issue of their iconic ‘original’ logo,” he said in a post on X. “They wanted the President to know that they heard him, along with customer response (the ultimate poll), and would be restoring the ‘Old Timer.’”
According to Bloomberg’s analytics, other restaurants similar to Cracker Barrel showed mixed sales numbers, which suggests that Cracker Barrel’s sales decline was a direct response to its new marketing and the MAGA backlash that followed.
“We thank our guests for sharing their voices, and we’re listening to them,” Cracker Barrel said in a statement.
The rebrand was reportedly intended to draw in younger customers and promote sales growth in response to declining traffic at its locations. Locations that have already undergone redesigns include white-washed walls, large booths and family-style tables, and bright lights.
The previous design was meant to evoke a country store, with darker wood colors, rusty washboards hanging on the ceiling, and bear traps mounted to the walls.
One diner, Tammy Anderson, told Bloomberg that she liked the new design at her local Cracker Barrel in Fairburn, Georgia.
“It was time for a change,” she said. “Some people are stuck in the 19th century. I like the changes. I like coming here.”
But many others were furious about the changes.
One employee at a Cracker Barrel location in Kennesaw, Georgia, told Bloomberg that the store was “dead for a week” while the backlash was in full swing.
Another location in Marietta, Georgia, reported customers having confrontations with store staff, who have no say in the company’s marketing.
“People came in, and I got phone calls,” the store’s manager told Bloomberg. “Oh, people do care about the brand. They were very passionate.”
On August 27, employees at the Kennesaw location were told during a meeting that the new logo was going to be scrapped and the previous logo would be restored. They were told to wear their older uniforms that use the older logo.
According to Morning Consult, a polling research firm, the share of adults who held an unfavorable view of Cracker Barrel increased from 10 percent on August 23 to 25 percent two days later.
The controversy also shook Cracker Barrel’s stock price, which suffered a 10 percent loss of its value since August 18.
Robert Byrne, a senior director of consumer research at Technomic, told Bloomberg that Cracker Barrel’s attempt to cater to younger diners may have actually hurt it with that very demographic.
“Nostalgia is a massive ongoing trend for Gen Z — even if it is nostalgia for something they never experienced directly,” he told the outlet.
