EclipseAg said:

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JCA1 said:

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Keyno said:

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JCA1 said:

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I'll play Devil's advocate here a little bit. Although I don't know the numbers, I would guess that CB has a rapidly aging customer base. My guess is their projections were that they had a decade or so remaining before their current customer base died off and/or moved into a nursing home. So, the choice was (a) stay the same and try to pocket as much as you can before your customer base dies off or (2) shake up the company to try and attract a younger audience. They chose number 2. Now, it may very well turn out to be a worse idea than choice 1. But I can understand why 2 was the choice. Tough spot.

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Even if that were true- I mean, if their customer base is old people, it's not like old people are going extinct. When the current old people die off, the people in their 50s will have aged up and are the new old people.

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Not sure I can agree. Cracker Barrel's old-timey schtick provides nostalgia for a pretty clear generation who remembers when that's the way a lot of the world actually was (or at least had grandmas that cooked old school southern food when you went to visit). The people with these touchstones are dwindling. Unless you think everyone that turns 50 suddenly develops an affinity for an era they didn't live through, I don't know that CB translates to subsequent generations.

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This is the same thinking that animates (see what I did there) a lot of the recent decisions at Walt Disney World. "Kids today don't care about steamboats! Rip up Rivers of America!!!"

Except that younger people have nostalgia for experiences with their parents and grandparents that harken back to earlier times, even if they didn't live through them personally. My kids love Cracker Barrel because they went there often with their grandmother. I never traveled by steamboat but I loved RoA because I remember how I felt seeing it 40 years ago.

If the company is gonna turn CB into just another bland dining establishment with no real identity, what's the point? Why would anyone young person choose CB if it looks, tastes and costs just like any other chain?

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I'm with you that they need a point of view and said as much in my follow up.

You're kinda making my point on nostalgia by saying your kids love it because they went there with their grandma and you love it because of memories from 40 years ago.

My only point was, as we get further and further from the era CB has sought to recreate, it becomes a tougher sell as less and less people have a point of reference. Doesn't mean there's no audience at all, but the sledding gets tougher. They're probably in a slow-moving bind that has no good answers, at least not at the scale they currently operate.

Bunk Moreland said:

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Okay ... we'll see. Maybe it's all good. You seem to have a lot of faith in Julie Masino and her team to walk that fine line between nostalgia and refresh. I hope you're right, and they'll pull it off.

I'm just not so sure.

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It's not that I have faith in her per say, I just don't see anything close to woke/DEI/brand gutting that this conversation on here was all about. And I do see a need for them to have a strategy for the future.

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No doubt a big part of the "it's woke" reaction is that these rebrands all go in the same direction. I know that's my main issue.

It's not that there is anything particularly offensive about her changes; it's that they seemingly reflect a world view that erasing the past is necessary and any association with rural America is bad. And even though I am a suburbanite through and through, I still think that's a shame.

JCA1 said:

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You're kinda making my point on nostalgia by saying your kids love it because they went there with their grandma and you love it because of memories from 40 years ago.

My only point was, as we get further and further from the era CB has sought to recreate, it becomes a tougher sell as less and less people have a point of reference.

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I could be wrong -- I've never run a major restaurant chain or theme park -- but I would say the point of reference is the visit with grandparents or the first time you see something impressive.

In other words, you don't have to experience the actual "thing" to have nostalgia about something. You can be nostalgic about the recreation of that thing.

That's a convoluted sentence but hopefully my meaning comes across.

Its been so long since I've been in a cracker barrel that their changes are irrelevant to me. But I just went to the website and saw they sell apparel. Lots of it.

I don't remember my nana dress shopping when we would stop in.

EclipseAg said:

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JCA1 said:

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You're kinda making my point on nostalgia by saying your kids love it because they went there with their grandma and you love it because of memories from 40 years ago.

My only point was, as we get further and further from the era CB has sought to recreate, it becomes a tougher sell as less and less people have a point of reference.

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I could be wrong -- I've never run a major restaurant chain or theme park -- but I would say the point of reference is the visit with grandparents or the first time you see something impressive.

In other words, you don't have to experience the actual "thing" to have nostalgia about something. You can be nostalgic about the recreation of that thing.

That's a convoluted sentence but hopefully my meaning comes across.

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I agree with that and probably should have included it. But even by that standard, there are a lot fewer kids getting homemade fried chicken at grandma's house now than they're used to be and that's what CB is trying to recreate. I'm 50 and still have vivid memories of my grandma's fried chicken, ribs, pork chops, etc. My mom is a great cook but doesn't turn meals like my grandma did so my kids haven't really had those experiences at the same level I did. And it will only get worse from here.

And I'm not rooting for this. I love down home country cooking and hope there's always a place in this world for it. But I can also recognize that there are less and less people like me than there used to be.

But to get back to the issue, I do have one simple fix. Improve the food. There's no magic flair combination that will overcome mediocre food. Last time I was there, the food was very underwhelming.

Bingo. The food sucks. I've been once this year with the family because we wanted to take the kids. Last time we went was 20 years ago. The food was clearly all frozen and reheated. It wasn't good at all. The place was gross and greasy and filthy.

The fix for this is to just make the food not suck. Reduce the menu items to like 10 things. Make the kitchen more efficient so turnaround is faster. Get rid of the bullcrap gift shop. Lots of things that need to happen to make it viable but logos and progressive white chciks with black rimmed glasses synthesizing their usefulness by changing logos and rebranding isn't it.

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But to get back to the issue, I do have one simple fix. Improve the food.

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One thing cracker barrel could do is find the old Luby's chicken fried steak recipe with the crispy breading and do that.

But instead they decide to spend money on trying to make an old country store look like the lobby of a Hyatt Place.

Jason_Roofer said:

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Bingo. The food sucks. I've been once this year with the family because we wanted to take the kids. Last time we went was 20 years ago. The food was clearly all frozen and reheated. It wasn't good at all. The place was gross and greasy and filthy.

The fix for this is to just make the food not suck. Reduce the menu items to like 10 things. Make the kitchen more efficient so turnaround is faster. Get rid of the bullcrap gift shop. Lots of things that need to happen to make it viable but logos and progressive white chciks with black rimmed glasses synthesizing their usefulness by changing logos and rebranding isn't it.

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Yep.

We went a couple of weeks ago for breakfast. There were so many menu options and add-ons -- all designed to up your cost -- that it took that poor waitress forever to get our order. I actually think I paid more for plain hashbrowns than fancier ones.

And the food was still bad. When your eggs are worse than Taco Cabana's, it's not a good sign.

CB food quality has gone downhill the last several years as a cost cutting result and no rebranding is going to fix that. It's your food stupid!

It's garbage food for people who use to consider Sizzler and Bonanza fine steak houses. Those that consider Red Lobster a fine Seafood restaurant or the Iron Skillet at the local Petro fine cuisine. Cracker Barrel will finally die a slow death with this last rebranding.


Bye

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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But to get back to the issue, I do have one simple fix. Improve the food.

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One thing cracker barrel could do is find the old Luby's chicken fried steak recipe with the crispy breading and do that.

But instead they decide to spend money on trying to make an old country store look like the lobby of a Hyatt Place.

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Yeah. Your marketing can't be "grandma's kitchen" and then serve the same Sysco CFS that my high school cafeteria served.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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That said...the problem is that they tried to copy First Watch

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Forgot about First Watch. Place is solid.

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There are some other breakfast places I've seen across the southeast:

Another Broken Egg Cafe
Big Bad Breakfast
Staks Pancake House

All three of these seem to center around breakfast to brunch and are closed after 2pm. Likely more expensive too than Cracker Barrel.

Go woke, go broke.

And like others have said, getting rid of the old white man on the logo "for inclusivity" is not going to make the food better.

Stock is down 13% today because of this.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/08/21/new-cracker-barrel-logo-sparks-right-wing-backlash-from-trump-jr-and-more/

Get Off My Lawn said:

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Aggie95 said:

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I'm as anti-woke as they come….I just don't see what the hysteria is about. The new logo is bland and boring but whatever. They needed to do something to reinvigorate sales.

I like their food for what it is and hope they do well.

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Nah - screw em. This is a significant gear shift from Americana to Homogenized Globalized variation #34.b.ii.

When you about-face, you necessarily turn your back on something. The old brand aspired to be a trip to Grandma's kitchen as told by Norman Rockwell. Off-white shiplap and a hipster's display of mugs gives me less than zero sense of nostalgia or connection to my heritage. Screw em & the rainbow they hitched their wagon to.

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Username checks out!

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In any event, been seeing these Black Bear Diners pop up lately.

Never eat at one myself, so where to they fall in the rankings of breakfast joints?

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We have a Black Bear Diner here in Katy, as well as a Cracker Barrel. I'd say BBD is about equivalent to any other breakfast dining option above the fast-food variety like ChickfilA or Whataburger. Nothing overly great about it, but for BBD, they do have a similar theming that screams Pacific Northwest, much like CB's is clearly a southern inspiration.

I think we've been to BBD 3 times in a decade or so. I'm trying to remember the last time I went to a CB. I might have gone to the Katy location once, but I do recall stopping to eat there on the way from Katy to Dallas about 20 years ago, maybe in Waco. And then about 15 years ago on a drive to Disney World somewhere in Louisiana. So we're not really the target consumers for CB given the few times that we have actually eaten there. (And my wife doesn't like going to places like these since they charge "so much" for what she can make at home).

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it's that they seemingly reflect a world view that erasing the past is necessary and any association with rural America is bad.

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This is where we differ. This take seems like a massive leap to me based on what we've seen at this point.

Fireman said:

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Kind of ironic that they removed the white guy from their logo and the end result is fewer white guys and their families sitting in the restaurant.

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Obviously white guys are no longer wanted there.

I guess they decided to put the " Cracker " in Cracker Barrell. Geez, just checked and of course it is a white liberal college educated womyn. Let the ful fledge destruction of Cracker Barrell begin!!

Wildest twist in the Bud light deal was when they ended up paying Shane Gillis and Dana White a bunch of money to try and revive the brand.

I give it maybe 2-years before we see Jelly Roll on the side of a cracker barrel billboard.

Blackhorse83 said:

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It's a Boomer restaurant. According to Texags all things Boomer are bad. Shut'er down.

Signed;
Boomer

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It's not really a boomer restaurant, though. My mom and dad were not boomers (they were born in 1944 and 1935, respectfully), and they loved Cracker Barrel. And I'm Gen-X, and I like it, as well. It did used to be better, though.

To thine own self be true!

I think Cracker Barrel lost about 15% of their customer base after covid. Then as food prices rose and rose the retrenchment should have been editing, not wholesale change.

Trim the menu, fewer ingredients is less cost. But do those things well. And explain that to customers with ad campaigns. Spend money on that communication with your customers as to why they are doing that. Hell, even add an online poll for people to vote on their favorite menu items they want to keep available, so they can keep serving their customers the foods they want at an affordable price. Maybe serve breakfast only until one PM, again as a temporary measure.

Rex Racer said:

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Blackhorse83 said:

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It's a Boomer restaurant. According to Texags all things Boomer are bad. Shut'er down.

Signed;
Boomer

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It's not really a boomer restaurant, though. My mom and dad were not boomers (they were born in 1944 and 1935, respectfully), and they loved Cracker Barrel. And I'm Gen-X, and I like it, as well. It did used to be better, though.

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That's probably a little too technical. In 2025, anyone born before 1970 is, by default, a boomer. Most people don't even know what the generation before the boomers is even called.

Things will really get crazy if that other great American obesity factory Golden Corral changes its name to Rainbow Corral!

JCA1 said:

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Rex Racer said:

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Blackhorse83 said:

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It's a Boomer restaurant. According to Texags all things Boomer are bad. Shut'er down.

Signed;
Boomer

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It's not really a boomer restaurant, though. My mom and dad were not boomers (they were born in 1944 and 1935, respectfully), and they loved Cracker Barrel. And I'm Gen-X, and I like it, as well. It did used to be better, though.

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That's probably a little too technical. In 2025, anyone born before 1970 is, by default, a boomer. Most people don't even know what the generation before the boomers is even called.

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Not accurate. Gen-X started in 1965. The generation before the boomers didn't have a nickname.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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Cracker Barrel has RUINED their ENTIRE brand.

WTF is wrong with these people? pic.twitter.com/KJjEFwx7Lg

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) August 20, 2025

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Temu Andy Warhol's nailed onto a $50 attempt at a Fixer Upper renovation.

Rex Racer said:

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JCA1 said:

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Rex Racer said:

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Blackhorse83 said:

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It's a Boomer restaurant. According to Texags all things Boomer are bad. Shut'er down.

Signed;
Boomer

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It's not really a boomer restaurant, though. My mom and dad were not boomers (they were born in 1944 and 1935, respectfully), and they loved Cracker Barrel. And I'm Gen-X, and I like it, as well. It did used to be better, though.

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That's probably a little too technical. In 2025, anyone born before 1970 is, by default, a boomer. Most people don't even know what the generation before the boomers is even called.

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Not accurate. Gen-X started in 1965. The generation before the boomers didn't have a nickname.

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I know. I am Gen X. My point was there's no point in complaining about the misuse of "boomer" because they don't care what the technical criteria is. It's just a catch-all for out of touch old people.

Is there a better image of a woke CEO?
I bet she does land acknowledgements to start every speech.