Cracker Barrel has found itself at odds with its fans after removing “Uncle Herschel” from its logo. The company unveiled its revamped text-only design, sparking backlash and sinking its stock price.
The original 1969 logo was also text-only, but the 1977 addition of the now-iconic imagery became a staple of its branding.
While fans worry that the rebranding is a symbol of larger cultural changes in the company, Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino downplayed the criticism in an interview with “Good Morning America.”
Masino said in the interview that the feedback was “overwhelmingly positive.” Masino also shared that managers of several locations were asking for a remodel, adding that “the feedback and the buzz is so good, not only from our customers, but from our team members.”
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Erik Russell knows Cracker Barrel better than most. As a former employee of nearly 10 years, the restaurant has personal meaning for him.
“I worked there, basically, from the time I went out of high school through when I finished college. So yeah, I mean, [it’s been a] huge, huge part of my life,” Russell told FOX Business.
After the logo change, Russell — who now works as a brand designer — spoke against it in a now-viral post on X in which he said the company was committing “brand suicide.”
“I think a lot of people just see Cracker Barrel as just another company… but to me, the company was and is much more than that, you know, based on the values that the company represents to me, the people that I met there, the people I still know there and the experiences that I had there,” Russell told FOX Business.
Russell explained the changes he saw internally and how the company moved away from representing “a more traditional time in America.”
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The former longtime Cracker Barrel employee said that while attending Bob Jones University, he found the restaurant to be a great fit, as the school had a rule against students working at establishments that serve alcohol. Cracker Barrel did not have alcohol on its menu until mid-2020. Russell said that this change “really spelled the beginning of the end for that era of Cracker Barrel culture.”
The change in its alcohol policy wasn’t the first sign the company was going in a different direction. Russell recalled how Cracker Barrel changed its dress code for employees, going from requiring certain haircuts and trimmed facial hair to being more relaxed. He admitted that the rules alone were not what made the company’s culture, but rather it was a combination of factors.
“Rules don’t necessarily have any magic to them, but I think when you add all of those things together, along with the attitudes inside the store, the way the manager enforced the code of conduct, I think you get a picture of a place that understood family values, understood traditional values, attracted a certain type of clientele, attracted a certain kind of employee,” Russell said.
When it comes to the symbolism of Cracker Barrel’s new logo, Russell said it “requires a lot of reading between the lines,” but that those who “know what to look for” will see it. As a graphic and brand designer, he said the logo is much more than an emblem.
“There is no such thing as ‘just a logo,’” Russell said. “When you first draw a logo, it doesn’t matter how good that logo is technically, right? It doesn’t mean anything. What makes a logo meaningful and what makes branding meaningful is the connection that that represents to your customers.”
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Russell compared the Cracker Barrel rebranding to the introduction of Gap’s changed logo design, saying that customers develop “a certain emotional attachment” to such iconic symbols.
Despite his disappointment with the changes the company has made, Russell remains a Cracker Barrel fan and even ate there the same day he spoke with FOX Business. He said that he usually orders off-menu “because if you know how to substitute at Cracker Barrel, then you can get pretty much whatever you want.” He gave FOX Business his advice on what to order.
“If you go on Sundays and get the homestyle chicken and substitute the biscuits for toast, you can make a delicious fried chicken sandwich with tomatoes and lettuce and onions and all the salad trimmings, which are free and then you can get your three sides.”
In response to a FOX Business request for comment, Cracker Barrel said its values had not changed.
“Our values haven’t changed, and the heart and soul of Cracker Barrel haven’t changed. And Uncle Herschel remains front and center in our restaurants and on our menu. He is the face of ‘The Herschel Way,’ the foundation of how our 70,000-plus employees provide the country hospitality for which we are known,” Cracker Barrel said in a statement.
“Cracker Barrel has been a destination for comfort and community for more than half a century, and this fifth evolution of the brand’s logo, which works across digital platforms as well as billboards and roadside signs, is a call-back to the original and rooted even more in the iconic barrel shape and word mark that started it all back in 1969.”
After the new logo was released, Cracker Barrel experienced its worst losing streak in months, as shares of Cracker Barrel (CBRL) tumbled more than 12% on Thursday, the steepest drop since April, before ending the session down more than 7%. The drop erased over $90 million in market value.
Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
