Cracker Barrel Sacrifices Designer… But Its 93-Year-Old Founder’s Not Leaving Till Heads Roll

The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here… and no, it’s not Taylor Swift’s new album. Cracker Barrel has finally told Prophet, the San Francisco consulting firm behind its short-lived “woke farmhouse” rebrand, to hit the road.

(Source: New York Post)

It’s not like they had much of a choice down in Nashville after a $700 million “refresh” managed to vaporize $140 million in market value and turn their loyal fanbase into one long, unhinged Facebook comment thread.

It all started when new CEO Julie Felss Masino (who clearly hasn’t spent much time in a Cracker Barrel kitchen) decided to “modernize” the brand. In August, Cracker Barrel unveiled its risky new look: lighter wood, fewer antiques hanging from the ceiling, and (brace yourself) a logo without the old man leaning on the barrel… aka “Uncle Herschel,” a fixture of Southern nostalgia since 1969.

Corporate pitched it as “broadening appeal” and “enhancing market share.” Customers heard: We hired a California agency that would rather get wisdom teeth pulled than eat country fried steak with a side of fried okra.

Almost immediately, traffic fell off a cliff. Regulars hated the sterile “modern farmhouse” aesthetic… comparing it to an airport Panera. Shareholders hated the backlash even more… considering the stock fell 7% that week alone.

Even Donnie Politics weighed in, saying Cracker Barrel should “go back to the old logo, admit a mistake, and have a press conference.” Which, in true Cracker Barrel fashion, they did… minus the free cornbread. Well, seven months after hiring Prophet to “reimagine” the brand, Cracker Barrel has announced that the partnership is over.

But just as Julie thought she’d finally gotten this monkey off her back… another one (in the form of a very outspoken old man) jumped right on. 93-year-old Cracker Barrel co-founder Tommy Lowe broke his silence and immediately went scorched earth on current CEO Julie Masino (formerly of Taco Bell and Mattel) calling the entire overhaul “the biggest waste of money in the world.”

(Source: Fox Business)

“Taco Bell is not Cracker Barrel,” Lowe said. “She knows very little about the company, the food, or the customers.” Which has to be one of the most brutal lines you can drop on a restaurant CEO… considering that’s the stuff she was supposed to learn her first week on the job.

But Lowe wasn’t done sharpening his pitchfork. He went on to say the board needs to “clean house,” adding that if anyone in corporate actually sat on a Cracker Barrel porch and talked to real customers, “they’d have a different outlook.” Translation: “get this bum out of my restaurant!”

Masino, sensing the heat, tried to save face Thursday with a leadership card shuffle. VP of Marketing Matt Benton is out after a single year, and longtime Cracker Barrel veteran Thomas Yun has been brought back to restore order (and hopefully put the antiques back on the walls before the next earnings call).

But this story’s far from over. It takes a lot to pull a 93-year-old away from The Price Is Right and Jeopardy… so if Tommy Lowe’s speaking up now, you can bet he’s not done. The man sounds like he’s gearing up for a full-blown dethronement tour. Still, if Julie can somehow deliver fatter profits and a rising stock price, maybe he’ll ease up. Money has a funny way of quieting even the loudest front porch revolutions.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News doesn’t hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.