Untangling The Cracker Barrel Brand Flop
Well, Cracker Barrel and their rebrand have completely broken the internet. Have you seen it flooding your LinkedIn feed?
I'm going to dissect what happened here and give you some key takeaways as we apply this ($700M brand failure) erm….learnings to small businesses.
The Rebrand:
Image Credit
Monica Pedrique Vornbrock
I felt particularly called to comment on this considering my relationship to the brand.
Going to Cracker Barrel was a real treat for me growing up. Born and raised in a small and unremarkable town outside of Jacksonville, Florida – I have vivid memories of navigating my way through the store in order to get to the hostess stand to secure a coveted table. They had lights, street signs, knick-knacks galore, stuffed to the brim with trinkets and bobbles. Rock candies and kettle popcorn, small keychains and stuffed animals – a 9 year old's dream! There was once a floating water spigot that hung off the side of the wall mysteriously pouring water into a frog pond. I found it mesmerizing.
And I don't know whether it was because the food was actually ‘good,’ or because it was the only game in town, but it was always busy. My cousins and I would wait outside and rock back and forth in those gigantic rocking chairs on the front porch. 'The good life,' we called it. Rocking in those chairs, begging our parents to buy us anything from the store, and slipping into a food coma after eating an unsettling amount of meat, biscuits, and gravy.
My nostalgia is akin to millions of other customers over the last 56 years since its opening in 1969. And this is the reason everyone is outraged over the new design.
What they changed:
They removed the “Old Timer,” a man in overalls leaning on a barrel, that had been part of the brand's identity since its founding in 1977. The 'Old Timer" was widely rumored to be Evins' real uncle, Herschel Evins, who served as a brand ambassador and was honored with a memorial at the company's headquarters.
They updated the typography to a more modern font and changed the background to a hexagonal-like shape.
They removed “old country store” from the tagline.
This rebrand was part of a broader $700 million initiative aimed at updating the chain’s nostalgic, country-store aesthetic with brighter interiors, modern furniture, and a more contemporary feel. The company began remodeling its locations in 2024, while removing antique decor and peg games (I loved those), which led to early customer complaints about the loss of nostalgia.
Brand Backlash Dumpster Fire:
~43% of its customer base is, on average, 57 years old. This is critically important.
A smaller, but growing, number of customers (around 23%) are under the age of 34; the brand stands behind its interest to attract a younger customer base, as this was a big factor in the rebrand.
So, this is a classic case of a legacy brand walking the tightrope of wanting to attract new customers while not alienating its core audience – and it did not work.
But why?
The redesign severs all nostalgic connection the older audience has to the brand. And yes, while evolution is necessary to brand growth, they shifted too much, too far, and the brand doesn't feel recognizable to its core group.
Here's how: By removing the ‘Old Timer’ from the design, they also removed the lore regarding his origin. By removing the tagline, they consequently removed the nostalgia to the country store. Lastly, they removed the barrel – which is literally in the name and honestly makes no logical sense.
On top of that, the new design is objectively unremarkable. It didn't maintain any of the quirkiness of the original. “The new Cracker Barrel logo shows no imagination and is a bland design. A middle school art student could have easily created it.” That about sums it up.
And to add more salt to the wound, Cracker Barrel lost nearly $94 million in market value after its logo redesign. Ouch. Branding mistakes are truly costly.
What They Could Have Done Differently:
Simply, put, they could have kept the core of the brand and modernized the customer experience. This could have looked like making less radical design changes to maintain the functions of nostalgia their core base loved, while modernizing the digital and restaurant experience to attract and grow their younger customers based on what they find valuable.
Here's what I mean: with a quick, 5-minute, Google search, I was able to stumble upon some important Cracker Barrel customer insights.
Millennial and Gen Z customers like menu customization
They engage with sharable eating and are more adventurous to try new items
They love technology for loyalty programs, perks, getting in line early, etc…
Cracker Barrel could of had its cake and ate it too by engaging in a brand facelift that kept elements of their nostalgic roots + pin-pointing laser-specific elements of the customer experience to modernize.
They also could have involved their audience in the process!
Think user-generated campaigns, a logo competition (!), country influencers, a nostalgia-driven PR campaign where customers share their quirkiest and favorite moments going to Cracker Barrel with their families (like mine), the whole gambit. All of this would have allowed them to tap into a younger audience, while honoring their legacy customers.
A Hot Recap: Evolve Without Erasing
Amanda Dilley of Black Oak Creative said it best:
"Cracker Barrel’s rebrand is a great example of good branding pointed at the wrong crowd. On paper, it looks solid: cleaner logo, modern type, simplified design for digital. All the right moves.
But Cracker Barrel’s audience isn’t looking for modern. They’re looking for comfort. Nostalgia. That feeling of walking into a place that hasn’t changed much since your grandparents brought you there. By stripping away the grit and warmth, they polished right over what made people feel at home.
Sure, younger, trendy folks might like the new look, but they’re not the ones pulling off the interstate for biscuits and gravy. The takeaway? Branding isn’t just about looking good. It’s about looking right for the people you’re trying to reach."
Do you know what your customers love about your brand?
Sometimes, it can surprise you. This is why “Know Thy Customers” is a central theme for us over at Her Brand & Co recently. By truly being tapped-in to what your customers love about you, you'll be able to successfully channel the things that are most meaningful to them, bring them along for the evolution, and strategically expand into new markets.
Time will tell how it all will play out for Cracker Barrel. Until then, I'll hold my memories close, and my kettle popcorn even closer.
