Shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store plummeted roughly 10% on Thursday after the restaurant unveiled its new logo earlier this week as part of a larger brand refresh.<\/p>\n
The new logo removes the image of a man leaning against a barrel that was prominently featured in the original, leaving behind just the words Cracker Barrel against a yellow background. The phrase \u201cold country store\u201d has also been removed.<\/p>\n
The company said the colors in the logo were inspired by the chain\u2019s scrambled eggs and biscuits.<\/p>\n The change is part of a \u201cstrategic transformation\u201d to revitalize the brand that started back in May 2024. Under that mission, Cracker Barrel\u2019s brand refresh includes updates to visual elements, restaurant spaces and food and retail offerings.<\/p>\n Cracker Barrel said in March that the refresh will still maintain the brand\u2019s \u201crich history of country hospitality\u201d and \u201cauthentic charm that has made the brand a beloved destination for generations of families.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe in the goodness of country hospitality, a spirit that has always defined us. Our story hasn\u2019t changed. Our values haven\u2019t changed,\u201d Chief Marketing Officer Sarah Moore said in a media release.<\/p>\n However, many social media users have criticized the new logo, especially those in conservative circles. The president\u2019s son, Donald Trump Jr., amplified a post on Wednesday suggesting that the logo change was led by CEO Julie Felss Masino to erase the American tradition aspect of the branding and make it more general, as a way of leaning into diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.<\/p>\n Conservative activist Robby Starbuck added his commentary on Thursday, writing in a post on X, \u201cGood morning @CrackerBarrel! You\u2019re about to learn that wokeness really doesn\u2019t pay.\u201d<\/p>\n The company has a relatively small market cap of about $1.2 billion compared with other restaurant chains.<\/p>\n Customers have also complained on social media about the interior redesign of many Cracker Barrel restaurants, saying that the new decor favors a more sterile and modern style over its tried-and-true country feel.<\/p>\n On the restaurant\u2019s latest earnings call in June, Masino said Cracker Barrel had completed 20 remodels and 20 refreshes. She said the company will be sharing more information about the remodeling initiative in September.<\/p>\n \u201cEmployees had given us great feedback about working in those newly remodeled and refreshed stores and guests continue to tell us that they\u2019re lighter, brighter, more welcoming and they\u2019re enjoying them,\u201d Masino said on the call.<\/p>\n Cracker Barrel is not the only stock to see large swings based on political social media posts.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, shares of American Eagle soared after Trump posted that an ad featuring Sydney Sweeney, which faced significant social media pushback from the left, was \u201cthe \u2018HOTTEST\u2019 ad out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev faced heavy criticism from conservatives after a collaboration between Bud Light and social influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who is transgender.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store plummeted roughly 10% on Thursday after the restaurant unveiled its new logo earlier this week as part of a larger brand refresh. The new logo removes the image of a man leaning against a barrel that was prominently featured in the original, leaving behind just the words Cracker…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}