1w ago

Cracker Barrel gets welcome

109 comments

When your whole schtick is nostalgia, but all the folks who remember the things you reference are now dead or otherwise unable to come to your restaurants, you either need to change your schtick, or you need to tap into the nostalgia of a younger generation. There aren’t as many Amos & Andy and Howdy Doody fans on the highways these days.
- Or just be happy with the niche. Not everything needs to be global.
  
  But its niche is disappearing, so it either finds a new niche, or it goes out of business. Its niche was always “middle-aged people’s childhood memories,” but how many of today’s middle-aged people grew up listening to radio shows and watching old men sitting around cracker barrels?
  Hell, I AM middle-aged, and one of my grandfathers was a sharecropper who eventually started his own corner store, so I SHOULD be exactly their demographic… but my childhood memories are of Charlie’s Angels, Radio Shack computers and Run DMC. Their niche is almost nonexistent now.
  
  Cracker Barrel was never global. It has always been a strictly US phenomenon.
- I would totally make it a point to frequent a steampunk themed Cracker Barrel.
- There aren’t as many Amos & Andy and Howdy Doody fans on the highways these days.
  If there are, they're probably driving the wrong way on the highway.

Old and new logo for those interested
- They removed the Cracker and the Barrel from Cracker Barrel!😱
  
  I've noticed no one seems to see that the new background is in the shape of a barrel
- "We can't afford to keep making elaborate signs"
- New logo sucks. Racists and wokists should be able to agree on this.
  
  I was expecting more. Outlines, geometry, something...
  However, looking at the old one, what are the words printed on? Is that a kidney?
- the West has fallen 😞
- Every food place wants to look generic and sterile now. And their logos reflect that
- The newer logo makes them look like a fucking bank
- It went from being a terrible logo, to only mediocre.
- This is 100% a New Coke move. They will change it back and pretend like they "listened to their loyal customers."
  The new logo is too awful. It's meant to provoke outrage. And I say this as someone who doesn't like Cracker Barrel.

Wait. Is it called Cracker Barrel cuz the logo is a cracker leaning on a barrel? Never put that together.
- No its a barrel of hard tack (aka crackers). Supposed to be old timely grocery store version of a water cooler.
  
  Hard tack is absolutely not crackers, lol. You will chip a tooth trying to bite into it. Best to soak in your coffee first to soften up.
- Crackers used to be shipped in barrels.
  Naturally they got really nasty really fast. It wasn’t until they invented sealed packaging we more or less have now that they became tolerable. It was kinda a bad thing to name a restaurant after.
  
  Cracker barrel went out the window with the Mail Pouch cut plug chawin' by the stove.
  Changed the approach of the traveling' salesman. Made it pretty hard...
- I assume it's a Barrelof Crackers, but I dunno.

Ootl, what happened?
- Cracker barrel changed their logo to some generic corporate thing and Republicans are mad about it for the wrong reasons
  
  I'm mad about it because of the "modern" low-detail logo art style that feels like an art downgrade whenever corpos adopt it. Not a Republican. Is that a good reason?
  
  Does anyone remember the last meltdown republicans had about Cracker Barrel? They added vegetarian sausage to the menu, and I think it made Tucker Carlson?
  
  They think it's a woke issues for some reason, when really it's just corporate slop
- I'm addition to removing the cartoon old man and barrel iconography, Cracker Barrel is reducing the amount of random junk on the walls, and painting the bare wooden walls white. (Select stores only, not everything gets remodeled all at once). Probably they're trying to appeal more to a younger generation or something.
  
  Any word yet if this is private equity stripping the copper or are they just morons?
  
  painting the bare wooden walls white
  Welp, they just lost my business (not that I'd been there in years before this anyway...).
  Painting real wood (other than maybe pine or poplar) is like painting brick: just don't do it!
  
  So to appeal to a younger generation they made a minimalist logo and are removing any trace of personality? I mean, their personality wasn't my thing (haven't been in many, many years) but I have no idea why they couldn't try new personality instead of no personality.
  Alternatively, have they tried making their food good? That might work.
  
  My nostalgia for the brand is the nostalgia they showed when I was a kid; old tin ads on the wall for various sodas and candies and motor oil or whatnot. We used to stop there on road trips when I was a kid because the bathrooms would usually be pretty clean and wandering the store part would let us stretch our legs a bit. Sometimes we’d get some old-fashioned candy or gum or soda. Sometimes we’d actually eat at the restaurant side. Us kids would only ever get pancakes, no matter the time of day.
  I can’t remember the last time I stopped at one now. Most of our road trips are heading north to see my wife’s parents in Canada. I’ve never noticed them existing north of southern Virginia and that comes up fairly early in our drive. My wife tried eating at one once before we got married but it sounds like what she got wasn’t good, especially the green beans. I’m not sure how much I’d trust the food that wasn’t on their all-day breakfast menu. It’s harder to mess up breakfast.
  I’m not saying there’s not a potential market for a place that appeals to nostalgia of the ’70s–’90s, maybe the music, arcade games, pop culture references, Crystal Pepsi, but it would need to be a completely different brand even if it came from the same company.
  
  Ewww... I'm so fucking tired of everything being a boring white
- Homie and his barrel got bounced from the logo.

So, can someone explain this to non USAians?
- Cracker Barrel, a kinda-sorta popular "Old Country Store" that prided itself on staying the same over the years...has undergone massive, sweeping changes in aesthetics. The man & barrel are from the sign, now gone. The dark wood walls covered in Americana are going away. I hear some of the food is going to change as well.
  It's weird because I'm seeing everybody slamming Cracker Barrel's food, and I have never had a bad meal at Cracker Barrel. I'm not going out of my way to eat it, but every time I've gone it's been nice.
  I have enjoyed Cracker Barrel in the past, but I'm far from a frequent customer. However: anyone with half a brain can tell you the very last thing Cracker Barrel regulars want is change. Unless this change is accompanied by providing...something...with value equal or greater than what they're taking away, we are witnessing intentional brand destruction and/or brand suicide.
  
  You're missing context.
  Look at the dead logos.
  Now look up how Cracker Barrel had to be sued in 2004 to stop segregating their dinning room.
  
  Thanks! What is an Old Country Store?
- cracker barrel had a logo with racist undertones, like the other logos above it. it has recently been retired, much to the outrage of conservatives.
  
  It's a guy leaning against a barrel, what racial undertones are there?
  
  What racist undertones? He looks like a detailed Simpsons character.
  All the other logos have controversies, except cream of wheat.
  https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/07/10/real-people-behind-aunt-jemima-uncle-ben-cream-of-wheat/3285054001/
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_O%27Lakes
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_L._White
- They got rid of the barrel and the cracker!

Who cares. I got food poisoning from them twice, separate locations and years. The second bout of food poisoning sent me to the hospital, but also indirectly lead me to coming out as transgender. So thanks but no thanks, your food is disgusting.
- thats a story id love to hear
- Ah yes. This is the future libs wants.
  The Cracker Barrel to Transgender pipeline.

There goes the neighborhood.

Is that native American lady caricature holding a big stack of pancakes?
- Land O Lakes butter.
  
  Got rid of the native, but kept the land.... They didn't think that one through did they?
  
  Just the biggest stick of butter ever?

Uncle Ben is absolutely iconic to me, even though I agree with their reasons for the rebrand.

I'm not a huge fan of either logo tbh, they could have kept a bit more texture on the barrel

Would everybody feel better if we just said that AI redesigned the logo?
/s

I love that this is the faux news rage o’ the day. They literally can’t come up with anything else because they’re basking in all of their goals being satisfied.

Wait, so Republicans are woke now?

Who checks notes cares?
I honestly thought they went out of business. The only one I might see on a regular basis closed and I didn't see any on a recent short road trip. Whatever, their food was mediocre anyway.
- There are everywhere in the southeast, like nearing howard-johnsons fame. There's no wait to get in these days though. Honestly, it's been a long time since I've waitied more than 10 minutes to get seated anywhere.

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