OPINION:
Lately, every business decision in America seems to be interpreted through the lens of politics. A catchy ad or a brand refresh is no longer judged on its own merit but rather on what culture warriors on both sides of the aisle want it to mean.
Take American Eagle’s recent campaign with actress Sydney Sweeney. The tagline, “Sydney Sweeney has good jeans,” was clever and memorable, and it played off a word pun that fit the actress and the brand. Yet some tried to force a narrative, calling it racist. It wasn’t. It was just an ad.
The same is now happening to Cracker Barrel. When the company quietly removed its longtime image of grandpa leaning against a barrel from its logo, critics immediately labeled the move “woke.” After public backlash, Cracker Barrel reversed course Tuesday. Let’s be clear: It wasn’t woke, it was just stupid — a misguided, tone-deaf attempt to modernize a brand whose very appeal lies in nostalgia.
I grew up in the South and still live there today. I don’t go to Cracker Barrel for its mediocre biscuits and gravy; I can get that at IHOP. I go because it transports me back to Grandmom’s (great-grandmother’s) house: her front porch with rocking chairs, the farmhouse table set with Mason jars and a sense of simpler times. The only thing missing is her good cooking. That’s the real problem for Cracker Barrel. Not the logo. Not the decor. The food.
Cracker Barrel isn’t just facing criticism; it’s battling the numbers. With a razor-thin net profit margin of 1.65% and net income plunging nearly 59% year-over-year despite flat revenue, it’s teetering on the edge. If history is any guide, those numbers are a warning flare.
The semi-casual dining category is scattered with fallen giants. Bennigan’s, once a powerhouse with more than 300 locations, went bankrupt almost overnight in 2008. Ruby Tuesday, after years of slipping food quality and brand drift, filed for bankruptcy in 2020 and closed hundreds of restaurants. TGI Fridays, which once generated nearly $2 billion in U.S. revenue, saw that collapse to under $750 million before filing in 2024. Red Lobster, struggling with similar cost-cutting and declining relevance, followed with its own bankruptcy in 2025.
The pattern is clear: When these chains cut corners on food and lose sight of their identity, they die. Nostalgia and branding alone cannot save them.
In today’s dining landscape, consumers have more options than ever, and after years of inflation, they are careful with every dining dollar. They aren’t lured by rebranded icons; they want food that delivers and experiences that feel worth the cost. Cracker Barrel isn’t competing just with other restaurants; it is also competing against every household’s entertainment and grocery budget. A new logo isn’t enough to win that battle.
If Cracker Barrel wants to remain relevant and avoid the fate of its peers, it must stop fiddling with surface-level changes and start fixing its foundation. The first step is to fix the food. There’s no need to overhaul the menu; the core offerings are fine. What’s lacking is execution. Bring in real Southern culinary talent, ditch the canned shortcuts and prioritize freshness and craft. Cracker Barrel customers aren’t asking for kale smoothies or artisanal avocado toast; they’re asking for biscuits that taste like someone’s grandmother made them.
The company must also own its mistakes. In 2009, Domino’s turned a crisis into a comeback by bluntly admitting, “Our pizza sucked, and we fixed it.” Today, the pizza chain has nearly twice the market share of its nearest competitor, Pizza Hut. Cracker Barrel should take a similar approach but lean into its Southern heritage, saying: “We were raised better than this. We got lazy. Pawpaw would be disappointed, but we’ve come back to our roots and we’ve fixed it.”
That kind of honesty, tied to tradition, would resonate far more than any logo ever could.
The dining experience also has to improve. Nostalgia should be preserved, but service needs to be modernized. Forcing diners to pay at the Country Store checkout may have worked in the past, but it frustrates today’s guests. Allow people to pay at their tables, streamline the process and respect the time of older patrons and younger families who value convenience. If Cracker Barrel truly wants to attract a younger demographic, it must tell its story differently. A bold social media campaign could highlight what the brand actually offers: escape. Dining at Cracker Barrel transports people back to a simpler time, free from the anxiety and noise of modern life. That’s the pitch: Cracker Barrel takes you back. It’s not just about eating; it’s about experiencing a moment of peace and familiarity in a chaotic world.
Cracker Barrel has a rare asset in today’s world: authentic nostalgia. Done right, the brand could introduce younger generations to the sense of family and simplicity that defined earlier eras. A logo refresh won’t cut it in an era of tight budgets, fierce competition and rising expectations. Only better food and better experiences will. Without fixing the one thing that matters most — the food — Cracker Barrel risks becoming like my memories of Grandmom’s kitchen: warm, comforting and gone. If it fails to act, the restaurant itself will become nothing more than a lost memory.
One last thing: Although the political right often decries the left for making everything about race, it should resist the urge to make everything about wokeism. Sometimes a bad decision is just that: a bad decision. Cracker Barrel doesn’t need saving from politics; it needs saving from itself.
• Seth Denson is a business and market analyst and author of “The Cure: A Blueprint for Solving America’s Healthcare Crisis.”
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