Cracker Barrel Hasn't Gone 'Woke' Nor Has It Gone Broke

A few days ago, a social media chain about the city I live in noted that Bob Evans, the popular restaurant, had shut down. People then began speculating about what might open in its place.

A lot of people really want Trader Joe’s to come to our town. That actually does seem like a good fit given the demographics, but the Bob Evans location seems a little small for that.

A lot of people suggested Cracker Barrel. That makes a lot more sense, even though that chain generally has a larger footprint and a bigger parking lot than Bob Evans.

Every single time somebody posted Cracker Barrel as an option, someone posted the word “woke” underneath.

Cracker Barrel has a brand that seems pretty conservative and traditional. It was hard to imagine that the chain had done something overly woke.

Remember that this is a company that sparked a mini controversy last year when it introduced plant-based sausage to the menu. It didn’t replace regular sausage, get rid of bacon, or remove the multiple kinds of ham on the menu; the new sausage was simply an additional choice.

That apparently outraged, or at least gave an excuse to pretend to be outraged, to some of the brand’s right wing following.

Now, a minor change to the Cracker Barrel logo has led to the same sort of social media-friendly pretend outrage.

Cracker Barrel has changed its famous logo.

Image source: Shutterstock

Cracker Barrel falls victim to Bud Light fake outrage

You can blame Kid Rock for enabling people to act like every small move a company makes it somehow an affront to the people who see themselves as the chain’s core audience.

Rock fired an automatic weapon at cases of Bud Light because the beer brand had done a minor online promotion with a transgender influencer. Somehow, Bud Light trying to reach more customers was an assault on the singer's masculinity and gender identity.

That lead to accusations that Anheuser Busch had somehow gone woke. It also led to one of the rare successful boycotts because Bud Light has a brand that’s indistinguishable from its rivals.

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People might say they’re protesting Disney World or Target, but when their kids wanna see Mickey Mouse or they need some affordable bedding, those protests and boycotts tend not to hold.

But, by the level of outrage I was seeing related to Cracker Barrel, I assumed the brand had done something I was unaware of.

Cracker Barrel changed its outdated logo

A quick Google search showed me that the controversy around Cracker Barrel related to a change in its logo.

Based on the level of outrage coming out of right wing social media, one can only assume that Cracker Barrel changed its logo to two transgender people eating vegan sausage with Gavin Newsom in California.

In reality, the company dropped Uncle Elmer and the actual cracker barrel from its logo. The new logo did not feature Hillary Clinton or Pete Buttigieg hugging his husband; it simply featured the company‘s name.

Changing a classic logo without consulting your customer base probably isn’t a great move.

Wendy’s would not get rid of the little redheaded girl without at least a bit of market research, but there’s no reason to be outraged here, and in reality, it’s hard to imagine that anyone is actually truly offended.

Cracker Barrel has not suffered

Cracker Barrel officially introduced its new, simplified logo as part of its “All the More” branding overhaul on August 18, 2025. The chain's stock price did dip during the original “outrage” period, but it has since recovered.

Cracker Barrel stock price:

August 18: $60.72 (day the new logo was released)
August 25: $54.27 (low point in August)
August 29: $59.82 (closing for the month)

GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders feels that Cracker Barrel made a mistake with its new logo, but not the one that has sparked so much mock outrage.

“The issue for Cracker Barrel isn’t that it is woke. It’s that the rebrand is boring and generic,” he wrote on RetailWire.

He thinks the brand simply made bad choices.

“It doesn’t communicate anything about the brand, the heritage, or the experience. Maybe that’s the intention, but in a very competitive and crowded foodservice market, not differentiating is a strategic misstep. It also strikes me that the bland minimalism is coming at a time when nostalgia and retrophilia are both resonating with consumers, especially younger ones,” he added.

Retail Consultant Doug Garnett sees the entire situation as a setup.

“We are, once again, amidst a manufactured crisis of cultural outrage — outrage unrelated to Cracker Barrel’s reality. It is not, after all, some company with deep cultural history. It was artificially created in 1969 to reap profits from consumer desire for cultural artifacts and its biggest shareholder is Black Rock (per reports). At this point, its value seems to have run its course and my own fairly extensive experience of the place is that the food is entirely uninspiring. If they are seeking to improve results, they need to do far more than change the logo.”

David Slavick, partner at Ascendant Loyalty Marketing, sees the controversy as silly, but thinks Cracker Barrel made a classic mistake.

“Marketing experts that have never dined at a Cracker Barrel because they aren’t on the road to somewhere, they fly over a CB and commentators that have never dined in a CB let alone a Perkins, IHOP or Denny’s are now experts at what logo development requires. Bottomline, they blew it. No outrage, just sheer surprise and disappointment at how a brand could put out a logo that is so uninspiring that a 5th grade art student could do better,” he added to the RetailWire discussion.

Cracker Barrel logo change FAQ

Why did Cracker Barrel change its logo?
The company simplified its branding by removing the old barrel-and-uncle imagery and focusing on a cleaner wordmark as part of its “All the More” rebrand.
Did Cracker Barrel “go woke”?
No. The logo change was a standard branding update, not a political statement. Outrage largely came from social media speculation.
Has the logo change hurt Cracker Barrel’s business?
No significant long-term impact. The stock dipped briefly after the rebrand but quickly recovered.
What do experts say about the new logo?
Analysts argue the problem isn’t “wokeness,” but that the new design is bland and doesn’t highlight the brand’s heritage.