Cracker Barrel, once synonymous with Americana charm and roadside comfort, is now deep in a corporate crisis. What began as a failed logo redesign has morphed into a larger battle over the company’s values and leadership. The chain’s Pride page saga has become the clearest example of a brand stumbling through the culture wars, unable to pick a direction — and customers are noticing.
The Roller Coaster Pride Page
At first, Cracker Barrel quietly deleted its Pride page, which had featured slogans like “bringing the porch to Pride” and rainbow-colored rocking chairs. Critics thought the company was retreating from activism. But it soon became clear the content had simply been moved to a new “Culture and Belonging” section, sparking accusations of deception.
After being outed, the Pride material reappeared — fueling backlash all over again. Now, as of this writing, the Culture and Belonging page has been scrubbed clean, showing only a sanitized statement: “Culture & belonging in the workplace are at the core of Cracker Barrel’s corporate culture and the driving force behind everything we do.” Readers can see the current state of the page for themselves at Cracker Barrel’s Culture & Belonging page.
This flip-flop underscores the company’s reactive strategy: hide when called out, restore when pressured, sanitize when exposed. It’s a roller coaster with no steady hand on the wheel.
Trump’s Intervention and Stock Whiplash
The controversy escalated when President Trump weighed in, telling Cracker Barrel to restore its old logo, admit mistakes, and manage better. His comments sparked speculation that the CEO could be ousted — and the stock briefly ticked upward. For a company that lost nearly $100 million in market value during the rebrand meltdown, even the suggestion of a leadership shake-up was enough to move the market.
The Logo Meltdown
The Pride page controversy isn’t happening in isolation. It comes right after Cracker Barrel’s disastrous attempt to modernize its brand. The chain dropped its iconic “Uncle Herschel” logo in favor of a minimalist design and stripped its restaurants of their trademark Americana aesthetic. Customers revolted. Within weeks, Cracker Barrel backtracked, announcing the old logo would return. But the damage to trust — and the bottom line — was already done.
The DEI Connection
Adding to the scrutiny is board member Gilbert Davila, a former Disney diversity executive who runs a DEI consulting firm. Activists argue his influence explains the chain’s fixation on social engineering instead of biscuits and gravy. Cracker Barrel defends him as a valuable marketing mind, but to many, his presence confirms that the boardroom is driving the brand into territory its customers never asked for.
Empty Dining Rooms, Struggling Workers
Behind the headlines are employees caught in the fallout. Viral videos from Tennessee show empty Cracker Barrel dining rooms on a Saturday night, once the busiest time of the week. Waitresses report earning as little as $13 in tips for an entire shift, saying they’ve never seen business so slow. For them, this isn’t about logos or Pride pages — it’s about paying rent and feeding their families.
A Company Without Direction
The constant back-and-forth — delete, move, restore, sanitize — is more than a website issue. It’s a symbol of leadership failure at the top. Customers don’t know what the company stands for. Investors don’t trust its strategy. Employees are suffering the consequences. The woke CEO at the center of the storm has overseen one crisis after another, and every “fix” has only created new problems.
What Comes Next
Cracker Barrel’s future hinges on whether it can stop reacting and start leading. That likely means a leadership change. Until then, expect more Pride page whiplash, more empty dining rooms, and more erosion of a brand that once stood for tradition, consistency, and comfort.
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ANY company these days that believe DEI and woke strategies are just delusional and out of touch with reality and common sense!! Why don’t CEOs learn from Bud Light or Jaguar?? Wake the hell up and listen to customers, employees and shareholders!! If this airhead CEO is into the woke culture (as it sounds she is), she needs canned quickly!! Go woke, go broke! Losing $100M in market value does ring of going broke!
You won’t see me spending one thin dime at cracker barrel since they have decided to go woke. This is nothing but bull crap when you bring this into the business world, I don’t want to see it. I don’t want my children to see it. It is not part of our culture as they say. Hiring this penis head from disney and this lesbian, to tell cracker barrel what the customers want, should cost them every single bit of their business. And the bad part is, it is affecting the employees who need to make money to survive? Where they had 3 or 4 cooks on a Saturday night. They only need one where they had 5 or 6 servers. They only need one, but they are woke and they are catering to the culture which is bull.Crap
What a terrible “strategy”; food quality has suffered for some time and then to do the logo and decor’ “rebrand” is incredibly tone deaf. Behind the scenes as a company they have been sponsoring, pride events for all ages in Nashville, promoting sex change for youth and prioritizing DEI agendas company-wide.
Attacking your customer base, removing Duck Dynasty, sanitizing the locations, rainbow rockers on the porch, changing the peg game so as not to offend. In this age of “the internet lives forever” even if you change a web page, how daft are you as a company to think that actually solves the problem you, yourself created. From the ‘infomercial’ on GMA, to denying it is an issue, saying it is a vocal minority (ironic considering) to giving a false ‘apology’ that clearly was just trying to placate, and then reversing decision on the logo.
As a corporate restaurant just serve “country style food” of good quality for a price that your actual customers will pay and stop trying to be something for a non-existing customer base that will not show up at a cracker barrel anyways, especially not for subpar food at high prices. If you and your other E-level compatriots want to glad hand each other, virtual signal and show how much more “enlightened” you are than the rubes you lure in to your road side eateries, donate your own money to progressive causes, but do it on your own time and without driving the brand you are supposed to be making money for, into the dirt.
Whoever is running Cracker Barrel better REALIZE the American people have spoken. We are not interested in DEI crap. However, you choose to live you life is you own business but DO NOT TRY TO PUSH IT DOWN EVERYONES THROAT. We are fed up with all these crazies and we certainly will not buy a RAINBOW ROCKER. You have totally ruined the inside decor. Put it back the way it was. It doesn’t fit with Cracker Barrels environment. That CEO must go as well as the one who put her in that position. You didn’t learn anything from Bud Light and the rest. Go woke then go broke. All you need to do it add a little spice to you old menu. One of the best sandwiches YOU TOOK OFF THE MENU LONG AGO…THE REUBEN. Cracker Barrel is the only place I would order it. Your portions are smaller. People will pay if you get your monies worth. The Cracker Barrel in Pennsville NJ use to be full now???? It’s pathetic now. Wake up folks or you are going under.
I would be willing to bet that they are still keeping the “pride items” hidden from view now and slowly be put into place without any fanfare to show their true side.Just changing the logo back is not enough.Get rid of all of the staff that created the problem.Personally,I am not going back to Cracker Barrel for a while, I want to see what THEY really do about making changes.
Git r Dun! Git rid of the CEO and the leftist marketing strategy. Return Cracker Barrel to its roots. Otherwise, Go woke, Go Broke! This happens to every industry or entertainment enterprise that succumbs to Leftist, socialist, woke ideological Idiots. No DEI! NO LGBTQ BS.
Cracker Barrel, go “woke” go broke. I will not spend another dime in your stores if it is more important for you to force your addenda on people than to provide a great place to eat and shop. You have lost my business.
Why should gender and politics matter ? Nobody asks. Come in. Sit down. Have something to eat. Public display and discussion of sexuality is rude.
Yes, a lot of people have an opinion on this radical change at Cracker Barrel. So here is my 2-cents worth. I have been going to this restaurant for many years and I like it the way is was. This sterile look does not appeal to me and I think that it doesn’t appeal to many other possible customers, including these gay people that the current corporate officers want to cater to. The rustic look with the farm implements and tools was what really made this place stand out and made me and others keep coming back over and over again. NO MORE!! I realize that some people simply don’t care about every age group purchasing a product that they sell, but doing what they have done and plan to do to push the gay and transgender lifestyle on people is pushing a great segment of the customer pool out the door and away from the restaurant and the country store side. The antique decor was unique and interesting for many of us that used to spend our money at this place. The food may be the same, but the atmosphere made this place feel both welcome and inclusive. That is no longer the case. The sterile and simplistic redesign is a major turnoff for those of us that desire a family restaurant that doesn’t look and feel like every other plain-Jane place around. So, I think that Cracker Barrel should backtrack and change everything back to the way it was, because the current setup will cost them to lose more money than they have already. Thanks for your time.
The Board of Directors needs to FIRE that lunatic bitch NOW!!
They bring in a pedophile pusher from Disney, the Magical world of porn and immorality? No wonder they’re going down.
Your customer base is mostly older people and old people don’t like change. What matters to them is what I’m getting for the money that I spend at your company. Downsize the portion and raise the price too much is a bad idea and we also like our rocking chairs white.
My family & I will NOT strp foot into Cracker Barrel again; until this DEI & pride mess is eliminated from the company. The majority of people that have always eaten here, have never & will never be a part of the left wing lunacy. Cracker Barrel should have learned from Bud Light, Target & some more companies that introduced this mess into their companies. The majority of their customers don’t won’t DEI & pride mess shoved down rheir throats. Untill the logo, the decor & all other pride mess is scraped &. Racker Barrel is turned back into the cozy & family friendly restaurant & country store it once was; it will continue to lose the majority of its customers. As far as we are concerned; they can ALL shut down. We truly hope your board of directors get on board with tge majority of us & change things back to the way they were.