Cracker Barrel

As a strategic marketer and a logo designer, this Cracker Barrel rebrand failed on so many levels, but I admit to being surprised that the whole rebranding effort caused their stock to plummet so much. I believe so far they have lost 200 million dollars (and counting) which is insane! I can only guess their core demographic, but from the comments I've seen on the internet, this rebranding effort is definitely seen as, excuse the pun, whitewashing. The paired-down logo in essence feels like someone just went into the file and deleted two core elements along with the core of what resonated with their customers. I was not a big Cracker Barrel fan, but I am a fan of, "If it's not broke, don't fix it." 

Ironically, even though some of the store's products could definitely be construed as racist (For example, I am not a big fan of lots of rope in any place I dine), the logo was of an old white man sitting by a barrel as far as I could tell. People who actually went to Cracker Barrel knew what it was, and they still went to get their pancakes with crispy edges and homestyle meals. The brand was struggling before this rebranding, and although the leadership team clearly thought this would help, it has landed them in the soup so far.

KevOnStage even weighed in on this, and said, "Put the racism back in the logo." Kev ... stop! 🤭🤣Seriously though, addressing the elephant in the room, we have seen rebranding efforts such as Aunt Jemima becoming The Pearl Milling Company ...

... so before all of these DEI rollbacks, I was thinking it was a sign of progressive thinking, but in recent times people don't even have to pretend to be progressive so I do find myself wondering about the rebranding efforts. Only time will tell, but if these are truly efforts to change the racist overtones of these brands, I would prefer for them to focus on actual programs and monetary compensation to underserved populations. In the meantime, my suggestion would be to really look at their core demographics before rebranding so they don't tank their market shares.