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The Journal.

The Corporate Grudge Fueling Cracker Barrel's Logo Fiasco

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.25.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Just a week after it unveiled a streamlined new design, Cracker Barrel has reversed its controversial decision to change its logo. WSJ's Heather Haddon unveils a behind the scenes corporate grudge from an activist investor who fueled the outrage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

It's the Friday before Labor Day weekend, the last gasp of summer, and across America, cars are on the move.

0:16.7

Maybe you're on I-40, or I-95, or I-10.

0:21.2

It's probably an I-something.

0:23.3

And then you see it, a billboard rising above the asphalt haze, Cracker Barrel.

0:30.4

They're very prominent near highways.

0:33.4

There are a place, you know, families who go stop and rest and have a meal and buy some fun swag while they're doing it?

0:41.3

Cracker Barrel is a Tennessee-based chain of restaurants slash old country stores,

0:46.3

a roadside icon with an unmistakable logo, a man in overalls leaning against a barrel.

0:53.4

So the logo, which dates back to 1977, had what customers referred to as the old-timer,

1:03.1

Uncle Herschel, which is a man in overalls who is sitting on a chair.

1:12.0

But this summer, that logo, it's become a cultural lightning rod, one that initially wiped out

1:17.8

tens of millions of dollars from the restaurant's valuation, all because a new streamlined

1:23.1

logo erased that old timer and set off a digital pitchfork mob.

1:28.2

Our colleague Heather Haddon has been covering the story.

1:31.2

A lot of commentators were like, no, we do not like this.

1:35.6

So Cracker Barrel has made everybody crazy today.

1:38.9

My first thought was why.

1:41.6

I mean, if it's not broke, don't fix it.

1:43.6

It's this old country store and now it's changing and it's not broke, don't fix it. It's this old country store, and now it's changing, and it's just, I don't like it.

1:48.9

But this story is about more than just a botched logo rebrand, because this public outcry

1:54.4

became an opportunity for a jilted investor who's been gunning for Cracker Barrel for years.

2:00.8

It's not just a branding story.

...

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