this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2025
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I'm addition to removing the cartoon old man and barrel iconography, Cracker Barrel is reducing the amount of random junk on the walls, and painting the bare wooden walls white. (Select stores only, not everything gets remodeled all at once). Probably they're trying to appeal more to a younger generation or something.
Any word yet if this is private equity stripping the copper or are they just morons?
It's a publicly traded company, so no, this isn't private equity bleeding a corpse. They seem to be trying to modernize and broaden their appeal to get out of an extended post-covid slump. Per Wikipedia:
Say what you will, but those 84 people stayed because there's no better place for microwaved insults to Southern cuisine this side of the Walmart frozen dinners aisle.
I ate there once and the food was terrible. They should work on that.
because a disproportionate amount of their clientele don’t believe in vaccines, and fought against wearing wasks… wonder where that percentage went?
Given it's private equity, my guess would be both.
Two things can be true at once. Who knows?
IIRC BlackRock owns 16% shares of Cracker Barrel, and "stripping the copper" seems to be their go-to strategy. 😬
Welp, they just lost my business (not that I'd been there in years before this anyway...).
Painting real wood (other than maybe pine or poplar) is like painting brick: just don't do it!
So to appeal to a younger generation they made a minimalist logo and are removing any trace of personality? I mean, their personality wasn't my thing (haven't been in many, many years) but I have no idea why they couldn't try new personality instead of no personality.
Alternatively, have they tried making their food good? That might work.
"The terrible generic food is too expensive to make better. Change the sign and paint the walls."
Like if they did a Steampunk theme, that'd work
I don't know if it would work, but I'd definitely show up for it.
I'm in favor of a good food theme.
My nostalgia for the brand is the nostalgia they showed when I was a kid; old tin ads on the wall for various sodas and candies and motor oil or whatnot. We used to stop there on road trips when I was a kid because the bathrooms would usually be pretty clean and wandering the store part would let us stretch our legs a bit. Sometimes we’d get some old-fashioned candy or gum or soda. Sometimes we’d actually eat at the restaurant side. Us kids would only ever get pancakes, no matter the time of day.
I can’t remember the last time I stopped at one now. Most of our road trips are heading north to see my wife’s parents in Canada. I’ve never noticed them existing north of southern Virginia and that comes up fairly early in our drive. My wife tried eating at one once before we got married but it sounds like what she got wasn’t good, especially the green beans. I’m not sure how much I’d trust the food that wasn’t on their all-day breakfast menu. It’s harder to mess up breakfast.
I’m not saying there’s not a potential market for a place that appeals to nostalgia of the ’70s–’90s, maybe the music, arcade games, pop culture references, Crystal Pepsi, but it would need to be a completely different brand even if it came from the same company.
Ewww... I'm so fucking tired of everything being a boring white