I’m not going to lie: I don’t particularly like Cracker Barrel’s new branding. The popular restaurant chain recently replaced its iconic logo, featuring said barrel and the founder’s “Uncle Herschel” sitting in a rocking chair, with a plainer version, a stylized “barrel on its side” shape with the chain’s name on it.

As one meme going around puts it, they removed the cracker AND the barrel. Meh.

But is the new logo “woke,” as “conservative” “influencer” Robby Starbuck and others would have us believe?  Does it reveal a corporate conspiracy to brainwash the public in, perish the thought, “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” doctrine, by imposing brutalist signage on  us or something of the sort?

In a word, no. The rebranding may be a poor marketing decision, but it’s exactly what it looks like: An ailing company trying to turn things around.

COVID-19 hit most restaurants pretty hard, but Cracker Barrel caters to an older, presumably more cautious, customer base that was already shrinking. Last year, CEO Julie Masino noted that 16% of customers hadn’t returned since the pandemic hit.

Getting targeted by moral panic scammers like Starbuck doesn’t help, of course, and this isn’t the first time.

Almost exactly three years ago, Starbuck was one voice in the off-pitch chorus screeching “WOKE!” when Cracker Barrel added a new item — the Impossible [TM] Sausage, a non-meat take on the classic breakfast food — to its menu.

Yes, really.

They lost their minds because a popular, but flagging in popularity, restaurant chain tried to make its menu more attractive to a growing demographic: Those who choose to eat less, or even no, meat for any number of reasons.

Cracker Barrel didn’t remove ham or country fried steak from its menu. It didn’t require its servers to wear tie-dyes, get their noses pierced, and lecture customers on checking their privilege.  It just added a menu option. Don’t want the Impossible [TM] Sausage? Don’t order it. “Problem” solved!

I wouldn’t go so far as to blame Starbuck and his crack-brained co-complainers for Cracker Barrel’s business problems. They’re real problems, with real underlying causes. Markets change. Demographics shift. Businesses fail. That’s just life.

But the “extremely online right” and its social media enabled attacks, which often go way beyond idiotic, probably can’t help.

Or maybe, just maybe, they can.

I only eat at Cracker Barrel every couple of years. Part of that is “out of sight, out of mind.”

When I think about Cracker Barrel, I think good things about Cracker Barrel.

And Robby Starbuck’s antics have me thinking about Cracker Barrel.

Suddenly, I’m craving Grandpa’s Country Fried Breakfast, and perhaps some classic candy bars to take home from their “country store.” Maybe I’ll see you there!

Thomas L. Knapp (X: @thomaslknapp | Bluesky: @knappster.bsky.social | Mastodon: @knappster) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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