The Cracker Barrel episode—what might aptly be called “Crackergate”—may be nearing the end of its virality life cycle, but it’s not quite over yet, and the Trump administration and its fans still have time to bask in the glow of one of their only verifiable accomplishments since the POTUS took office.
After launching an unfortunate rebrand of its sign and logo earlier this month, Cracker Barrel caught hell from online conservatives—many of whom claimed (without any real evidence) that the restaurant had gone “woke.” The offended parties included President Trump, who called out the changes on his platform, Truth Social. Not long after America’s Commander-in-Chief weighed in, the restaurant chain announced it would be reverting to its original marketing.
In a statement shared Tuesday night, the company said: “We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel. We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain.”
In the days before the restaurant’s humiliating defeat, Trump’s online army of sycophantic doofuses ratcheted up the pressure, rallying around the notion that, in order to protect America from a dreaded wave of leftist nonsense, Cracker Barrel would have to be made an example of.
“We must break the Barrel,” MAGA pissant Chris Rufo wrote, on August 21st. “It’s not about this particular restaurant chain—who cares—but about creating massive pressure against companies that are considering any move that might appear to be “wokification.” The implicit promise: Go woke, watch your stock price drop 20 percent, which is exactly what is happening now.”
Yes, dipshits like Rufo are clearly engaged in an existential struggle for the soul of our civilization. That struggle occasionally requires very bold and decisive action—you know, stuff like cyberbullying a chain restaurant into changing its logo. Troll on, def-wokification Braveheart!
Anyway, it sure looks like Trump “broke the barrel,” alright. In fact, those close to him are now bragging about it. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich said on Wednesday that he had spoken with the restaurant’s executives not long before the decision was made to change its logo. “I appreciated the call earlier this evening with @CrackerBarrel. They thanked President Trump for weighing in on the issue of their iconic ‘original’ logo,” Budowich wrote on X. “They wanted the President to know that they heard him, along with customer response (the ultimate poll), and would be restoring the ‘Old Timer.’”
Cracker Barrel appears to have caved even further to the overarching MAGA pressure, making additional cultural concessions that Trump never asked for. CNN noticed that, not long after the big online blowup, the restaurant chain deleted a LGBTQ “Pride page” from its website, while also scrubbing “references to employee resource groups, including its LGBTQ+ and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging groups, from another part of its website.”
When queried about this website change, Cracker Barrel made an unfortunate comment about getting rid of “out-of-date” web content: “In connection with the Company’s brand work, we have recently made updates to the Cracker Barrel website, including adding new content and removing out-of-date content,” the spokesperson told CNN. “Several months ago, the Company also made changes to our Business Resource Groups that now focus all sponsorships or events on our corporate giving initiatives: addressing food insecurity, supporting community needs through food, and reducing food waste.”
On Thursday, Robby Starbuck, one of the most prominent conservative influencers who jumped on the chain restaurant issue, declared “victory.” Approximately 11 minutes later, Starbuck issued a new list of demands for Cracker Barrel if it hopes to move on from the MAGA mob.