Citing his own experience in business and politics, Trump<\/a> framed the flap as a \u201cgreat opportunity\u201d to \u201cmanage the company better than ever before.\u201c<\/p>\n The Southern-flavored chain has yet to go that far, saying only that \u201cthe last few days have shown us \u2026 how deeply people care about Cracker Barrel.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201dWe\u2019re truly grateful for your heartfelt voices,\u201d the company added in its statement.<\/p>\n It was an optimistic take on what has been by any measure a fraught period for the retro roadside restaurant.<\/p>\n The trouble started last week when CEO Julie Felss Masino and her team unveiled the new logo \u2014 a simple gold shield with the restaurant\u2019s name in a brown, modernized font \u2014 as part of a rebranding campaign that also saw them flying social-media influencers to Manhattan to visit a slick pop-up location and attend a country music concert.<\/p>\n Feiss, a veteran of Starbucks and Taco Bell, was recruited to shake up the chain, which had been receiving middling marks on food, value, experience and convenience \u2014 and attracting 16% less traffic last year than in 2019.<\/p>\n But her latest move backfired spectacularly, sparking a culture war firestorm that saw some fans accusing Cracker Barrel of abandoning its Americana roots in favor of a sanitized \u2014 even \u201cwoke\u201d \u2014 new look.<\/p>\n Cracker Barrel’s new logo. (Courtesy of Cracker Barrel)<\/p>\n Much of the meltdown focused on the features Feiss ditched when she decided to update the Tennessee chain\u2019s longstanding logo: \u200bits rustic illustration of an actual barrel and \u2014 even more galling, according to detractors \u2014 the seated man in overalls who had been casually draping his arm over said barrel ever since the design was first sketched by a Nashville artist in 1977.<\/p>\n The sweeping, $700 million makeover also included a revamped menu and \u201cdecluttered\u201d dining rooms, with fewer knickknacks on the walls.<\/p>\n Feiss \u201cscrapped a beloved American aesthetic and replaced it with sterile, soulless branding,\u201d snapped the Woke War Room on X. \u201cShe should resign and be replaced with leadership that will restore Cracker Barrel\u2019s tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n The criticism quickly became political after Donald Trump Jr. shared the Woke War Room\u2019s message. Soon conservative activists were accusing Cracker Barrel board members of being DEI activists<\/a> and telling followers they must \u201cbreak the Barrel\u201d through boycotts<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Cracker](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1816d760-8275-11f0-afff-43a4804544dd.jpeg\"\/)
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