The Cracker Barrel Mess Isn’t Over Yet
The online anger over the logo change and calls to oust the CEO were actually turbocharged by bots. Even the green beans are making people mad.
Introduction by Allison Girvin, Hennes Communications
In today’s digital landscape, a brand crisis can erupt in hours. As Cracker Barrel’s recent logo controversy shows, it can be fueled not just by angry customers but by armies of bots designed to inflame outrage. Within days of unveiling a simplified logo, the company faced a tidal wave of online backlash amplified by fake accounts. By the time analysts identified that up to a third of the anti-Cracker Barrel posts came from bots, the damage had been done: the company’s market value dropped nearly 40 percent, stores faced customer hostility, and leadership was forced into a public reversal.
This episode is a sobering reminder that misinformation and coordinated inauthentic behavior can turn a manageable marketing hiccup into a full-blown corporate crisis. If the bot networks driving the outrage had been detected and neutralized sooner, Cracker Barrel might have contained the narrative before it spiraled. Swift identification and removal of inauthentic posts, paired with real-time social listening and transparent communication, can be the difference between a momentary flare-up and a lasting reputational wound. The lesson for every brand: crisis prevention today depends as much on monitoring algorithmic threats as it does on message discipline.
An Emmy- and Murrow-winning media executive, Allison Girvin has led some of America’s most influential newsrooms through the digital age. Now of counsel to Hennes Communications, she blends editorial vision with crisis-tested leadership and cutting-edge streaming strategy.
The Cracker Barrel Mess Isn’t Over Yet
By Heather Haddon and Suzanne Vranica, writing for The Wall Street Journal
It took just a week for Cracker Barrel to go back to its “Old Timer” logo after a new, streamlined version sparked a political firestorm.
Two months later, the recovery from the fiasco is far from over.
What started as a rebranding ballooned into a full-fledged crisis that spooked investors, shook employees, angered customers and rattled the marketing industry. The vitriol spread to just about every change Chief Executive Julie Felss Masino has made to revive the struggling restaurant chain, forcing her to review any adjustments—down to the way it makes biscuits and green beans. And her challenge of turning sales around for the 56-year-old brand built on nostalgia has only grown more daunting.
It’s a cautionary tale of how quickly miscalculating a customer base can escalate now—and the latest chapter in the corporate culture wars that have come for brands including Bud Light and Target. With the rise of social media, company marketing has become a blood sport, and political polarization has raised the stakes. In Cracker Barrel’s case, conservative activists and President Trump joined the online chorus, which was turbocharged by what has since been determined to be a swarm of fake social-media accounts.
The CEO joined Cracker Barrel in 2023 with visions of a yearslong turnaround project. Masino knew Cracker Barrel’s loyal customers were sensitive to changes, even over things as small as breakfast sausage options. She and her executive team spent more than a year mapping out a strategy.
This account of how those decisions landed the Tennessee-based chain in a cultural-war firestorm and continue to challenge the company is based on discussions with more than two dozen employees, executives and others involved with Cracker Barrel’s business.
“We have taken to heart the learnings around the logo and remodels, and from what was working in our plan, and we are moving forward with a renewed focus on food and the guest experience,” the company said in a statement.
Country Hospitality
Cracker Barrel has traded on nostalgia since its first location opened in 1969. Founder Dan Evins, a Tennessee oil jobber, envisioned a restaurant and retail operation themed around old-time country stores, where people gathered to play checkers on barrels once used to deliver crackers.
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