Posted on 08/22/2025 10:26:33 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Cracker Barrel has long been known for its combination of rustic charm and country dishes like biscuits and gravy. But its new CEO said that the old approach isn't working any longer — and she's planning some major changes.
"We're just not as relevant as we once were," Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino said on a May 16 conference call to discuss her plans to update the restaurants.
Masino, a former Taco Bell executive who stepped into the role of Cracker Barrel CEO in August, said the company "has lost some of its shine" and needs a "transformation" to continue to appeal to its current customer base and draw new diners. Cracker Barrel's sales have flatlined, with revenue for its most recent quarter unchanged at $935.4 compared with a year earlier, while its stock has tumbled 40% so far in 2024.
Its challenges range the gamut from prices to menu options, she added, citing a recent in-house study that compares Cracker Barrel with its competitors, based on food, experience, value and convenience. To be sure, Cracker Barrel isn't alone in struggling to keep customers coming back, as other food chains have recently reported problems with convincing inflation-weary consumers to return. But the company notes other concerns.
"[W]e are not leading in any area," Masino said. "[T]he reality is we've lost some market share, especially at dinner."
The company is now planning to make several changes to help refresh the brand and bring back its customers.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Nope, She doesn’t have a clue. Just make good food at a reasonable price. I have to wonder if she even spends any time in Lebanon, home of the original Cracker Barrel.
I agree. A couple years ago they changed the breakfast memo to eliminate some of the big breakfast options.
It’s all still available but now it’s aka carts.
I really enjoyed just ordering Uncle Herschel’s Favorote. (Uncle Hershel is the guy in the chair who’s being canceled. Real person)
Dinner has always been their weak point to me. Most of it is just OK sloth Pugh the fried chicken is excellent.
Changing the logo is low common denominator marketing, but stupid with a core brand like Cracker Barrell.
I work for a 160 year old company that has had the same logo since the late 1940’s.
When I started there 15 years ago they were slow and steady with no significant growth or loss year after year.
About ten years ago they decided to change that. We improved products, added lots of new products, innovated, we do things none of our competition does. Spent lots of money in R&D and marketing. They are now almost four times the size they were ten years ago.
The logo hasn’t changed. Everything else has.
Blondie CEO with the smart girl glasses and attitude needs to copy that, not changes tens of thousands of billboards.
Karens destroy everythig by virtue signaling rather than running a business. She should resign and bring in a man.
Serve breakfast all day with a limited dinner menu.
They are people whose thought process is, "Wheels have been round for thousands of years, it's time for change!" so they use their position, power and authority to decree that their organization will start using square wheels moving forward and people who voice their objections will be decried as luddites and troublemakers who are too set in their ways to embrace change. As it becomes obvious the square wheels aren't working, they will just call it a, "transitional phase," and they will smoothly and convincingly lie to those they answer to about how well things are going. By the time their idea wrecks the organization, they have moved on somewhere else oblivious to the wreckage left in their wake.
They are not to be confused with true visionaries who look at a round wheel, understand that the concept is ideal, but think instead of replacing wooden spokes with cast metal, replacing solid rubber with inflatable tires, designing new tread patterns for better traction, etc. Their vision is based on retaining what already works, and putting forward improvements on what can be improved.
IMHO, this CEO is probably more of a square wheel visionary than any serious advocate of DEI. I would bet that the "new look," has more to do with her making changes just because she has the power to do so, and DEI is simply the avenue for doing so. If this was the 1970s she would have been turning Cracker Barrel into a disco, and if it was the 1980s she would have been upgrading with Miami Vice neon and pastels.
People may have just realized they can get similar but better food at Texas Roadhouse. I think Texas Roadhouse is the fastest growing restaurant chain or one of the fastest globally.
I’ve only been to Cracker Barrel once (about a year ago), and it wasn’t as good as i had expected it to be. Forget the image change. Improve the food.
When we go to Cracker Barrel (in northern Indiana close to the Michigan line) EVERYBODY is there. White and Black (Hispanic, not so much unless for breakfast) and multi age groups.
For sure some of the customers are aging out but to say it’s all white people is inaccurate in my area.
It might help to reach out to Hispanics about the breakfast served any time because they seem to love a big country breakfast.
That's the thing. You can go to Denny's or IHOP.
Cracker Barrel used to be unique.
I know a guy who used to work directly for Mary Bart’s at GM. From his comments she’s not very competent.
CB has been losing market cap since the beginning of 2019 when its stock price topped out at $152.00/share.
I think this girl boss CEO, who was brought in to the company in November 2023, was supposed to try and save the brand. As a result, the quality of the food has dropped, the remodeling looks like crap, and now the logo has been destroyed.
At the rate she’s going with this makeover of the company it won’t be around in five years.
There are a lot of women that have benefitted from DEI. Promotions after promotions, undeserved. Now they reaching the top and their authority is mixed with their feelings. There’s a few that are good, there’s bell-curves to everything. The bell curve will also dictate many have no business being the CEO of such a big company.
I looked up major corporations online and so far they are still led by mostly white men.
But when we are reading the news, it appears that whenever a corporation is screwing up, a liberal white woman is behind it (Bud Light, Cracker Barrel).
I've been to neither, but it looks to me like TRH has better steak options on their menu..
What? Is CB “too fratty,” now?
Probably drives a Lesbaru.
Make better tasting food, leave the logo alone, and lower your prices. 4,000 calorie breakfasts are over.
Good post.
The Board of Directors of any organization need to have the wisdom to be able to tell the difference between the fast talking fraudsters and the real deal.
If they get it wrong the error can be fatal.
The Yuengling ladies are all aspects. Engineering - Maintenance, Shipping, Purchasing, Marketing, Janitorial -Sanitation, Accounting. No spouses allowed.
Really an impressive CV isn’t it?
Taco Bell food really turned into slop. Ate there late one evening on a trip 3 years ago. 17 bucks for a burrito, two tacos and two regular drinks. Have not been back.
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