She bungled the Cracker Barrel reset, and the episode will provide an excellent case study in business schools for years to come. It’s a classic example of what can easily happen when MBA and consultant disease take over. Outsiders move in, decide to shake things up (maybe a little, maybe a lot, maybe for good reasons) and totally mess it up because they are completely tone deaf and can’t read the room.
One wonders how many Cracker Barrels this gal had eaten at before she applied or was recruited for the job.
In some parallel universe, it’s not hard to imagine how this could have all been handled in a smart way. EVERY statement from senior management should have begun with, and leaned strongly into throughout the message, Cracker Barrel’s iconic niche on the American landscape.
THEN, and only then, should the messaging slip into, “That said, we have to recognize that we can’t simply stand still. The environment is changing. Consumers have new options and many of them have new tastes. Population patterns also shift, and we have a lot of stores than have been bypassed.
“The question therefore is how can we protect and honor our iconic legacy while adapting constructively to a new environment. We are losing market share. Our customer base is rapidly aging. We may remain your grandparents’ favorite restaurant, and we want to continue that, but we also need to attract new customers who will fill our rocking chairs for the next 50 years.”
Emphasize continuity and tradition and be deferential about changes. In terms of messaging, that would go a long way in creating running room for more substantial changes over time.
The “I’m the new CEO with an MBA and a Taco Bell track record, and I’m here to shake this place up” is NOT the way to lead this kind of change.
If this fiasco is forgotten, it will be because it will have been eclipsed by even greater blunders. Which automaker was it that last year forgot it was selling cars, and instead built an identity rebrand around selling metrosexual gender confusion? It’s hard to top that for management stupidity.
That sort of thing is basically funny, and companies that don’t pull out of the death spiral soon enough can go bust. And good riddance. It gets scary when Boeing thinking that crossdressing trans employees dancing around aircraft assembly plants is a good corporate rebrand. It shows where senior management’s head is, and a company built around legendary engineering decided to beclown itself. MBA disease at work.
>Which automaker was it that last year forgot it was selling cars, and instead built an identity rebrand around selling metrosexual gender confusion?
Jaguar.
Lots of car guys are still shaking their heads on that one.