Posted on 07/27/2026 7:48:44 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino is stepping down after the failure of her “woke” rebrand last year, which was rolled back following intense backlash from loyal customers, the company announced Monday.
Masino will remain at Cracker Barrel in an advisory capacity until October 9 to ensure a smooth transition, the company said.
Shares in Cracker Barrel plunged 5.3% Monday morning.
Her departure comes after less than three years at the helm, during which diners revolted against the company’s attempts to modernize the Southern dining chain last August by axing its beloved mascot Uncle Herschel and revamping restaurants without its trademark tchotchkes.
Masino’s exit comes as somewhat of a surprise, since it has been nearly a full year since the Lebanon, Tenn.-based chain reversed the rebrand and the embattled chief executive has remained in her position – even giving several interviews on her experience navigating the controversy.
In early 2025, Cracker Barrel’s stock was in freefall after Masino admitted the chain was “just not as relevant” as it used to be.
By August, the company had revealed its plans for a $700 million transformation across more than 660 restaurants – which had already started at some locations in the spring – in an attempt to add new customers to its dwindling fanbase.
It included white paint, bright lighting and decluttering the walls of knickknacks in restaurants, as well as erasing from the logo its folksy farmer mascot Uncle Herschel, who had been part of the design since 1977.
Over the next week, Cracker Barrel watched its sales crater – losing its market share of Republican diners, its most loyal base, according to Consumer Edge data.
Its stock also plunged, wiping out hundreds of millions of dollars in value, though it has since started to bounce back.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The big investor in Houston finally prevailed
About time
Another woke company will pick her up. Nike, REI, Subaru…
Now, how about cooking meals instead of reheating food?
I know. The board should've fired her right after her disastrous woke changes.
They need to improve the quality of their food. When a restaurant starts to save money by using cheaper ingredients, they are doomed. The former CEO should have been forced to eat every meal at Cracked Barrel - then she would have made better business decisions.
Cracker Barrel’s biggest issue has been the drop in food quality. Their biscuits went from being A+ to being hard and crunchy. Their pot roast went from an A+ to a C. Losing this idiot CEO will definitely help, but they need to get their food quality way up if they want to survive and thrive.
They just never lear.
Chicks in charge; go figure.
Totally agree. The one near me used to be fairly good. I won’t go there anymore.
So, what corporate brand is she going to destroy next?
👍👍🤣
It’s smart for CB to keep her onboard as a consultant. Access to a person with a keen eye for bad ideas is important.
Deciding to get a snack without paying drive in prices we stopped by once, and found for $1.25 (IIRC) they would put a pint or more of soft ice cream on a cone (about a foot high), and charge 10 cents extra if you wanted a bowl and spoon. We made it a regular stop, as did a lot of locals; the parking lot was always full. Eventually we found out the name of the place was, "Jordan's," but we always called it, "EAT." They did good business and over time eventually moved into a regular building up the road, and they are still in business over 40 years later.
Perhaps Cracker Barrel would have done far more better than hiring DEI consultants, and simply buying neon signs that said, "EAT."
Almost every food chain that rebrands to this modern style has failed.
Boring and bland looks kill off the former look of the restaurants and killed them off.
I eat there every 1-2 months. Food is OK with me but I don’t expect too much. Love the Chicken Fried Chicken & Hash Brown casserole.
We have an ongoing problem in both business and government of abysmal ignorance in high places. We have people running (in part or in whole) businesses that they don’t understand. They comprehend neither the product nor the process nor the customers. Similarly, legislators debate and vote on legislation covering topics of which they know almost nothing, and what they do “know” is mostly wrong. Then unelected bureaucrats do similarly.
It is impossible to run “a business”. There is no such thing as “a business”. There is only “THIS business”. Someone who does not fully understand ‘THIS business” will inevitably destroy “THIS business”. Just ask Carly Fiorina.
The problem in government is similar. Legislators and bureaucrats who presume to make rules or laws governing activities they do not understand will inevitably make stupid rules and laws, to the detriment of those activities. Just look at any legislator proposing new “gun control” laws ...
You’ll never convince me that they weren’t trying to kil off the company.
I didn’t see woke either, but the usual bland corporate rebrand that has been tried dozens of times before usually failing miserably...
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