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Cracker Barrel Responds to Fans Who Are Not Pleased with the Chain's Remodeling Efforts
Yahoo ^ | August 11, 2025 | Sabrina Weiss

Posted on 08/12/2025 6:13:30 PM PDT by DoodleBob

It has been a year since Cracker Barrel started renovating its formerly knick-knack-ridden restaurants, and fans are still angry.

The Southern-inspired part-restaurant, part-store chain announced a 3-year plan to “evolve” in May 2024. Yet, more than a year later, fans are still commenting their complaints on an Aug. 5, 2024, Instagram post about the restaurant’s “new look.”

The video has a Cracker Barrel district manager walking followers through the space’s changes, like new lighting, seating and paint color. As of this story’s publication, there are more than 2,000 comments on the video. Many of the comments are complaints about the new “bland” appearance, while others are compliments on the “modern” look. The mundane video continues to get (positive or negative) comments more than one year after posting.

The 56-year-old chain is inspired by old country stores and used to be decorated with brown-colored walls covered in antique farm tools and historical family portraits. According to a 2022 Cracker Barrel blog post, each store averaged between 950 and 1,000 authentic antiques per location.

The new appearance, which 40 locations have received as of May, according to The Wall Street Journal, has a fresh coat of white paint on the walls, modern light fixtures and antiques organized into shadow boxes.

A spokesperson at Cracker Barrel told PEOPLE on Monday, Aug. 11, “We are very pleased with the trajectory of our remodeled stores. Feedback from both guests and team members has been overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic about the refreshed dining and shopping experience. All of the elements of our remodels were informed by direct input from our guests and team members alike – these changes are for them.”

(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: crackerbarrel; food; redecorate; remodel

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1 posted on 08/12/2025 6:13:30 PM PDT by DoodleBob
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To: DoodleBob

They need to remodel their food.


2 posted on 08/12/2025 6:15:37 PM PDT by Hyman Roth
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To: DoodleBob

Never have set foot in one. That or cotton patch.


3 posted on 08/12/2025 6:15:46 PM PDT by waterhill (Nobody cares, work harder!)
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To: DoodleBob

I prefer the old way.


4 posted on 08/12/2025 6:16:26 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: DoodleBob

I like the old much better. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.


5 posted on 08/12/2025 6:17:13 PM PDT by laplata (They want each crisis to take the greatest toll possible.)
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To: DoodleBob
Sheesh.

Places to eat used to be fun and whimsical.

Now they feel dull and soulless.

6 posted on 08/12/2025 6:18:30 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Not my circus. Not my monkeys. But I can pick out the clowns at 100 yards.)
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To: All

I really don’t understand the need for places to look as boring as possible. There used to be a seafood place near me that looked like a boat , a few years ago they replaced it a boring grey cube.


7 posted on 08/12/2025 6:21:06 PM PDT by escapefromboston (Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.)
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To: DoodleBob

They are lying when they said people liked it or they only asked people in stupid cities like san fran, that is horrible. I will not go to a Cracker Barrel decorated like that.


8 posted on 08/12/2025 6:21:42 PM PDT by Skwor
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To: DoodleBob

9 posted on 08/12/2025 6:22:31 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: DoodleBob

More detheming. All the service industry is doing it.


10 posted on 08/12/2025 6:22:43 PM PDT by Skywise
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To: DoodleBob

OH, NO! Photo A; Homey, warm, comfortable and friendly in all directions. Wanting to pull up a chair and chat with new friends. Sounds of laughter in the air. Another Tequila Sunrise, please. I like seeing the rifle over the hearth.

Photo B: STERILE, Clinical, scrutinized, pushed away, ostracized. Unfriendly and basically unknown. Cannot wait to leave and not look back! Sounds of cutlery similar to a surgically prepped room. I need a Tums. What happened to that rifle?

If Cracker Barrel is determined to give up their Old Look, I will bet some clever retailer is going to adopt it for themselves.


11 posted on 08/12/2025 6:22:45 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: Hyman Roth

They are soooo gonna fail. There’s a home goodness to the old style. There’s a New Chili’s soul-sucking awfulness to that “new” style. Change at your peril, Cracker Barrel. I love the old ones, but you can shove the new ones up the Biden Crime Family’s collective Obamaholes.


12 posted on 08/12/2025 6:23:05 PM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: DoodleBob
Isn't it racist to call white folks "crackers"? Why is OK to name a restaurant chain "Cracker Barrel", but not OK to call a restaurant chain "Niggard [sic] Barrel"?

Heck, they even had to change the name of "Sambo's"...
13 posted on 08/12/2025 6:23:09 PM PDT by Dr. Franklin ("A republic, if you can keep it." )
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Yeah. A lot of the remodeling I see looks like they did it so they could clean it with a hose.


14 posted on 08/12/2025 6:24:19 PM PDT by BikerJoe
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear
Here is a wide-angle shot of dull and soulless.


15 posted on 08/12/2025 6:25:50 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: DoodleBob

the ceo has ocd


16 posted on 08/12/2025 6:27:24 PM PDT by joshua c
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To: DoodleBob
"...each store averaged between 950 and 1,000 authentic antiques per location."


17 posted on 08/12/2025 6:29:06 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: DoodleBob

Wasn’t this about the same time their CEO criticized their customers. Sort of like many churches, let’s sing the songs the people not coming want to hear.


18 posted on 08/12/2025 6:30:02 PM PDT by alternatives?
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To: DoodleBob

Looks a lot easier to dust now...


19 posted on 08/12/2025 6:30:28 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: BikerJoe
A lot of the remodeling I see looks like they did it so they could clean it with a hose.

LOL, so true. My favorite restaurants have been in old mills, converted barns and the like. I've only gone to Cracker Barrel once or twice and liked the atmosphere. That new look sucks, particularly when you consider that the food is just ok.

20 posted on 08/12/2025 6:32:04 PM PDT by NewHampshireDuo ( )
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