Posted on 10/03/2025 8:51:44 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Cracker Barrel has cut ties with the design firm that created its controversial new logo and redesigned restaurants. The restaurant chain started implementing the changes but quickly reversed course following online backlash – including from President Donald Trump.
The company confirmed the split late Thursday in a press release, announcing that it’s “ending its engagement with Prophet,” the design agency that Cracker Barrel hired just seven months ago to help refresh its brand.
In August, Cracker Barrel unveiled a new logo created by the San Francisco-based firm, which ditched the iconic man in overalls and the barrel for a streamlined design. The new logo featured an outline that the company said was “rooted even more closely to the iconic barrel shape and word mark that started it all,” according to a press release initially announcing the change.
It didn’t work out: The logo was the target of culture war, which even caught the ire of the White House and dragged down the stock. Visits to Cracker Barrel tumbled.
A few days later, Cracker Barrel backtracked and reverted back to its previous logo.
Prophet, which didn’t immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment, was also assisting with restaurant redesigns. Those were “suspended” after they were rolled out at four of its 660 locations.
The panned refresh removed the traditional dark woods and many of the trademark tchotchkes that lined the walls. In their place, Cracker Barrel installed a more modern decor with a mostly white interior.
The company said on an earnings call last month that the damage isn’t over: Cracker Barrel expects a continued decline in visits in the coming months.
(Excerpt) Read more at channel3000.com ...
She gets to keep HER job, though. *SMIRK*
*Cracker Barrel Ping*
It seems that simple common sense and knowing their market would have spared them all this.
But I guess those are in short supply now.
Prophet is the Uncommon Growth Company—accelerating impact for business and marketing leaders through consulting, experience, and creative services.
She needs to be fired
accelerating impact
Getting rid of everyone but the person who started it all. Par for the course.
For now...
She’s the one responsible, not the design firm. She paid them to do a job and they did it and she approved it...................
trademark tchotchkes that lined the walls
****
Estelle: Sure, and you were always in Korea with your religious tchotchkes.
Frank: I had to make a living!
“...[the restaurant design changes] were rolled out at four of its 660 locations”
Only four? Wow, with the uproar you’d have thought they did all 660 at once!
They could have quietly tested the changes at four locations for six to twelve month to gauge customer feedback and sentiment. They could have called those four a market test. How stupid to not have done that and committed to a company-wide roll-out before not testing it anywhere.
(She needs to be fired)
👍👍👍
Now, they need to stop microwaving the meatloaf and start using real potatoes again. Stop microwaving the dinner rolls, too.
Why would they do all of this? The reactions were “overwhelmingly positive” with the locations calling up hoping they could be the next to be transitioned? Right? Right?
As long as the CEO gets to keep her job, Cracker Barrel will continue to tank.
She loves to fund those WOKE enterprises.
I was on the road two weeks ago and ate at a Cracker Barrel. At least they stopped reheating day old biscuits and pancakes - at step in the right direction. They need to increase the quality of their food a bit. The service is always good.
That’s the value of consultants. They’ll recommend things the company all ready knows that they should be doing by hiding behind the, “we’re paying for it so we should be doing it,”
or in this case, they gave us bad advice that we accepted & approved.
I am shocked - shocked! - that a San Francisco based design firm wanted to get rid of traditional Americana.
In meteor terminology.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.