Memo to Cracker Barrel's new CEO: Fixing a controversial rebrand takes more than an old logo
“Cracker Barrel didn’t have a logo problem...it had a judgment problem, and going back to the logo was never going to fix a judgment problem,” says Jeff Eller, founder of Austin-based Eller Group.
“The lesson for any leader of a public brand is that your most sacred equity is an asset to protect, not a liability to modernize away,” he says. “The company even had a dress rehearsal. It got hit with the same ‘wokeness’ backlash over a menu change back in 2022 and walked into a bigger version of it anyway.”
“If a client of ours were sitting where Cracker Barrel sat last August, we’d tell them to stop explaining and start owning it on day one, in their own voice, before an outside force — a viral mob, an activist investor, a president — makes the decision for them,” Eller says. “A reversal you lead looks like leadership; a reversal you’re forced into looks like surrender.”
“David Deno’s first job isn’t marketing; it’s proof,” says Eller. “The logo went back on the wall in an afternoon, but the customers didn’t come with it. That’s the real scoreboard and no clever campaign moves it...only consistency does.”
“My advice to any incoming CEO after a self-inflicted brand crisis is to go quiet and prove you are who you are,” he adds. “Don’t relitigate the past. Don’t overcorrect into nostalgia paralysis. Rebuild trust the slow way: by being reliably good on food, value and experience.”