Cracker Barrel Debuted a New Logo, and MAGA Is Pretty Mad About It

The culture wars are everywhere, and now, they've come for Cracker Barrel. The country store restaurant chain just debuted a new logo, and while you might have thought that wouldn't be a huge deal, it's become a major subject of controversy among some people on the right.

Now that the controversy has spread far and wide, many want to better understand the new logo and why it's caused so much of a headache. Here's what we know.

The colors and styling of the Cracker Barrel logo are unchanged, but the logo removes the old man and barrel that have long been part of the logo.

Shares of the company's stock dropped nearly 10% following the logo unveiling, but the redesign was part of an effort to modernize the company's image and bring in new diners who view the restaurant as stodgy, per CNN.

“The way we communicate, the things on the menu, the way the stores look and feel … all of these things came up time and time again in our research as opportunities for us to really regain relevancy,” CEO Julie Felss Masino said in 2024.

The logo redesign also comes with changes to other elements of the restaurants, including a redesign of the restaurant interiors to "declutter" them and remove the trinkets from the wall. The dark woods in the restaurants are also being replaced by lighter ones.

In addition to changing the store and the logo, the restaurant is also debuting a new menus that feature fall-themed foods.

Items on the new menu include Sausage & Egg Hashbrown Casserole and the Herb Roasted Chicken, and according to a news release from the chain, it's designed to celebrate "more than 55 years of country hospitality and positions the iconic American brand for the future," per Newsweek.

The menus will also feature new design elements, including a new color palette that includes "red, blue, and green."

Generally, reaction to these changes has been mixed, as some fans of the restaurant clearly feel that the changes are pulling it away from what it's always been. Donald Trump Jr. also weighed in, asking "WTF is wrong with @CrackerBarrel??!"

Many people seem to believe that the changes happening to Cracker Barrel are a result of their new CEO Julie Felss Masino, who joined the company in 2023. To some extent, that's certainly true, although Julie has defended the changes she's made.

"Cracker Barrel needs to feel like the Cracker Barrel for today and for tomorrow -- the things that you love are still there. We need people to choose us, and we want people to choose us," she explained in an interview with GMA.

It seems clear, though, that at least some people are not into the changes. Whether the tactics work to bring in new customers, on the other hand, remains to be seen.