Like shooting fish in a Cracker Barrel
It's easy to pick on them now - yet maybe they were in need of an update. But you need to go about it the right way.
It’s been the topic of conversation for most of the past week, and when I get back around to MER in a couple weeks after Labor Day there may be another couple hot takes on this abortive rebrand. It seems like Cracker Barrel has done its level best to Bud Light themselves.
Yet let’s talk about what a restaurant is supposed to do - serve good food at a decent price with good service. I’m going to start with something I wrote as a comment on
’s piece on the subject, which is one of those hot takes I’m likely to use for MER.Since I have to drive an hour or more to go to a Cracker Barrel, this isn't my fight. But the last time I was there (we have one on the way back from Annapolis) I wasn't all that impressed, and I'm sure I would be less so now. Even when I lived by one back home in Ohio it wasn't really a go-to.
Yet here we are, as the new management is trying to impress an audience that has no interest in the place anyway and alienating the folks in MAGA hats who make up the core of their customer base. Never turns out well.
If you travel in the Midwest or South for any length of time, it’s likely you’ll see a large sign by the interstate highway advertising a Cracker Barrel. They have 31 locations in Ohio, for example, and I used to live about 3 miles down the road from one. However, it wasn’t one of our go-to restaurants - I was never into their chintzy country look or trinkets out front and, truth be told, I had a good full-service restaurant literally behind the houses across the street, not to mention another yummy pizza and sandwich joint just across the state route at the traffic light. That was my go-to after Wednesday night bowling.
So, to me, the food at Cracker Barrel wasn’t something to write home about. But there are those who travel the highways of America who craved the familiarity, like the aforementioned Frederick Smith. And yes, they cater more to a mature audience, much like another Midwest restaurant staple chain Bob Evans. Similarly to Bud Light, I guess the new lady in charge was trying to appeal to a younger crowd with this refresh.
I remember a big controversy about a decade ago as there was a group of dedicated Cracker Barrel fans in the Salisbury area who latched on to the prospect of finally getting a restaurant of our own. (The closest one to them and me is in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware - their lone location in the First State. Next closest is in Stevensville, Maryland near the Bay Bridge, which was the one we stopped at.) From the rumor I heard, it was almost a done deal except that the city of Salisbury wouldn’t approve the tall sign needed to attract people passing by on U.S. 50. I was one of those who told them they weren’t missing much.
All this talk about Cracker Barrel, though, has exposed some feedback about their food and service - neither of which have been addressed with this logo and decor change but apparently where the upgrades need to be made. After all, chain restaurants do remodels and refreshes all the time - I’m most familiar with Arby’s and Popeye’s due to the nature of my work but they’ve also redone Wendy’s and Burger King in north Salisbury over the last decade; the BK was a total relocation and rebuild. (The old one is still sitting vacant several years later, right across from the local Bob Evans.) Restaurants of that nature seldom go more than 15-20 years without a total refresh or remodel since the field is so competitive. Remodeling on the regular is actually a luxury a mom-and-pop shop can seldom afford, so the little guys play on the nostalgia of their location as long as they can operate with some efficiency. (My local go-to restaurant opened in 2008 and probably has the same decor; the same for my wife’s favorite Mexican place that’s been there as long as I’ve lived here - and was another restaurant before that, she tells me.)
And it’s no secret that the restaurant industry is changing: COVID restrictions brought the rise of Doordash and other delivery services who bring the food to you. While Americans don’t cook at home anywhere near as much as they did when I was a kid - back when McDonalds was considered a rare treat for us and sit-down restaurants were for dressing up - they don’t sit down at the fast-casual places as much as they did because oftentimes their food is brought to them at home. You tip the delivery driver instead of the wait staff, but dinner can be in front of the TV. (Lends a new meaning to TV dinners, I guess.)
According to the tracking done by OpenTable, Delaware has finally picked up business over the summer as compared to a year ago, with the “volume of seated diners from online reservations” up over 10% year-over-year after being relatively flat over the previous 9 months. (Growth in Maryland has been a little less aggressive.) Obviously that doesn’t track the entire industry, though, and some chains are doing better than others. (As an example, I talked about steakhouses in Odds and ends 129 back in March.) Cracker Barrel recorded practically flat earnings for their third quarter during the spring, which may have prompted the changes.
In the end, the management at Cracker Barrel may have shot themselves in the foot. What they needed was a campaign much like Dominos did a few years ago when they admitted they got off track with their food. (Dominos used to be ketchup on cardboard a few years ago but I admit they’re much better. However, my go-to and locally owned restaurant has a better pizza.) I saw where Cracker Barrel is trying the same approach regarding their redo but the place to start seems to be their menu and offerings.
While they admitted yesterday they screwed up - “Our new logo is going away and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain,” they announced on their website - the question is whether they can address the other issues brought up by the masses. The restaurant business is tough enough without having your reputation ruined by an unpopular change.
In the meantime, though, you can Buy Me a Coffee, since I have a page there now.