(AFP) – US restaurant chain Cracker Barrel announced Tuesday it was reverting to its old logo after its rebrand sparked a furious, culture war-fueled backlash, including criticism from President Donald Trump. The folksy, homestyle US chain saw tens of millions of dollars wiped off its share price since it unveiled a new look last week that right-wingers criticized as “woke.”
The announcement that Cracker Barrel was going back to its old logo — the image of an old man sitting on a chair and leaning on a barrel — came just hours after Trump weighed in on the controversy. “Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before,” Trump said on Truth Social.
The new, simplified — and now abandoned — logo featured just the text of the brand name in a rounded-off yellow hexagon. In a statement on X, the company thanked its patrons for “sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel.” “We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain,” Cracker Barrel said. “As a proud American institution, our 70,000 hardworking employees look forward to welcoming you to our table soon,” it added.
Trump, in a post on Truth Social, welcomed the return to the old logo. “Congratulations ‘Cracker Barrel’ on changing your logo back to what it was. All of your fans very much appreciate it. Good luck into the future. Make lots of money and, most importantly, make your customers happy again!,” he said.
The logo furor comes as Trump’s White House leads a crusade against diversity and anything it brands “woke” — a derogatory shorthand for leftist social justice movements — in both the US government and corporate America. The chain has around 660 US branches. Trump won in 74 percent of counties with a Cracker Barrel in 2024, according to elections analyst Dave Wasserman.
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