I'm 56 and a Gen Xer. I remember travelling with my grandparents and on those trips, we'd stop at places like Dairy Queen, Joe's Big Burger, the little diners in the drug stores on the town square.
Cracker Barrel, at least in my town, has a wide selection of loaned farm and ranch signs, magazines, branding irons, etc. hanging on the walls. Aside from that it has decent food that's fresh cooked.
There aren't many places to eat where the food is fresh and not frozen and nuked.
"The mom-and-pop restaurants Cracker Barrel modeled itself on are a rarity."
This is the problem, in the capitalist Thunderdome that is the United States, all of those mom and pop restaurants have been pushed out of business by the same economic forces that caused the Cracker Barrel rebrand. The same economic forces that conservatives either don't want to recognize or have fiercely defended for decades. Cracker Barrel is a simulacrum (read an unsatisfactory imitation or substitute) of older American culture.
The only Cracker Barrel I am aware of in my area is located just off an interstate exit on a suburban road with a dozen strip mall plazas in 3 miles. Not exactly the rural Americana Cracker Barrel is trying to evoke.
Cracker Barrel is a highway or interstate restaurant. You don't typically see cracker barrels down in city centers where you're more upscale restaurants are. They are out on interstate exits and cater mostly to people who are traveling. The food is not of a particularly high quality, but that has for the most part kept the cost down. Occasionally, the restaurant has offered special things that are a little better than their standard fare, but that's about it. So what people are upset about is the decor or the image of the restaurant. People liked the old country aesthetic. What the current CEO has done is to make what seems to me to be a moderate to radical change to the restaurants aesthetic. The initial reaction is that the main customer base doesn't like it. What remains to be seen is what the consequences will be for the company over the long haul. It's anybody's guess. If we go off the initial reaction, then they're going to pay a price for making this change, but we'll just have to wait and see.
As I understand it, the logo change is the tip of a woke iceberg years in the making. The company also uses racial/ethnic preferences in hiring, promotion and choosing suppliers. Also ideologically coercive towards employees via diversity training, LGBT issues, etc. Basically pushing left-wing race-and-gender dogma and hypercritical of American history and society as 'white supremacy."
Agreed. However if you've read HILLBILLY ELEGY, Craker Barrel is considered "High End" by many poor white demographics. And if the only chance they have to see BONANZA or GUNSMOKE is by purchasing a DVD/Blu-Ray in the gift shop that may be enough to generate interest in The Old West and perhaps one out of 100 will pick up a history book. Norman Rockwell may not have represented the Real America, either. But it is nice to have an aspirational version of that America somewhere, isn't it?
the logo needs to appeal to ‘modern audiences’ aka women who are constantly threatened by benign things they interpret as racist
Might be worth mentioning that Cracker Barrel decided not to make any headway in Blue America by refusing to hire gay staff (indeed, firing gay staff). The policy eventually changed, but I suspect in terms of diversifying the customer base, the damage was done. https://www.salon.com/2023/06/12/bigotry-was-the-blue-plate-special-how-cracker-barrel-went-from-anti-gay-to-angering-the/
I'm 56 and a Gen Xer. I remember travelling with my grandparents and on those trips, we'd stop at places like Dairy Queen, Joe's Big Burger, the little diners in the drug stores on the town square.
Cracker Barrel, at least in my town, has a wide selection of loaned farm and ranch signs, magazines, branding irons, etc. hanging on the walls. Aside from that it has decent food that's fresh cooked.
There aren't many places to eat where the food is fresh and not frozen and nuked.
‘Libtarded’?? Why are Americans so obsessed with brands and corporate chains? They seem a conformist people
Americans, even in politics, see themselves primarily as consumers.
This is why they love their cheap stuff that came as a result of outsourcing. Their role as consumers outweighs their role as workers.
We are an unserious, decadent people.
"The mom-and-pop restaurants Cracker Barrel modeled itself on are a rarity."
This is the problem, in the capitalist Thunderdome that is the United States, all of those mom and pop restaurants have been pushed out of business by the same economic forces that caused the Cracker Barrel rebrand. The same economic forces that conservatives either don't want to recognize or have fiercely defended for decades. Cracker Barrel is a simulacrum (read an unsatisfactory imitation or substitute) of older American culture.
The only Cracker Barrel I am aware of in my area is located just off an interstate exit on a suburban road with a dozen strip mall plazas in 3 miles. Not exactly the rural Americana Cracker Barrel is trying to evoke.
Only noting at the end that the brand was going through a significant contraction seems like belying the really important point.
This is not some leftist conspiracy to take down something conservatives love. It’s essentially every PE decision ever made
If this can spark a bigger backlash to the greater trend of simplifying logos and sterilizing shopping environments, that would be awesome
Cracker Barrel is a highway or interstate restaurant. You don't typically see cracker barrels down in city centers where you're more upscale restaurants are. They are out on interstate exits and cater mostly to people who are traveling. The food is not of a particularly high quality, but that has for the most part kept the cost down. Occasionally, the restaurant has offered special things that are a little better than their standard fare, but that's about it. So what people are upset about is the decor or the image of the restaurant. People liked the old country aesthetic. What the current CEO has done is to make what seems to me to be a moderate to radical change to the restaurants aesthetic. The initial reaction is that the main customer base doesn't like it. What remains to be seen is what the consequences will be for the company over the long haul. It's anybody's guess. If we go off the initial reaction, then they're going to pay a price for making this change, but we'll just have to wait and see.
As I understand it, the logo change is the tip of a woke iceberg years in the making. The company also uses racial/ethnic preferences in hiring, promotion and choosing suppliers. Also ideologically coercive towards employees via diversity training, LGBT issues, etc. Basically pushing left-wing race-and-gender dogma and hypercritical of American history and society as 'white supremacy."
Agreed. However if you've read HILLBILLY ELEGY, Craker Barrel is considered "High End" by many poor white demographics. And if the only chance they have to see BONANZA or GUNSMOKE is by purchasing a DVD/Blu-Ray in the gift shop that may be enough to generate interest in The Old West and perhaps one out of 100 will pick up a history book. Norman Rockwell may not have represented the Real America, either. But it is nice to have an aspirational version of that America somewhere, isn't it?
Wish Republicans actually cared about the voters that go to Cracker Barrel, but it’s yet to be seen!