What going on with Cracker Barrel ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just read the CEO only makes $1M per year. If they want to cheap out on exec pay, they will get bargain basement results.

That said, I'm conservative and truly do not understand what is "woke" about the rebrand. [/quoter

its not woke so much as just awful?? I'm as liberal as they come and have fond memories of stopping at Cracker Barrel to get audiobooks on road trips, I loved the country store aesthetic but haven't been in years. they need to up the quality of the food- not be food in a bag. the whole point is nostalgia, they need to maybe tap into a different kind of nostalgia but nostalgia sells right now. everyone hates this timeline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read that this is a fake controversy being pushed by a buyer that is planning a hostile takeover. Imagine that, MAGA being used and manipulated for someone else’s gain.

Yeah it doesn't make any sense to me. I'm MAGA and see nothing wrong with the rebrand. I didn't like the kind of dusty look they've had, but I overlooked it because the menu rebrand they did many years ago has been great. They have much healthier items now, with things like grilled fish or chicken, veggies, beans, etc. It's a reliable place to get healthy food in the middle of nowhere. I'm ignoring this boycott.

I'm liberal and I agree with you. The store decor has always bothered me because it felt like a ton of dust-catchers. (How often did someone clean all that stuff?! Are there spiders hanging out behind those pictures?) But we eat there a lot while on trips because it's got healthy options and is one of the few places we can get veggies that my kids will eat. We'll keep eating there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They just hate that the CEO with new innovative ideas is not an old white guy, like in the old logo.

That old white guy, Uncle Herschel," was a relative of one of the cofounders. Having him sit next to a barrel playing checkers is old time Tennessee. Why get rid of it? It's called nostalgia and very appealing to their custoners. What's wrong with traditions? When I travel to Santa Fe, I love the culture of their restaurants, sfood choices, stucco homes, turquoise jewelry, Catholic churches, etc.

The company wanted a brand refresh. Also the Catholic Church, stucco houses, or local food isn’t the same as a company. I would say a better comparison is updating your wardrobe at 30 from what you wore in high school. I know it’s hard for Americans to understand but corporate branding really isn’t culture.

This is the most important statement in this entire thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read that this is a fake controversy being pushed by a buyer that is planning a hostile takeover. Imagine that, MAGA being used and manipulated for someone else’s gain.

Yeah it doesn't make any sense to me. I'm MAGA and see nothing wrong with the rebrand. I didn't like the kind of dusty look they've had, but I overlooked it because the menu rebrand they did many years ago has been great. They have much healthier items now, with things like grilled fish or chicken, veggies, beans, etc. It's a reliable place to get healthy food in the middle of nowhere. I'm ignoring this boycott.

I'm liberal and I agree with you. The store decor has always bothered me because it felt like a ton of dust-catchers. (How often did someone clean all that stuff?! Are there spiders hanging out behind those pictures?) But we eat there a lot while on trips because it's got healthy options and is one of the few places we can get veggies that my kids will eat. We'll keep eating there.

The irony of all these boycotts is that it's ultimately driving a consumerist, capitalist orientation to the world, which the left claims to want to tear down and the right claims is degrading to the soul (the consumerist part, not the capitalist part). People are really just being leveraged by market movers to shop somewhere else, but to feel moral for doing so. As for me, I'm going to shop and eat at the places that I prefer and that deliver the most value.

[Anonymous]

All these hedge fund owned franchises are microwaved prole slop. Don’t give any place like this a cent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read that this is a fake controversy being pushed by a buyer that is planning a hostile takeover. Imagine that, MAGA being used and manipulated for someone else’s gain.

Oh wow, won’t someone think of the Wall Street parasites on the other side of the… Wall Street to parasites.

[Anonymous]

Cracker Barrel has been shit since they started using canned green beans.

SLOP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read that this is a fake controversy being pushed by a buyer that is planning a hostile takeover. Imagine that, MAGA being used and manipulated for someone else’s gain.

Meh, they got a new CEO who doesn’t love the brand and doesn’t like their customers. Cracker Barrel is what it is. Instead of playing up the kitsch, she’s getting rid of it. Dumb move.

Are you really in it for the fake Ivy leaves and old laundry soap signs? I literally look up every time I'm at a CB and think "do they dust all this crap?" That cluttered look is a strong choice and I suspect many patrons are there in spite of it, not because of it. Even so, it's not woke to renovate. This boycott is fake and hay.

+1 Anyone who has tried to offload their elderly parents’ belongings knows that younger people don’t like places full of old dark furniture and antique items - they prefer lighter, uncluttered spaces.

Also rebrands are about simplifying logos and other branding for smaller screens. No one threatened a boycott about this, right?


Or this?


Or this?

Not everything is about woke, FFS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read that this is a fake controversy being pushed by a buyer that is planning a hostile takeover. Imagine that, MAGA being used and manipulated for someone else’s gain.

Meh, they got a new CEO who doesn’t love the brand and doesn’t like their customers. Cracker Barrel is what it is. Instead of playing up the kitsch, she’s getting rid of it. Dumb move.

+1 very dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read the CEO only makes $1M per year. If they want to cheap out on exec pay, they will get bargain basement results.

That said, I'm conservative and truly do not understand what is "woke" about the rebrand.

It's not woke, but I do think utterly boring and bland.

+1. And stripped of its Tennessee, old-timey country feel--its roots--in exchange for a generic look that the CEO breezily promotes in her interviews.

You mean she might want to get new customers? I have never been to a Cracker Barrel and I’m sure there are plenty of other people like me.

And I'll bet you probably still won't visit one.

[Anonymous]

This seems familiar because Disney has been kind of doing the same thing with its resorts. It keeps renovating existing resorts to take out the charm and uniqueness, and turn them into Marriotts. And the new build resorts all look like cheap Vegas clones with no character at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This seems familiar because Disney has been kind of doing the same thing with its resorts. It keeps renovating existing resorts to take out the charm and uniqueness, and turn them into Marriotts. And the new build resorts all look like cheap Vegas clones with no character at all.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This seems familiar because Disney has been kind of doing the same thing with its resorts. It keeps renovating existing resorts to take out the charm and uniqueness, and turn them into Marriotts. And the new build resorts all look like cheap Vegas clones with no character at all.

Even the Vegas hotels are starting to decline in character.

[Anonymous]

What's going on with the Epstein Files?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This seems familiar because Disney has been kind of doing the same thing with its resorts. It keeps renovating existing resorts to take out the charm and uniqueness, and turn them into Marriotts. And the new build resorts all look like cheap Vegas clones with no character at all.

It’s the HGTV effect. Particularly Joanna Gaines.