Cracker Barrel shed almost $100 million in market value Thursday after its stock plunged following the release of a new logo. The new design eliminates a longstanding drawing of an overall-clad man leaning against a barrel, in favor of a cleaner logo featuring just the chain’s name.
Shares of Cracker Barrel fell $4.22, or 7.2%, to $54.80 in Thursday trading, shedding $94 million in market value. The stock had dipped to a low of $50.27 earlier in the day, representing a loss of almost $200 million in its capitalization.
Cracker Barrel shares gained in early trading Friday, but resumed their slide later in the day. The stock closed down 40 cents, or less than 1%, to $54.40.
Wall Street’s reaction to the logo redesign comes as Cracker Barrel has been working to refresh its image through new menu items and redecorated stores that eschew the 55-year-old chain’s old-timey approach in favor of a more modern look.
Cracker Barrel
According to the company’s website, the man and barrel in the old logo represented “the old country store experience where folks would gather around and share stories.”
Cracker Barrel 
It’s unusual for a company’s share price to plunge dramatically due to a logo redesign, although marketing missteps can cause investors to question a company’ strategy. Cracker Barrel’s overhaul has been overseen by CEO Julie Felss Masino, who last year described the chain as “not as relevant as we once were,” and announced plans to update its down-home menu.
In a statement to CBS News, Cracker Barrel said that the man portrayed in the logo, known as “Uncle Herschel,” will remain “front and center in our restaurants and on our menu.”
“Our values haven’t changed, and the heart and soul of Cracker Barrel haven’t changed,” the company said.
The new logo, which will appear on menus and marketing materials, “is now rooted even more closely to the iconic barrel shape and wordmark that started it all,” the company said in an Aug. 18 press release.
Conservative commentators took issue with the rebrand, with right-wing podcaster Matt Walsh calling it “more generic” on social media. Marketing experts also criticized the company’s overhaul. Many of the criticisms took on a political tone, with some social media commenters describing the new design as “woke.”
Brand strategist Kelly O’Keefe, a founding partner of consultancy Brand Federation, said the redesign simplifies an “overly complex logo.”
“In a normal marketing environment, this would not even be noticed, but these are not normal times,” O’Keefe said in an email. “Politically inert marketing moves are being labeled as political for opportunistic reasons.”
Another marketing expert pointed out that the redesign risks turning off long-time fans of the chain,
with Bolt Health founder Kevin Dahlstrom, who has served as a chief marketing officer at several companies in the financial industry, describing Cracker Barrel’s rebrand as a “fiasco.”
“The holy grail of marketing is to create a brand that customers give a damn about — and feel some ownership of. It’s exceedingly rare and when you have that — as Cracker Barrel did — you NEVER EVER abandon it, you only double down on it,” Dahlstrom wrote on social media.
Cracker Barrel was founded in 1969 and today operates nearly 660 corporate-owned locations across the U.S.
Cracker Barrel’s growth, which soared in the 1990s as the chain expanded, has slowed in recent years. For 2024, the company reported revenue of roughly $3.5 billion, up 0.8% from $3.4 billion the previous year, while net income fell to $40.9 million for year, down from $99 million in 2023.
For its most recent quarter, the company reported revenue of $821.1 million, up slightly from $817.1 million, according to a regulatory filing.
Cracker Barrel shares have risen 7% this year to $55.42 as Friday morning, but the stock has fallen sharply since 2018, when it topped $180.
contributed to this report.
