Cracker Barrel faced intense backlash from everyone over its new bland logo.
Well…the outrage worked. Uncle Herschel is coming back.
A Fox Business investigation discovered that a top Cracker Barrel investor warned new CEO Julie Felss Masino not to make any changes back in May 2024:
Over the next months, Masino and her board of directors dismissed at least four warnings by a top investor, Sardar Biglari, that the rebranding was “obvious folly,” filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal.”Cracker Barrel is not a broken brand but it has a broken board,” he wrote, in a scathing seven-page letter to shareholders.He laid out his criticisms in a 120-page slide-deck presentation with the title, “CRACKER BARREL IS IN CRISIS,” next to the company’s longtime logo of an old man in overalls leaning on a barrel – a logo that Masino would wipe out, unbeknownst to Biglari at the time.
Biglari is no fool. People call him a bully or evil genius for a reason.
The slide presentation noted how Biglari turned around Steak ‘n Shake in 2010.
In other words, listen to the man! The seven-page letter included criticism of Cracker Barrel’s DEI plans:
By Oct. 8, 2024, Biglari had had enough. In his blistering seven-page letter to shareholders, he warned them about the board’s “obvious folly,” greenlighting Masino and “her new transformation plan.” He criticized the board’s alleged dysfunction and mismanagement.”Cracker Barrel is in perilous times,” he wrote.He laid out stark numbers. In 2011, Cracker Barrel reported $167 million in operating income on revenues of $2.4 billion. By 2023, after $1.4 billion in cumulative capital expenditures, operating income had fallen to $121 million, even as revenues climbed past $3.4 billion.”…the problem lies not in the seating but in getting more people to sit in it,” he warned, continuing, “We do not believe changing the furniture and altering the décor are going to change the Company’s trajectory or solve the Company’s underlying problem of declining traffic.”
Everyone laughed at him, turned their backs on him. The shareholders sided with management, elected the 10 recommended nominees, which included Masino.
The company proceeded with plans to remodel the restaurant and store, refine the menu, and update the logo.
Except…the customers and market hated it all. Hindsight is 20/20:
The backlash was swift. Investor Chris Wunder, CEO of Leap Brands, an executive recruiting company with expertise in the restaurant industry, compared the rebranding to “taking a vintage Chevy and installing clown rims and a neon paint job.” He said flatly: “Maybe we should have let Sardar Biglari and Biglari Holdings Inc. take over.”
Maybe Cracker Barrel should do just that.
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