r/fastfood • u/TropicalKing • 4d ago
Question Cracker Barrel
Who here goes to Cracker Barrel and what do you think of the food, decor, atmosphere, and new changes?
Cracker Barrel has been in the news lately because of the logo change, rebranding, decor changes, and "woke" controversy. The logo change caused the stock price of Cracker Barrel to crash 12% on Thursday. I personally think it's an over-reaction, and there really is nothing wrong with the new logo. Of course I've never been to a Cracker Barrel and it isn't really a Californian thing.
All publicity is good publicity, and the logo change and media buzz surrounding it may be the best thing to happen to Cracker Barrel in years.
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u/RetroZone_NEON 4d ago
They definitely sucked all the souls and character out of it. It was supposed to feel like going to grandma’s house for dinner and it looks like now it just feels like another bland restaurant
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u/cowboysfan88 4d ago
I think it sucks how they're "modernizing" it but I genuinely have no idea how it became a political thing
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u/rambam80 3d ago
I studied branding at an old style art school. Let me just say this modern generation of kids doing branding sucks. From commercials to logos… fucking no time invested and just mediocre slop.
The new logo looks like it took 5 minutes in windows image editor and they probably spent millions to get it done. Stupid as shit.
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u/tomandshell 4d ago
I really don’t understand what’s “woke” about their new logo. It’s not like it says Cracker Barrel on top of a rainbow flag.
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u/DirkKeggler 4d ago
It's not woke, so much as they're making an "old country store" change to look like a restaurant in a gentrified area of a hip city in the south, and people don't like them turning their back on tradition. It's supposed to feel like a rural themed place on the interstate highway, and this new look takes away from that.
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u/HambugerBurglarizer 4d ago edited 4d ago
They don't still have the same corny rocking chairs, cheesy gift shop, and overly salty bland food they always had?
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u/DirkKeggler 4d ago
In fairness I've only seen pictures of the remodeled dining room, I don't know what they did to the gift shop, if anything. But corny as it was, the ambiance of the dining room was distinctive, and they're trashing that. I can understand why people aren't happy.
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u/HambugerBurglarizer 4d ago
Part of the constant enshitification of this country, where everything is turning grey and beige and losing all semblance of personality.
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u/dotsona07 4d ago
I like cracker barrel, I think "modernizing" it though to be like first watch isn't the right approach but people are talking about them now so I guess it's working lol
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u/Wildse7en 4d ago
I go once ever 5 years or so and get chicken fried steak with a side of sauteed apples. It's never great and its rarely terrible. It's just ok food.
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u/neon4816 4d ago
I usually go to Cracker Barrel once a month or every other month with my girlfriend. I really enjoy the whole vibe—the décor, the country store feel, and checking out the little gift shop with all the knick-knacks.
The food’s great too. The maple bacon chicken is on point, and I’m a big fan of the broccoli cheddar chicken. What I wasn’t a fan of were the campfire offerings—small portions and overpriced. The only other downside for me are the wooden chairs; they’re tough on the back. Some padding would make a big difference.
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u/StrLord_Who 4d ago
Love Cracker Barrel and browsing through the store. Their pancakes are fantastic (especially the cheesecake-stuffed with all the strawberries), love the hash brown casserole bites. It's also cheap for what you get, and I'm a huge fan of the included biscuits and honey. I suspect that the one I go to won't be redoing the interior, but I'll be really annoyed if they do. I like looking at the kitschy, corny stuff piled all over the place. Better than boring gray corporate.
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u/RandyHoward 4d ago
Is Cracker Barrel really fast food? This post doesn’t seem to belong in this sub
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u/satisfy667 4d ago
It's been going downhill for quite awhile, food wise - cheaper, more processed, more SYSCO ready-to-eat.
The Wokeness was conflated with the facelift/rebrand, but the DEI stuff had been seeping in from corporate for a while; it actually reads to me more like Cracker Barrel has been insulated and isolated; they seem about 3yrs behind the ball socially. Nobody really noticed, so it got thrown into the fray just 'cuz.
People are just sick of being soul-sucked by HR Automatons; sterilizing speech, expression, and culture.
No, I don't want the restaurants to look like hospitals, and I don't want to have to live like I'm permanently in Soup-Nazi's line. Leave Americana and Americanism TF alone. We have a right to exist without it being a bug up some barren bitch's craw. The lockdowns already killed the overwhelming majority of Mom n' Pops as it is, do you really need to spit on the grave?
But that's just me; perhaps you don't mind sitting at a Temu Sitting Apparatus #34B, eating Homogenized Animal-Substitute with Water Added.
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u/trivialempire 4d ago
I like Cracker Barrel.
I guess I don’t like it enough to go a lot…but the few times I’ve been over the last year…it’s been really good food for a decent price.
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u/slowerlearner1212 4d ago edited 4d ago
Next thing you know they will remove red eye gravy and buttermilk biscuits and replace it with açaí smoothies and steel cut oats!
They will post signs saying I can’t bring in my gun to eat breakfast.
They will replace the front porch rockers with bean bags.
Woke blasphemy!
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u/Open-Comedian8845 4d ago
This says a lot more about you than the people you're trying to make fun of
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u/slowerlearner1212 4d ago edited 4d ago
Finally someone that takes it seriously! Was waiting for you to join the chat.
Ironic username, but we’ll go with it.
Also who do you think I’m making fun of here exactly?
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u/HambugerBurglarizer 4d ago
Can't even shoot your own hog at the table, the gays took that away from us
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u/slowerlearner1212 4d ago edited 4d ago
What’s this country coming to when I can’t have one hand on my gun, one hand dipped in gravy, and extra sweet tea dribbling down my double chin.
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u/GreenYellow899 4d ago
I don’t think I would’ve noticed the “change,” had people not pointed it out. I normally just notice menu changes at restaurants.
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u/Open-Comedian8845 4d ago
You definitely would have noticed the changes if they applied to your location
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u/PartyDark8671 4d ago
The last time I went, the pancakes were different. They didn't have those crispy dark edges like they're fried, and instead were similar to plain Ihop pancakes. I was so disappointed. Maybe it was just a fluke but I don't want to waste my money to try again.
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u/ShineALight3725 3d ago
They arent that relevant in the New England area. I looked it up and there's 8 stores in the entire region. None in Maine and Vermont. NH (1) MA (4) CT (2) RI (1)
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u/FastChampionship2628 2d ago
There are 25 stores in PA, 23 in Delaware, 18 in NJ. They definitely have a larger footprint in certain geographic areas.
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u/Im__fucked 4d ago
I worked at Cracker Barrel for four years, a long time ago. I loved the food. I'm a comfort food kind of person, so it appealed to me. I still get a craving for it sometimes and go get some.
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u/CasanovaF 4d ago
There's one within 5 miles of here, a really quick drive. I don't think I've actually gone to it in the 23 years I've lived here. Just never interested me
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u/genesiskiller96 4d ago
I'd have an opinion if there was a cracker barrel in my town, there is not so i have none.
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u/HambugerBurglarizer 4d ago
We had two Cracker Barrels here for a hot minute. They weren't popular at all and the company closed them down. Make better food?
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u/itsthekumar 4d ago
Thanks for your input.
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u/genesiskiller96 4d ago
For what it's worth, considering it's mostly conservatives that are upset about this logo change then I'm okay with it.
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u/LarenCoe 4d ago
I only tried it once (got the sampler) and thought it was all very bland, except for the ham, which was so salty it was barely edible. Never went back and it's closed now, so good riddance.
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u/EyesLikeBuscemi 4d ago
Shit food, shit service, trying to backpedal away from the right wing dipshits that tried to make it their type of place. The latter is the only thing they have going for them but the first two items make it worthless either way.
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u/zoso190 4d ago
For me, people being mad at a logo change are just looking for any reason to be mad because everything has to political. Over the last few years their life has become their political affiliation and no matter what change happens at a business, the change is because of “woke”. These are the same people who say they will boycott all of these places and companies but never actually do. We will see these MAGA hats in Cracker Barrel just like I still see them in target, at Disney parks and buying bud lite.
As for the restaurant itself, it’s not as good as it used to be but I still go there on a regular and enjoy it.
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u/Servant_3 4d ago
It’s not even a partisan thing people from both sides dislike removal of personality from companies
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u/zoso190 4d ago
I don’t disagree with that but most people that I have seen complaining about the change, which was from my limited exposures online, was because they removed the old white guy, not about the restaurant losing personality. Also, they complained about how Cracker Barrel went woke because they still support the LGTB community.
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u/barbaq24 4d ago
I went to one for the first time in a decade last year in Arlington, TX
Pros: cheap as hell. Decent breakfast. Fresh hot coffee. Sat immediately. Good service. Nothing but good dining experience if you want a classic hot American breakfast for under $20/pp.
Cons: lots of people a little too comfortable being rude to the wait staff. I guess the above cheap prices and decent food make it prime for entitled people. The bathroom was horrifying. Like a human fluid bomb went off.
I think I’d go again. Once a decade couldn’t hurt.