In an aerial view, a Cracker Barrel signal hangs on an indication outdoors of a restaurant in Florida Metropolis, Florida, on Aug. 27, 2025.
Joe Raedle | Getty Pictures
Cracker Barrel Outdated Nation Retailer mentioned Wednesday that the restaurant chain is specializing in enhancing its experiences for company after it confronted intense backlash over an tried rebrand earlier this summer season.
The corporate reported blended fiscal fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday afternoon, and CEO Julie Masino mentioned the corporate is “optimistic” about its future because it heads into subsequent yr.
The inventory sank roughly 10% in after-hours buying and selling.
This is how the corporate carried out in contrast with what Wall Road was anticipating, primarily based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 74 cents adjusted vs. 80 cents anticipated
- Income: $868 million vs. $855 million anticipated
Masino mentioned Cracker Barrel was grateful for patrons voicing their “ardour for Cracker Barrel in current weeks,” and that the corporate is now switching its focus.
“We carried out in depth analysis to tell our strategic plan, however what can’t be captured in information is how a lot our company see themselves and their very own story within the Cracker Barrel expertise, which is what’s led to such a powerful response to those adjustments,” Masino mentioned on a name with analysts Wednesday.
The corporate is now specializing in innovating within the kitchen and “areas that improve the visitor expertise,” Masino mentioned, with the group aiming to return to a “constructive trajectory.”
Nonetheless, Cracker Barrel mentioned it expects complete income for fiscal 2026 of $3.35 billion to $3.45 billion, in contrast with the $3.52 billion analysts anticipated, and a same-store visitors decline of 4% to 7%.
The corporate confronted backlash final month after it introduced a whole rebrand, together with a redesign of its brand and a transforming of its eating places.
The brand new brand scrapped the picture of a person sitting on a picket chair leaning in opposition to a barrel, as a substitute shifting to a less complicated black-and-yellow brand that includes solely “Cracker Barrel,” with out the “Outdated Nation Retailer.” It had been the corporate’s newest transfer in a “strategic transformation” introduced in Might 2024 to reenergize the model.
The eating places have been additionally scheduled to endure transforming to align with the brand new imaginative and prescient.
However the rebrand got here underneath intense scrutiny. Customers on social media known as it “soulless” and “generic,” and conservatives took to social media web site X to argue that the emblem change was an try to take away the American id of the model to cater to range, fairness and inclusion efforts. The inventory sank within the wake of the adjustments.
Cracker Barrel’s outdated and new brand.
Courtesy: Cracker Barrel
Cracker Barrel responded to the criticism, saying the corporate may have “achieved a greater job sharing who we’re and who we’ll all the time be.” The chain mentioned the person from the unique brand, Uncle Herschel, would nonetheless be featured on the menu and a part of the Cracker Barrel “household.”
President Donald Trump even weighed in on the scenario, saying Cracker Barrel “ought to return to the outdated brand, admit a mistake primarily based on buyer response (the final word Ballot) and handle the corporate higher than ever earlier than.”
The identical day, the corporate introduced a surprising reversal, shutting down the rebrand and retaining its unique branding.
“We thank our company for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel. We mentioned we might hear, and we have now. Our new brand goes away and our ‘Outdated Timer’ will stay,” the corporate mentioned in an announcement.
Masino mentioned on the Wednesday name that 4 areas with the fashionable designs are already being reverted to the standard “Outdated Timer” signage.
“That is why our group pivoted rapidly to change again to our ‘Outdated Timer’ brand and has already begun executing new advertising, promoting and social media initiatives leaning into Uncle Herschel and the nostalgia across the model with extra to come back,” Masino mentioned on the Wednesday name.
She added that the corporate is launching “Entrance Porch Suggestions” on Thursday to construct on what Cracker Barrel has acquired over current weeks. The brand new device will permit reward members to remark on to group members after each go to, Masino mentioned.
The corporate additionally introduced it was suspending all of its restaurant remodels.
Shares of the corporate rose after the reversal, principally restoring its losses. Since its first announcement, Cracker Barrel misplaced and regained virtually $100 million in market worth.
“Cracker Barrel isn’t just an outdated nation retailer or a restaurant,” Masino mentioned. “It is the entrance porch of America, and we take that very significantly.”
