Bud Light

[Ken]

2025 / Cracker Barrel

THE HILL / Cracker Barrel reverses course, sheds new logo after backlash
https://thehill.com/business/5471983-ba ... go-change/

Alissa Heinerscheid‘s Cracker Barrel cousin didn’t get the memo.

Alissa H / Bud Light
https://summerstirs.com/what-has-happen ... nerscheid/

This is one of the goofiest culture war issues I’ve seen the right wing fall far.

#1, Bud Light didn’t change their logo or rebrand.

#2, Cracker Barrel never did anything “woke”. This isn’t a left vs. right issue. They did spend $700 million on a rebranding which has been universally panned, and they have drastically reduced the quality of the food at their restaurants over the past 6 months (eg the biscuits aren’t fresh baked anymore but are just pre-frozen and then thawed/microwaved).

I know, it is stupid right?

This is the real problem with Cracker Barrel. Their stock has declined 52% in the past 5 years and way more than that since their high of 175 in 2021. It seems that old timey kitsch isn't as popular as it used to be and they are looking for new markets since their customer base is aging. And so management is looking for some easy way to turn things around. They also have bad locations mostly around freeway interchanges which maybe worked when they were more of a destination place, but not so much when they are basically just a southern version of Denny's. Who wants to drive to some freeway interchange on the edge of town just for chicken-fried pork chops and grits?

Also I expect they have a more recent tariff problem since I'm guessing that most of the kitsch they sell in their stores comes straight from China. And they probably don't have any immediate non-tariff replacement sources for fake country kitsch.

v

[temporal1]

.. So, these eager young ladies in corporate marketing doubtless have big ideas about their worth.
All they have to do is say it to make it so.
Then reality settles in.

i did not foresee a time when “white college educated liberal women” would become their own demographic.
i’m reading these words. (i don’t think it’s limited to white.)

i’m guessing this is causing havoc in politics/Congress, too.
As if the world was just waiting for them to arrive.

It’s a financial problem that academia isn’t preparing students to recognize, let alone provide effective remedies.

Yep. I would be sorely tempted to fire whoever thought it was a good idea to spend $700MM to switch the logo to something that looks worse than the existing logo.

Old school math.

From young, i counseled my grdaughter to not poo-poo old school math.
Great countries were built on it.

[Jazman]

2025 / Cracker Barrel

THE HILL / Cracker Barrel reverses course, sheds new logo after backlash
https://thehill.com/business/5471983-ba ... go-change/

Alissa Heinerscheid‘s Cracker Barrel cousin didn’t get the memo.

Alissa H / Bud Light
https://summerstirs.com/what-has-happen ... nerscheid/

This is one of the goofiest culture war issues I’ve seen the right wing fall far.

#1, Bud Light didn’t change their logo or rebrand.

#2, Cracker Barrel never did anything “woke”. This isn’t a left vs. right issue. They did spend $700 million on a rebranding which has been universally panned, and they have drastically reduced the quality of the food at their restaurants over the past 6 months (eg the biscuits aren’t fresh baked anymore but are just pre-frozen and then thawed/microwaved).

We don't agree often, but I'm with you on this... if this Cracker Barrel thing is a left-wing/woke move then why do left-leaning designers like myself and others see this move as idiotic in a marketing sense and are very critical of this move as well? I haven't looked into it much, but I understand right-wing media is really worked up, but that doesn't mean the move came from leftist ideology... it just means right-wing media is worked up by it for some reason. From what I can tell, this CB move is a typical short-sighted, misreading-their-market corporatist move... something that all kinds of companies have done, including claiming 'conservative, family-values, God'sOwnParty owned/operated ones. I did listen to a right-wing take on this earlier in the week and I was pretty much in agreement with her take until she started blaming it all on the "leftist, modernist corporate world of the last 50-60yrs (and then she starting using some more egregious epithets...)" - She was very incensed that all these entities do is make "america, ugly".... and I wished I could have stopped her and asked her about all the big american corporate brands, companies - owned by the GOP/ right-wing donor class who have gleefully and relentlessly participated in making america into a sprawling suburbia of ugly concrete, soulless, block buildings/design without character or "beauty" (as they define it btw)... Sure, a lot of center, left developers, designers, owners, corporate boards, etc have participated in that as well, but to pin it ALL on some woke, leftist mob... Nah, the closer truth is that all of american society in various ways has contributed to things like the CB debacle....

[Jazman]

Also I expect they have a more recent tariff problem since I'm guessing that most of the kitsch they sell in their stores comes straight from China. And they probably don't have any immediate non-tariff replacement sources for fake country kitsch.

Ha, I didn't even think of that... maybe a case of the leopard eating its face?

[Ken]

2025 / Cracker Barrel

THE HILL / Cracker Barrel reverses course, sheds new logo after backlash
https://thehill.com/business/5471983-ba ... go-change/

Alissa Heinerscheid‘s Cracker Barrel cousin didn’t get the memo.

Alissa H / Bud Light
https://summerstirs.com/what-has-happen ... nerscheid/

This is one of the goofiest culture war issues I’ve seen the right wing fall far.

#1, Bud Light didn’t change their logo or rebrand.

#2, Cracker Barrel never did anything “woke”. This isn’t a left vs. right issue. They did spend $700 million on a rebranding which has been universally panned, and they have drastically reduced the quality of the food at their restaurants over the past 6 months (eg the biscuits aren’t fresh baked anymore but are just pre-frozen and then thawed/microwaved).

We don't agree often, but I'm with you on this... if this Cracker Barrel thing is a left-wing/woke move then why do left-leaning designers like myself and others see this move as idiotic in a marketing sense and are very critical of this move as well? I haven't looked into it much, but I understand right-wing media is really worked up, but that doesn't mean the move came from leftist ideology... it just means right-wing media is worked up by it for some reason. From what I can tell, this CB move is a typical short-sighted, misreading-their-market corporatist move... something that all kinds of companies have done, including claiming 'conservative, family-values, God'sOwnParty owned/operated ones. I did listen to a right-wing take on this earlier in the week and I was pretty much in agreement with her take until she started blaming it all on the "leftist, modernist corporate world of the last 50-60yrs (and then she starting using some more egregious epithets...)" - She was very incensed that all these entities do is make "america, ugly".... and I wished I could have stopped her and asked her about all the big american corporate brands, companies - owned by the GOP/ right-wing donor class who have gleefully and relentlessly participated in making america into a sprawling suburbia of ugly concrete, soulless, block buildings/design without character or "beauty" (as they define it btw)... Sure, a lot of center, left developers, designers, owners, corporate boards, etc have participated in that as well, but to pin it ALL on some woke, leftist mob... Nah, the closer truth is that all of american society in various ways has contributed to things like the CB debacle....

I'm sure Cracker Barrel does actually understand their market and customer base. They have the resources to do market research. And track their customer base. Every corporation does.

What they have found is that their single store sales and revenues have been declining, especially since the pandemic. I think I read that their revenues are down 19% since 2021. This is mostly because they have an aging White baby boomer customer base that is declining. And they aren't attracting much in the way of new Gen-X, Millennial and Gen-Z customers, probably because the stores look like some place your grandpa would go.

So Cracker Barrel is faced with the dilemma of how do they attract a new customer base without alienating the old one? Maybe it is an impossible nut to crack. Who knows. But what they tried doing by modernizing their stores and logos obviously didn't work. And note, the $700 million they reportedly spent wasn't for changing the logos. It was mostly for upgrading the interiors of their restaurants and re-designing their retail spaces. They may have rolled back their logo-change to the old logo and sign. But I don't think they are reversing all the interior remodeling that they are going to their stores and restaurants.

The fact that a whole bunch of right-wing knuckleheads on the internet have thrown a hissy fit about some corporate logo change is frankly kind of hilarious. This sort of thing is routine. Every company changes their logos over time. For example:

[barnhart]

Has anyone considered the idea the "logo change" was a purposeful publicity stunt designed to entice the culture warriors to embrace the brand.

[QuietlyListening]

Has anyone considered the idea the "logo change" was a purposeful publicity stunt designed to entice the culture warriors to embrace the brand.

Interesting thought and wouldn't put it past any company to do just that.

[temporal1]

Has anyone considered the idea the "logo change" was a purposeful publicity stunt designed to entice the culture warriors to embrace the brand.

Interesting thought and wouldn't put it past any company to do just that.

Could be. Esp because of the similarity with Bud Light’s marketing genius. Alissa Heinerscheid. Nearly identical.
However, i don’t sense that level forethought and planning going on among the elite with hundreds of millions to gamble.

i viewed both ladies justifying their visions for the future. i don’t recall the CB’s lady’s name.
i read she had a marketing committee of 8 women, i presume 8 like-minded young women, fresh out of college.

i don’t care to find sources. i’m not suggesting what i saw was The Word of God.
i’m not lying or exaggerating what i saw.

[Ken]

Has anyone considered the idea the "logo change" was a purposeful publicity stunt designed to entice the culture warriors to embrace the brand.

I don't think they are playing that degree of 4th dimensional chess. I think the real issue is that Cracker Barrel is basically a faux antique shop. And for the most part, no one Gen-X or younger is into antiques anymore. Google up "decline of antique business" and you will see a bazillion business articles about how the bottom has fallen out of the antique industry and young people really have no interest in collecting antiques these days. Or even inheriting family "heirloom" antiques. With a few exceptions like mid-century modern furniture and craftsman stuff which is still popular.

And so Cracker Barrel was on the wrong side of that trend and figured that they needed to rebrand their business to attract a younger audience to replace the boomers and older folk who are disappearing. Because Cracker Barrel sales were falling and falling. Both their restaurant and gift shop business.

Prior to their remodel, this is what the restaurants looked like inside:



And this is what the stores looked like inside:



So basically Cracker Barrel's look was "faux antique shop." I don't know what the new remodeled restaurants look like. But I think they are just a lot cleaner and less cluttered looking. Although without the antique-y look I'm not sure what marketing angle they even had anymore. That was their whole schtick .

[temporal1]

Is it ok to not be impressed with presumptions people make who are not customers, AND not even reading reports of what’s going on? Opinions are great, but, i guess i’m more accustomed to informed opinions on this site. Take a stab at understanding.

i’m also not a customer of Bud Light or CB, but i have read something about the complaints. No more, no less any current event.
Not emotional, not obsessive, as accusations describe. Insulting those you’ve never met, nor listened to, comes across as desperate.

i read CB is ditching the rainbow rocking chairs, and they’ve removed their Pride page.

i’ve also read, without much pomp, lots of corporations (and universities) are cooling it on promotion of various unwanted social engineering experiments. It’s not just “those grumpy bigoted old folks”. Reports are, a current large lib-voting, protesting, demographic ARE boomers. i was shocked to see who was caught vandalizing Teslas. Not young’ns.

The world is “here” for intolerant reasons. Not listening and name calling (for decades) isn’t getting a free pass.
The politically UNorganized may be slow to act, but, eventually .. 2024 happens.