So glad you wrote about this. Why do brands insist on hiring people who hate their products and customers? A more appropriate CEO would be Wilford Brimleys grandson or maybe an aunt from duck dynasty. Not a McKinsey fembot clone
actually I worked with some McK consultants. They would not have done this. at most, they would have done some market research, looked at existing customers AND younger, hipper types. and act accordingly. this move can't possibly have involved market research with existing customers. data show it costs 2x to get a new customer than keep an existing one. this has all the marks of this witch getting an idea (everybody is like me) and ramming it through. where is the board?! probably owned by Blackrock's wokey money.
I have just one disagreement with this post: "...bearded, gun toting middle Americans not only dislike change — "
Decades ago I gave up the Animal Farm mentality of Massachusetts to join the unwashed 'live and let live' peons of Ohio. The main rule here is, "I promise to stay out of your face, if you promise to stay out of mine." I've never felt so free. Somehow, to the Left and Right Coasters, that makes us White Supremacists (even those of us who are Black).
We aren't opposed to change, but when we change we do it on our terms, not Washington, NYC or CA's terms.
I hope this helps to clear some things up.
Oh, and Cracker Barrel has great food, even if it doesn't serve sushi. As for its business model, it's pure genius.
I wonder if she was behind adding beer and cocktails to the menu… doesn’t go over well with their customer base, at least in the South. The rainbow pride stickers on the rocking chairs were also a fail.
AT a time when liquor sales nationally have cratered especially amongst her coveted younger generation. Maybe a smoking area for weed is the next phase. And lots of orange red and yellow walls and chairs to hurry those old bastards out of there before the hipsters show up. How about making a family friendly kids discount plan to bring in the next generation to keep the existing vibe alive. Just like we used to do with grampa!
Woke douche. She should run for office with Newscum
Great article. You’re on fire the past couple days.
I’m sure her opinion is the place is full of boomers(that don’t worry too much about the bill or calories) and thereby unappealing to younger folks. It probably is a Bud Light moment.
I, for one, see no need to go to a rebranded Cracker Barrel. It seems that forgetting your roots tends to hint at future disaster.
What’s also notable about this is that with minimal creativity they could have had campaigns to bring in a younger audience. Gen Z and X love to post about how much they love their grandparents etc - do a cross-gen promotion - bring a millennial free cheddar biscuits for the table! Post a selfie with grandma and get a $10 coupon! Go to local knitting/church groups/gun clubs and offer samples and coupons!
These are ideas that took seconds of thought, would not require a multi million marketing spend and actually have a chance of increasing sales and customers.
I guess an important question that I have no idea how to answer is, "Did Cracker Barrel need to do 'something'?"' Was their stock cratering anyhow? Were their long-term YOY sales figures going down, down? The specifics of the re-brand as presented seem ghastly . . . but did the CEO (or the board she reports to) know something needed to change?
Bud Light had a loyal and growing customer base. Did Cracker Barrel? I haven't been in a Cracker Barrel since the early 90s. Few of the rugged, loyal customers in the picture look likely to be alive in a decade. Would not planning growth on expanding a dying Boomer customer base be CEO malfeasance? It is not clear to me how a tastefully simplified logo is "woke."
Review the excessive number of execs w/ overlapping responsibilities on the management section of their investor page. Notice the extreme homogeneity of their "corporate" backgrounds. Then check out their Board. Same Corp homogeneity. Then look at Corp Governance where there are 15 plus board committees which are no doubt micromanaging EC ver ry aspect of this business.
A corporate raider type needs to gut the board and the management team, which comprises a vast excessively political bureaucracy, and hire a few entrepreneurial types to reinvigorate what mad Cracker Barrel "Cracker Barrel". It aint Joanna Gaines whitewashed interiors...
Had she left the logo alone and just did a facelift in the stores and tweaked the menu, she might have gotten away with it. But girlbosses gotta girlboss. Oh well.
You have to consider how unimaginably traumatic it was for her at the Harvard alumni dinner.
“I’m a restaurant chain CEO”
“Wow, that’s amazing! Which one? Cava? Sweetgreen?”
“No. Cracker Barrel”
“Oh.”
The pain, the trauma. I only hope that with this rebrand she and her board members were able cleanse themselves of the stink their customers.
It gets even more traumatic: her prior experience was VP of something something at Taco Bell.
That tracks. They took all the Mexico out of Taco Bell during that time.
💯
So glad you wrote about this. Why do brands insist on hiring people who hate their products and customers? A more appropriate CEO would be Wilford Brimleys grandson or maybe an aunt from duck dynasty. Not a McKinsey fembot clone
Or John Daly
actually I worked with some McK consultants. They would not have done this. at most, they would have done some market research, looked at existing customers AND younger, hipper types. and act accordingly. this move can't possibly have involved market research with existing customers. data show it costs 2x to get a new customer than keep an existing one. this has all the marks of this witch getting an idea (everybody is like me) and ramming it through. where is the board?! probably owned by Blackrock's wokey money.
Exactly, Black Rock, Vanguard and State Street are big shareholders. Probably setting up CB for asset stripping and liquidation.
As an aside, I’m curious as to why progressive white females always select the same eyeglass frames?
Spending huge amounts of money on coastal elite marketing firms to sporadically "update" logos is a hallmark of bad management and weak branding.
I have just one disagreement with this post: "...bearded, gun toting middle Americans not only dislike change — "
Decades ago I gave up the Animal Farm mentality of Massachusetts to join the unwashed 'live and let live' peons of Ohio. The main rule here is, "I promise to stay out of your face, if you promise to stay out of mine." I've never felt so free. Somehow, to the Left and Right Coasters, that makes us White Supremacists (even those of us who are Black).
We aren't opposed to change, but when we change we do it on our terms, not Washington, NYC or CA's terms.
I hope this helps to clear some things up.
Oh, and Cracker Barrel has great food, even if it doesn't serve sushi. As for its business model, it's pure genius.
I wonder if she was behind adding beer and cocktails to the menu… doesn’t go over well with their customer base, at least in the South. The rainbow pride stickers on the rocking chairs were also a fail.
Hon, don’t be ticking off the grandparents!
AT a time when liquor sales nationally have cratered especially amongst her coveted younger generation. Maybe a smoking area for weed is the next phase. And lots of orange red and yellow walls and chairs to hurry those old bastards out of there before the hipsters show up. How about making a family friendly kids discount plan to bring in the next generation to keep the existing vibe alive. Just like we used to do with grampa!
Woke douche. She should run for office with Newscum
Great article. You’re on fire the past couple days.
I’m sure her opinion is the place is full of boomers(that don’t worry too much about the bill or calories) and thereby unappealing to younger folks. It probably is a Bud Light moment.
I, for one, see no need to go to a rebranded Cracker Barrel. It seems that forgetting your roots tends to hint at future disaster.
Funny, insightful, and on point. A Raven classic!
To paraphrase the famous words of former Detroit Lions head coach Darryl Rogers: “What’s a gal go to do to get fired around here?”
What’s also notable about this is that with minimal creativity they could have had campaigns to bring in a younger audience. Gen Z and X love to post about how much they love their grandparents etc - do a cross-gen promotion - bring a millennial free cheddar biscuits for the table! Post a selfie with grandma and get a $10 coupon! Go to local knitting/church groups/gun clubs and offer samples and coupons!
These are ideas that took seconds of thought, would not require a multi million marketing spend and actually have a chance of increasing sales and customers.
Buy Waffle House.
I guess an important question that I have no idea how to answer is, "Did Cracker Barrel need to do 'something'?"' Was their stock cratering anyhow? Were their long-term YOY sales figures going down, down? The specifics of the re-brand as presented seem ghastly . . . but did the CEO (or the board she reports to) know something needed to change?
Bud Light had a loyal and growing customer base. Did Cracker Barrel? I haven't been in a Cracker Barrel since the early 90s. Few of the rugged, loyal customers in the picture look likely to be alive in a decade. Would not planning growth on expanding a dying Boomer customer base be CEO malfeasance? It is not clear to me how a tastefully simplified logo is "woke."
It literally looks like they made the logo with a free AI tool.
Erasing tradition with bland corporate clip art is not tasteful.
Review the excessive number of execs w/ overlapping responsibilities on the management section of their investor page. Notice the extreme homogeneity of their "corporate" backgrounds. Then check out their Board. Same Corp homogeneity. Then look at Corp Governance where there are 15 plus board committees which are no doubt micromanaging EC ver ry aspect of this business.
A corporate raider type needs to gut the board and the management team, which comprises a vast excessively political bureaucracy, and hire a few entrepreneurial types to reinvigorate what mad Cracker Barrel "Cracker Barrel". It aint Joanna Gaines whitewashed interiors...
Next up: Barrel Cracker. Ok that makes zero sense so the odds are non zero.
Bob Evan’s is clapping up in heaven.
Had she left the logo alone and just did a facelift in the stores and tweaked the menu, she might have gotten away with it. But girlbosses gotta girlboss. Oh well.
Spot on Blackbird!