Steak 'N Shake Restaurant Comes Out with Razor Sharp Takedown of Cracker Barrel's Rebranding
Restaurant chain Steak ‘n Shake took the opportunity — in light of Crack Barrel’s recent logo redesign — to bolster their own values and history.
On Thursday, Steak ‘n Shake posted on social media platform X, chiming in on Cracker Barrel‘s decision to remove the man sitting in a chair next to a barrel from their logo.
The chain offered its followers a razor-sharp takedown of why the change was a poor decision, noting the formula that made Cracker Barrel such a success in the first place.
“Sometimes, people want to change things just to put their own personality on things. At CB, their goal is to just delete the personality altogether.
“Hence, the elimination of the ‘old-timer’ from the signage. Heritage is what got Cracker Barrel this far, and now the CEO wants to just scrape it all away,” the chain wrote, noting how dramatic this recent shift was from Cracker Barrel’s appeal that saw customers flock there for decades.
Sometimes, people want to change things just to put their own personality on things. At CB, their goal is to just delete the personality altogether. Hence, the elimination of the “old-timer” from the signage. Heritage is what got Cracker Barrel this far, and now the CEO wants to… pic.twitter.com/Aoml8ZOfuT
— Steak ‘n Shake (@SteaknShake) August 21, 2025
The post continued, “At Steak n Shake, we take pride in our history, our families, and American values. All are welcome. We will never market ourselves away from our past in a cheap effort to gain the approval of trend seekers.”
Cracker Barrel seems to be falling into the same thought process as Hollywood.
They want to cater to a “modern audience,” and change does that.
The problem is that such an audience doesn’t exist. Managers, CEOs, and marketing executives are just projecting their own beliefs and biases onto the brand.
They’ve forgotten what the customer actually wants.
Cracker Barrel had an aesthetic that spoke to people’s values and an appreciation for the past.
Customers saw their family members in the old logo. The man in the chair was a father, uncle, or grandfather.
Despite walking into a chain, Cracker Barrel felt familiar.
The antiques on the wall made customers forget this was a chain at all — or at least made them appreciate that a chain restaurant was making the effort to feel familiar in a manner rooted in American culture and history.
Sadly, this appreciation for the past is now itself part of the past.
Now according to Fox Business, Cracker Barrel’s stocks are taking a tumble, driving home the point that this is a change welcomed from within but loathed by the public.
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