The hits just keep coming for Cracker Barrel.
Days after pressure from the general public and president of the United States made the comfort food chain reverse course on its widely panned brand refresh, Cracker Barrel is once again raising the white flag and pressing pause on similarly criticized remodels of its restaurants.
But much like Bud Light before it, Cracker Barrel leadership has not taken responsibility for the black eye that led its stock to tumble and patrons to stay home. On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Andrew Klavan, author of After That, the Dark, to discuss what went wrong and why there needs to be accountability.
Cracker Barrel Caves… Again
Cracker Barrel confirmed in a press release Tuesday that it is ending plans to expand the “modern remodel design” it had implemented at a handful of its 660 locations. The renovations – which replaced the restaurants’ nostalgic, kitschy interiors with a sleek, uncluttered design – had been slammed as cold, sterile, and off-brand for the country-inspired chain.
“You’ve shared your voices in recent weeks not just on our logo, but also on our restaurants. We’re continuing to listen,” the company said. “Today, we’re suspending our remodels. If your restaurant hasn’t been remodeled, you don’t need to worry, it won’t be.”
The announcement came two weeks after Cracker Barrel pumped the brakes on a rebrand that removed the old man perched on a chair and the namesake barrel from its logo. The backlash to the changes were swift, with many accusing the company of going woke.
President Donald Trump even weighed in on the controversy, encouraging Cracker Barrel to drop the new direction and accept defeat. “Make Cracker Barrel a WINNER again,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Days later, the brand did just that. But it was clearly not enough to quiet the consternation among fans of the restaurant chain, which has also been under fire for the remodels and adjustments to its food preparation process. The company’s stock, meanwhile, remains down more than 11 percent from where it was before any of the changes were announced.
‘Where’s the Accountability?’
In scrapping the brand updates and remodel plans, Cracker Barrel admitted it “could have done a better job” with the rollout of the changes. And while acknowledging its latest defeat on Tuesday, the company said it “heard clearly that the modern remodel design does not reflect what you love about Cracker Barrel.”
That is a very different tune than embattled CEO Julie Felss Masino was singing back on August 19 when she claimed on Good Morning America that the updates were super popular with patrons. “Honestly, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive that people like what we’re doing,” she told host Michael Strahan.
Megyn said it is clear Felss Masino had no pulse on what customers actually go to Cracker Barrel for. “They started redoing all the restaurants in a way that completely sanitized them, made them totally antiseptic like you were going to perform a surgery in there, as opposed to go with your family for a good, home cooked kind of meal,” she noted. “This has been such an amazing public beat down that has completely brought Cracker Barrel to its knees.”
And that is why, Megyn said, there needs to be accountability. “The big-glasses liberal lady was wrong on every front. So, here’s my question to you: Where’s the accountability? Why aren’t we getting the announcement that Julie Felss Masino is out,” she asked. “The same thing happened at Bud Light. They quietly, after a huge kerfuffle, moved that lunatic marketing woman off the post, but the CEO stayed. There’s no accountability. It’s just like quietly skulking back to the original hoping nobody noticed your folly.”
Regardless of what happens, Klavan said this was a worthwhile cause for conservatives to get behind. “These are the things that have to be fought over,” he concluded. “I know it’s sometimes silly. I know it seems sometimes petty. But no.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Klavan by tuning in to episode 1,144 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.