The US restaurant chain is abandoning its brand after the new logo spurred a fire online criticism.
Cracker Barrel, a US restaurant chain known for its South-style cuisine, has abandoned its controversial brand following a backlash plagued by prominent right-wing figures, including Donald Trump.
The Lebanon-based chain, Tennessee, said Tuesday it would restore its decades-old logo after the announcement of its simplified design sparked a fire of criticism online.
“We said we’ll listen, and we have. Our new logo will go away and our ‘old timer’ will remain,” the company said in a statement.
“At Cracker Barrel, it has always been and always has been about offering delicious food, warm welcome and country hospitality that feels like family.
With over 600 stores across the US, Cracker Barrel unveiled a new logo last week as part of the brand’s “Fifth Evolution,” discarding the image of a sitting man leaning against the barrel in favor of a simplified text-only design.
The redesign urged a quick backlash in the right-wing circles, with some commentators claiming the company has “wakened.” This is a term that makes you laugh at what conservatives see as an overfixation to racial and gender diversity.
Cracker Barrel’s stock, which had fallen sharply amid the rebound, rose more than 7% in after-hours trading after the reversal.
Squeezing the uproar shortly before the cracker barrel announcement on Tuesday, Trump called on the company to return to its old logo and “accept the mistake.”
“If they play their cards correctly, they got $1 billion worth of free publicity. It’s a very difficult, but a great opportunity,” the US president wrote on his Platform Truth Social.
Following the cracker barrel U-turn, Trump celebrated the chain’s change.
“All the fans are very grateful,” Trump wrote about the true society.
“Good luck for the future. Earn lots of money, and most importantly, make our customers happy again!”
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has used the presidency to exert an extraordinary level of influence on private companies.
Trump announced last week that the US government had taken a 10% stake in Intel. This comes days after chip giants Nvidia and AMD confirmed they agreed to pay 15% of their revenues from China’s chip sales to Washington’s funding.
Last month, Coca-Cola announced it would release a version of its signature drink made with cane sugar in the United States after claiming that Trump had persuaded the company to start using sweeteners in favor of high-fructose corn syrup.
