Cracker Barrel responded to the backlash of its rebrand and offered its customers a concession to keep part of the old logo.
“If the last few days have shown us anything, it’s how deeply people care about Cracker Barrel. We’re truly grateful for your heartfelt voices. You’ve also shown us that we could’ve done a better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be,” Cracker Barrel said in a statement Monday.
“We know we won’t always get everything right the first time, but we’ll keep testing, learning, and listening to our guests and employees,” it said.
This comes after the restaurant opted to rebrand its logo to read “Cracker Barrel” only and removed its tagline, “Old Country Store.”
“At the end of the day, our promise is simple: you’ll always find comfort, community, and country hospitality here at Cracker Barrel. Uncle Herschel wouldn’t have wanted it any other way,” the statement reads.
Cracker Barrel assured its customers that “Uncle Herschel,” the man portrayed in the previous logo leaning on a barrel, would still appear on merchandise after his image was scrubbed from the logo in a rebrand. Herschel was the uncle of the founder, Dan Evins.
“We love seeing how much you care about our ‘old timer.’ We love him too. Uncle Herschel will still be on our menu (welcome back Uncle Herschel’s Favorite Breakfast Platter), on our road signs and featured in our country store. He’s not going anywhere — he’s family,” the statement reads.
Arthur MacWaters claimed he was fired from a Cracker Barrel because “a small group of angry activists didn’t like that we took the old guy off the logo and threw a fit.”
Cracker Barrel confirmed to the Washington Examiner that it had no record of MacWaters working for the restaurant chain.
CRACKER BARREL FACES BACKLASH OVER MODERNIZED LOGO DESPITE CEO’S SPIN
Cracker Barrel’s stock price hovered at about $54 a share after it took a nosedive following the rebrand last week. Since the announcement of the logo, the stock price has declined by roughly 11%.