Cracker Barrel's new logo causes controversy; chain plans pop-up store in Meatpacking District
The previous Cracker Barrel logo on a store in Michigan. Credit: Getty Images / Tasos Katopodis
Cracker Barrel's new logo has stirred up the ire of some conservatives online.
The Tennessee-based southern food chain's trademark yellow signs, which have served as a beacon for weary travelers, have undergone an update for the first time since 1977.
The new logo removes the image of "a man relaxing by a cracker barrel, representing the old country store experience where folks would gather around and share stories," the company said in a statement.
Cracker Barrel's new logo Credit: Cracker Barrel
"Our values haven't changed, and the heart and soul of Cracker Barrel haven’t changed," the company said in a statement Thursday. "Cracker Barrel has been a destination for comfort and community for more than half a century, and this fifth evolution of the brand’s logo, which works across digital platforms as well as billboards and roadside signs, is a call-back to the original and rooted even more in the iconic barrel shape and word mark that started it all back in 1969."
The change has angered members of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, including his son, who joined others on social media to denounce the move.
What "is wrong with Cracker Barrel ??!" Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, said on X while attacking the company's CEO, Julie Felss Masino.
"She scrapped a beloved American aesthetic and replaced it with sterile, soulless branding," the tweet said.
New Yorkers craving famous biscuits and gravy from Cracker Barrel, and Long Islanders yearning for a store of their own, can get a taste of southern fare Thursday during a pop-up restaurant in Manhattan.
The menu will feature its fall and signature menu during an event with country singer Jordan Davis at the temporary site in New York's Meatpacking District.
The restaurant and singer announced the pop-up starting at 1 p.m. Thursday in Gansevoort Plaza at the corner of Gansevoort and Hudson streets.
"The Taste of Country, Anytime event will bring the full Cracker Barrel country hospitality experience to the big city, complete with entertainment on the front porch, rocking chairs, classic Cracker Barrel games and crave-worthy food," the restaurant announced.
It may be the closest Long Islanders can come to getting a taste of fried chicken and other menu staples from a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, without driving to restaurants in upstate Fishkill, New Jersey or Milford, Connecticut.
The chain restaurant had flirted with opening a restaurant on Long Island in 2018, but the company said Thursday that there were no immediate plans to expand in New York or Long Island.
In 2018, construction companies known for building the roadside eateries explored bids for a possible site off Crooked Hill Road in Commack, but plans never materialized.
Some Long Islanders have been yearning for the restaurant to come to the region for a decade, amid unfounded rumors in 2015.
The chain has 660 restaurants in 44 states.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
'We had absolutely no idea what happened to her' What began as a desperate hunt for Shannan Gilbert in the marshes near Gilgo Beach became, in three astonishing days in December 2010, the unmasking of a possible serial killer. NewsdayTV's Doug Geed has more.
'We had absolutely no idea what happened to her' What began as a desperate hunt for Shannan Gilbert in the marshes near Gilgo Beach became, in three astonishing days in December 2010, the unmasking of a possible serial killer. NewsdayTV's Doug Geed has more.
