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Cracker Barrel’s New Modern Logo and Aesthetic Become a Political Rorschach Test

Nostalgic fans of the interstate staple lament the loss of its country kitsch, while some conservatives blamed wokeness for the sleek redesign.

The exterior of a Cracker Barrel restaurant, with white rocking chairs lined up near the entrance.

Aug. 21, 2025, 11:28 a.m. ET

First it came for your grandma’s floral curtains. Then it marched on your parents’ wooden cabinets — Paint them Millennial Gray, it whispered, natural grain is boring. Before you knew it, there was shiplap on the walls and a ceramic farmhouse sink where the double-basin stainless one used to be.

Now, the modern farmhouse aesthetic has taken root in an American country staple: Cracker Barrel.

Gone are the dark walls and natural hardwood, the country kitsch aesthetic that anchored any childhood road trip through the American south. In horrified, intrigued — and, sometimes, angry — posts across the internet, Cracker Barrel’s faithful are watching the chain remake itself this year under its “All the More” campaign, with bright walls, crisp decór and, now, a new logo that will change Interstate amenity signs everywhere.

In a statement, the chain declared the revamp a “fresh” new look, part of a yearslong effort to update itself. But the restaurant’s rebrand has emerged as a Rorschach test in America’s divided political landscape. A new logo is not just a new logo for Cracker Barrel, where the addition of meatless sausages to the menu in 2022 sparked a furious debate over values and so-called “wokeness.”

The new stamp sparked a torrent of outrage from MAGA voices, including Donald J. Trump Jr.

“WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrell??!” the president’s eldest son said in a post on X, responding to a post that claimed the rebrand was linked to the chain’s use of inclusive hiring practices.

“It’s almost as if groups on both sides of the political spectrum are looking for an excuse to brand business decisions as politically or socially hostile,” said Jill Fisch, a professor of business law at the University of Pennsylvania who studies how corporations operate in political spaces.

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The company has unveiled a new menu and a sleeker logo.Credit...Cracker Barrel

“Our story hasn’t changed. Our values haven’t changed. With ‘All the More,’ we’re honoring our legacy while bringing fresh energy,” Sarah Moore, Cracker Barrel’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement this week.

It is a legacy that is many things, to many people: thick gravy and greasy casseroles; a homage to small town Americana; a tchotke market; a political totem, associated with conservative values; the home of the rudimentary peg game, which may be existentially tied to the Cracker Barrel universe.

In posts earlier this year, longtime customers lamented the remodel of their childhood locations. In one viral TikTok post, a user walks through a revamped location with a grim soundtrack and caption: “When Cracker Barrel took away the last piece of nostalgia you had left.”

The company marched ahead in its rebrand this week, unveiling a new menu and a sleeker logo. Still using its signature brown and gold, the stamp is now shaped like a barrel, its name emblazoned in smoother, modern font, losing the more ornate midcentury flourishes. Notably absent is the namesake guy-and-a-barrel, sometimes known as the “Old Timer,” who featured in the brand’s original 1977 logo, which was first sketched on a napkin.

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Branding guidelines for the new Cracker Barrel campaign. Credit...Cracker Barrel

The Cracker Barrel chain, evoking Southern style home cooking and hospitality, and long seen as a white-coded establishment that aligned with conservative social norms, has emerged as a lightning rod for identity politics. Established in Tennessee in 1969, the chain’s history is rife with accusations of racial and sexual discrimination. A 2004 Department of Justice investigation found some locations had violated the Civil Rights Act, engaging in widespread practices of segregation and discrimination across dozens of its restaurants.

But in recent years, the chain has drawn the ire of the MAGA movement as it embraced more inclusive policies and shirked old ones. In 1991, the chain introduced a policy that said that employing people “whose sexual preference fails to demonstrate normal heterosexual values which have been the foundation of families in our society” went against its core values, which led to the company firing some L.G.B.T.Q. employees before it reversed course. In recent years, it has embraced Pride celebrations and supports an employee L.G.B.T.Q. alliance.

“One of the challenges is that if you willingly or unwillingly associate yourself with a political perspective, then it becomes very hard not to disappoint someone,” Ms. Fisch said. “And you disappoint people when you change.”

Dozens of the chain’s locations have been revamped, and company officials say the reviews have been largely positive. At The Wall Street Journal’s Global Food Forum this year, the Cracker Barrel chief executive Julie Felss Masino said the glum responses are actually a positive, showing how loyal visitors are to the chain.

“We’re here to take them through it because we want them to love the brand,” she said.