Dear John,

Cracker Barrel is scrambling.

First, the company announced a glossy “Strategic Transformation Plan.” They promised remodeled stores, a new logo, and a corporate makeover to make the brand feel “fresh and relevant.”

Then came the backlash. Families saw through the changes. The first remodeled stores drew outrage. When the new logo was unveiled in August, the response was so fierce that Cracker Barrel reversed course within days, abandoning the redesign.

Now the company has taken another step, but not because it wanted to.

The logo fiasco and stripped-down décor exposed the real crisis: leadership abandoned the values that gave Cracker Barrel its soul.

Those surface issues became the release valve you and millions of Americans needed to express outrage at the aggressive push for DEI quotas, Pride sponsorships, and woke politics forced onto both employees and the loyal Cracker Barrel customers.

The Pride webpage that once bragged about “bringing the porch to Pride” has quietly disappeared. Visitors are redirected to a standard “Culture and Belonging” section.

In a statement, Cracker Barrel admitted the site had been changed, saying they had removed “out-of-date content.” Translation: the pressure we placed on them was too much!

At the same time, they revealed that their direct sponsorships and events will be directed toward food insecurity, community needs, and reducing waste. Translation: no more pride over Pride Parades.

These retreats reveal something important. You and I spoke up, and Cracker Barrel is feeling the heat.

But the problem is not logos or webpages. The problem is leadership that abandoned the values of the American family.

President Trump put it plainly:
“Cracker Barrel should… admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate poll), and make Cracker Barrel a WINNER again.”

Earlier this week, one of the men who built Cracker Barrel from the ground up spoke out. At 93 years old, co-founder Tommy Lowe called the $700 million rebrand “throwing money out on the street” and blasted the new logo as “pitiful” and “bland nothing.” 

But his real warning was to executives who stripped the heart out of the iconic restaraunt: “Keep it country. If they don’t, it ain’t gonna work.” Lowe went further, saying current leadership “didn’t get what Cracker Barrel was about.”

Cracker Barrel caved on the logo. They took down the Pride page from their website. They even rewrote their employee groups after the backlash. These are not signs of strength. They are signs of a leadership in retreat.

To survive, Cracker Barrel must: Replace failed leadership. Restore tradition. Bring back the family values.

Dear John,

At 93 years old, Tommy Lowe, who opened the very first Cracker Barrel alongside Dan Evins in 1969, is speaking out. He called the $700 million rebrand “throwing money out on the street” and blasted the new logo as “pitiful” and “bland nothing.” His warning to executives: “Keep it country. If they don’t, it ain’t gonna work.”

Lowe also made it clear that CEO Julie Felss Masino simply “didn’t get what Cracker Barrel was about.”

Even President Trump weighed in, saying Cracker Barrel should “admit a mistake” and “make your customers happy again.”

When the co-founder and a former president are both sounding the alarm, you know the crisis is deeper than a logo. And for me, it is not abstract. It is personal.

I literally have a piece of the original Cracker Barrel hanging in my family room. This betrayal hits close to home.

My son-in-law worked at Cracker Barrel. He started straight out of high school, worked his way up through college, and poured his life into the company. For decades, Cracker Barrel’s standard was to hire from within, and he rose through the ranks as many loyal staff did who carried the heart of the brand in their bones.

A few years ago, he helped preserve the remnants of the very first Cracker Barrel store in Tennessee, with the help of the man who had gathered American antiques and hung them on the walls of every store for decades. They carefully saved the original boards and historic treasures so the company could build a museum replica, parts of which were later featured in the Macy’s Parade.

Those treasures were not props. They were authentic pieces of American life, curated with care to express Cracker Barrel's soul.

Before it was torn down, my daughter painted a picture of the original store with the iconic Uncle Herschel in his rocking chair, and she framed it with salvaged wood from that project. That is how it ended up in my living room.

She shared with me that Uncle Herschel was a real man. Herschel McCartney, the uncle of founder Dan Evins. He embodied everything Cracker Barrel once stood for: warm welcomes, sincerity, and country hospitality. He wasn’t just a logo. He was part of the Cracker Barrel legacy family.

While my son-in-law and other loyal staff were preserving Cracker Barrel’s heritage, new executives were dismantling it from the inside out.

At their October 2024 annual meeting, Cracker Barrel’s new leadership unveiled a “Strategic Transformation Plan.” They promised remodeled stores, a new logo, and a corporate makeover to make the brand feel “fresh and relevant.” They held their breath, hoping there would be no backlash, especially on social media.

Boy-howdy, did it backfire! The first 40–60 remodeled stores drew local outrage. Then, in August 2025, when Cracker Barrel revealed its new logo, the backlash was so fierce the company dropped it within days. "A humiliating retreat" reported even by The New York Times.

Bless their hearts. The logo is not the main issue. It was only a symptom of a much deeper rot.

What has really happened is that Cracker Barrel’s leadership has systematically abandoned faith, family, and tradition.

It was slow and steady. 

• Traded American flags for rainbow banners. 
• Fourth of July parades for Pride parades. 
• Homegrown hospitality from loyal employees for soulless DEI quotas.

Today, they think pulling the old logo out of the trash heap will solve their issues. 

But American families are not fooled. The crisis at Cracker Barrel is not about branding. It is about betrayal.

When Julie Felss Masino became CEO, everything changed. They brought in outsiders who cared nothing for the people who built Cracker Barrel.

At a holiday gathering, one of the new hires was asked if she enjoyed her position. She smirked and said there were “too many white men” working under her. 

The room fell silent. She laughed at her own remark, but no one else was laughing.

Within weeks, the entire department, including my son-in-law, was fired and replaced under a DEI purge. 

They had given their lives to Cracker Barrel,  knew its history and carried its values of faith, family, and country hospitality. 

The logo fiasco matters because it pulled back the curtain. Families thought they were fighting for a nostalgic roadway sign.

Now we see the truth: the rot runs deeper. The problem is not the logo. The problem is Cracker Barrel’s leadership.

This is not just poor management. It is betrayal.

Cracker Barrel used to be a symbol of Sunday suppers, road trips, and the good 'ol days. Families trusted it because it was wholesome. Now, leadership has spit on that heritage and replaced it with woke corporatism.

But we can still stop them.

This fight is not about décor or logos. Cracker Barrel is being dismantled to its core, its integrity, its wholesome foundations, its very soul.

But if they listen, not just on the logo but on their entire woke strategy, we will send a message to them and to every corporation in America: families have had enough.

The American family will no longer stand for woke ideology in our entertainment, at our family restaurants, or in our workplaces.

Your local Cracker Barrel may not yet be touched. If enough families rise up, we can halt the purge before the rest fall.

Cracker Barrel will listen, not because they want to, but because survival depends on it.

Rainbow rockers will disappear, the purges will stop, and families will once again be welcomed with warmth and tradition. More than saving a restaurant, we will prove that families still count and grassroots voices can stop woke corporations in their tracks.

But if we stay silent, the Cracker Barrel we loved will vanish. Forever.