I think Cracker Barrel used to actually cook items like pot roast and chicken & dumplings.
My favorite was chicken topped with cheese sauce and broccoli. It was a weekly special. It became so popular there are copycat recipes on the web.
Today CB probably uses heat and serve packaged meals. Only someone that works there could confirm.
There was a popular cafeteria that sliced the roast beef in the serving line. I knew that big hunk of meat was cooked in their kitchen. They didn’t survive the covid quarantine. Frankes was open for 70 plus years.
I’m glad they got rid of that ridiculous line coming out of the “k”
“K” is a letter which can struggle for dignity. IMHO, the letter K should not be used frivolously.
New logo is a straight up warning: this place will serve bland slop for the unimaginative palate. It accurately reflects what I see from their menus. It doesn’t seem fair to criticise logos which reflects the truth.
Aside from the idea that sometimes “bland slop” is just what people want (it’s call comfort food) several people in this very thread have described food at CB that is not “bland slop”.
I get you but it’s a matter oI degree. I think what drove this home to me was people from those areas (never been myself) describing the food served by the diners that were replaced by bland chains like cracker barrel. It was so grim that cracker slop is amazing in comparison.
I ate at a Cracker Barrel once in 2014 in the middle of Kansas somewhere off the Interstate. I grew up eating big greasy breakfasts so it was fine in that regard. Nothing notable, but no complaints. I appreciate the fact that there isn’t one within 50 miles of me now, because the last thing I need to ever eat again is a big greasy breakfast like that. Thankfully, most of the Denny’s in my area have closed as well.
I think many in this thread have forgotten Cracker Barrel’s original place in the “culture wars”.
“In August 1991, activists all across the South demonstrated in front of the restaurant chain after announcing they refused to hire anyone who “failed to demonstrate normal heterosexual values.” The company had just fired an estimated 11 employees due to their sexual orientation.”
Later, CB did a turnaround, angering right-wingers.
So there’s the background.
As to the perception that current customers are pre-occupied with the logo change - that and the interior design blandification are symbols to them that CB’s focus is changing from comfort food and an old-timey atmosphere with a quaint general store, to a lame attempt at a modern chain venue, where they will probably start offering CB’s versions of Tuscan Chicken Croquettes and gazpacho to chattering Gen Z’ers.
Next thing you know, Shoney’s will dump country-fried steak and Crispy Pile O’ Shrimp™, and start offering Teriyaki-glazed salmon.*
*they already do. Wait’ll Ted Cruz hears about this.
In Crazy People, Dudley Moore’s character is an advertising executive who does something absolutely unthinkable — he creates a series of ads that tell the truth. Here’s a few examples:
“Volvo — they’re boxy but they’re good.”
“United — most of our passengers get there alive.”
The Black Twitter Reddit has been having some fun with it. I’ve seen several posts their praising the change in interior decoration to something that makes them feel less likely to be lynched. For those who don’t remember, Cracker Barrel ran into hot water years ago for discrimination against Black customers and staff.
I get their food as takeout once in a while, I’ve always thought it was decent food at a decent price. Eating in also has its advantages because, even at 68, I’d be one of the youngest customers there and the place made me feel young. I can’t imagine why the MAGAs are going bananas over it, sort of reminds me of the outrage over Aunt Jemima getting dumped.
Very true. Not many people want to eat dinner with The Waltons anymore. And there aren’t that many people who are health-reckless enough to fully commit to a meal of deep-fried gravy-covered country food anymore either.
I also had the impression that since Cracker Barrel was the target of some high-profile discrimination lawsuits, a lot of people had rallied to support it as the underdog of “woke”, and those people constitue a lot of their customer base. So it’s pretty remarkable to see the reversal here. It means that this CEO is titanically stupid, or she has reliable information that numbers don’t favor betting the company’s future on pleasing bigots, that in fact it’s no concern at all.
(Regarding the movie Crazy People and how it emphasized truth in advertising) …
Cracker Barrel: Plain and filling, and it won’t kill you.
I’ve only eaten there once (there are none here in Canada, so my sole visit was on a road trip to the US), but that about sums it up: plain and filling. And it didn’t kill me.
It was good. Not great, but not poor either. A little bit better than Denny’s, I’d say.
One of my top 5 favorite movies of all time. Dudley Moore, Darryl Hannah, Paul Reiser, David Paymer. Highly recommend.
Jaguar: For men who’d like handjobs from beautiful women they hardly know
And for the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s Volvo
As for Cracker Barrel, I’m another who likes them. As others have said, the breakfast is good, and I like the dinners too. They have good candy in the store, too.
I actually went to one the other day, and had meatloaf with mashed potatoes topped with gravy and a side of pinto beans. I drank iced tea, and finished my meal with a buttered biscuit and corn bread. I bought some mini jawbreaker candy on the way out, but the Charleston Chews looked tempting. Perfectly cromulent.
(Although the store didn’t yet have any new logo, and they still had the old fashioned ads and pictures on the walls. I like that motif: I was looking at a photograph of a high school class from 1926)
I always enjoy logos that depict the victims of their cuisine trying to entice customers with their happy smiles! One of the typical ones is the chicken restaurant St Hubert, which always amuses me because their chicken is not only happy to be eaten, but it bears a fairly strong resemblance to Foghorn Leghorn. That thing on the right I guess is supposed to be its tail feathers, but to me it always looks like an upraised finger emphasizing the importance of eating it! That said, I prefer its colourful whimsy to the dour ugliness of the new Cracker Barrel logo.
There was a Polish deli that made their own sausages and cold cuts near my house that had a sign with a smiling Porky-Pig type character with its viscera flying out of his body turning into sausages. That was something. I know I’ve taken a photo of it, but I can’t find it anywhere. There was also an Italian deli a few miles down the street from me that had a wonderful animated neon sign of pigs jumping into a meat grinder and coming out as sausage links.
That said, I prefer its colourful whimsy to the dour ugliness of the new Cracker Barrel logo.
