Cracker Barrel Speaks Up About The Heated Logo Change Controversy

From time to time, brands will rebrand, as it were, and they have their reasons. When Aunt Jemima transformed into the Pearl Milling Company, it was to distance itself from a name and mascot that embodied a racist stereotype. When IHOP (briefly) became IHOB, the International House of Burgers ... well, it turns out this was just trolling. But Cracker Barrel's new logo change seems to have been prompted by the kind of corporate consultants who want to make America generic again. 

The company may have sought a more contemporary feel, but many people think that they instead hit upon bland and boring. Some conservatives even consider the new logo to be "woke," since it veers away from the Southern-themed vibe the chain is known for. The change led to a near-$100 million drop in Cracker Barrel stock value, leaving the company scrambling something other than eggs. As the need for damage control mounted, company spokespeople did their best to address concerns.

The company defended its rebranding by first explaining that it has had five different logos over the past 56 years, and feels that the current one is actually closer to the original. It also adopted a somewhat conciliatory tone, expressing gratitude to customers for sharing their passionate opinions about the brand. It also promised that it would stay true to its "values," retaining its rural-inspired decor choices (rocking chairs, peg board games, etc.). And it swore that Uncle Herschel — the old guy mascot depicted on the menu and billboards, if not on the restaurant signs — would stay as well.

Uncle Herschel may not be as famous as Ronald McDonald or the Burger King — at least, not before he became the center of this recent controversy — but he has one thing they lack: a genuine backstory. The reason why Cracker Barrel spokespeople kept him in the rebranding is that they claimed he's "family," and it turns out that this is actually true. Cracker Barrel's founder, Dan Evins, had a real Uncle Herschel who worked as a traveling flour salesman throughout the South and later served as Cracker Barrel's goodwill ambassador.

Even though Cracker Barrel refers to the old man in its former logo as Uncle Herschel, the portrait doesn't actually depict the man himself. Instead, it's based on a drawing that was sketched on a napkin back in the 1970s by a designer who felt that an overall-wearing senior would represent the old-timey feeling the restaurant sought to evoke. (Nostalgia for post-World War II America was big back then.) If you want to see what the real Uncle Herschel looked like, you'll need to travel to Cracker Barrel's corporate headquarters in Lebanon, Tennessee. There you'll see a statue of a suited, bespectacled Herschel McCartney (for this was his name) listening to a Cracker Barrel worker.