Cracker Barrel replaced its long-standing logo featuring an overall-clad man leaning on a barrel with simple text this year, triggering social media backlash and a drop in its stock price. The chain originated in 1969 when Dan Evins opened a roadside stop on Highway 109 in Lebanon, Tennessee, modeled on country stores where cracker barrels served as informal game tables. The company has faced protests, discrimination lawsuits, and trademark infringement claims over the decades. Cracker Barrel experimented with a stand-alone gift shop in the mid-1990s before refocusing operations in the late 1990s. The chain later suffered a post-COVID relevance and performance slump.
For decades, Cracker Barrel's logo included an overall-clad man with his arm on one of the namesake barrels. This year, the restaurant chain decided to change it. Following the change, social media users revolted, and the company's stock price dropped. It's not the company's first controversy. Founded decades ago as a roadside stop for sit-down meals, the restaurant and general store chain has endured protests, discrimination lawsuits, and trademark infringement claims.
The American highway system was still young, meaning food on the road was difficult to come by. "What Evins had in mind was the kind of place he'd been to hundreds of times as a boy," the company's site reads. "Evins figured maybe folks traveling on the big, new interstate system might appreciate a clean, comfortable, relaxed place to stop in for a good meal and some shopping."
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