As Austin said, distinctive brand identity. Carving a market niche is important Reminds me of a pharmacy I used to work at when it got bought by another one just around the corner. The new owner made the two of them the same and eliminated the stuff appealing to hippy-dippy organic obsessives at the one I worked at. Unless demand is insanely high (I was not), there’s no point having two of the same shop practically next to each other 🙄 and the new Cracker Barrel CEO seems to be looking to essentially do the same by being “just another” with no point of differentiation
They need to double down on the vibe. Embrace it. Add a country bear jamboree. Oversized lawn game version of the pegs. Poach whoever runs Wendy’s Facebook to do social media. Add a map where you can put a pin where you’re from. If they want to try something different, add a new concept: scale it up to a massive buc-ees type deal. Or, hear me out…bring Cracker Barrel to Japan. Odd restaurant for an odd country. Could work.
I like Austin's idea of unique decor for each state, but I'd do that for the merch as well. Sell shirts and mugs unique to each state. That stuff sells like hotcakes. It's some of the best selling merch at every Starbucks and Hard Rock Café.
Vibes, AND the food is actually pretty decent at a good price... the latter of which is actually a great selling point to younger generations who generally aren't as prosperous as the Boomers.
“Make it local” is the best advice, and the least likely to be heard. But when you described that I actually got kind of hyped for Cracker Barrel. It fits into their current aesthetic and branding to have local pictures everywhere. Just add some town history and give a random old dude a harmonica next to the rocking chairs and suddenly they’re a destination.
Yes!! I was thinking the same thing!! Every little (or big) town has history, managers/owners should seek out local historic photos and antiques! It would really make the place feel special!
My local location has a table display front and center of the store portion that's all related to the state or town area. Typical tourist gifts and things but also books about the local history and it makes me so happy. If that was an expanded aspect of the stores it would be so much fun!
Wanting to make Cracker Barrel hip is like trying to teach a pile of dog bones to sit. It won't work, it's a terrible idea, and it's entirely useless to all involved.
It's like taking charge of a renaissance fair and saying "You know what this could really use? Fancy computers, lasers, and holograms". I'm not a fan of Cracker Barrel but when you make a business around the idea of an old time sit down restaurant, it seems insane to try and make it fancy and modern
"Something something fiduciary duty to shareholders something that's why everything has to suck and why we have to force ourselves to like it." - that one apologist that might respond to your comment.
That thing about all fast food restaurants turning into "Starbucks, but with a different sign out front"... You put into words that strange feeling that I've been having for at least the past decade or so. The...iunno, Un-Funification of eating out? All the mascots went away, all the fun aesthetics went away, Fast Food lost its play-places, all the unique buildings were remodeled into Featureless squares... Service got worse, pay stayed the same, prices went up... Everything lost its identity and soul, And everything is getting shittier because some hyper rich asshole who you will never so much is glance at Demanded even more money from a finite market.
If I recall right, McDonald's makes most of their money from real estate, I think most locations the franchisee is leasing the land the restaurant sits on from McDonalds. The more "modern corporate look" of a lot of these fast food chains is about making the buildings more nondescript so that if the location fails they can sell the building for a higher price. It's harder to sell a building that looks like a pizza hut when the next tenant is a vape shop or some nonsense
Companies that afford McDonald's real estate can afford the remodel. An older location with in my hometown post remodel now is home to some kind of insurance company.
Also leasing and licensing may make up most of their revenue and eventual profits but that's also been the case since Ray Croc took over so that's not the reason they're generecizing their locations.
Sounds like what has happened with Panera. I hope she is UNSUCCESSFUL in her attempt. Want to increase business? Better and quicker service (hiring more, not less and paying them ALL a living wage, not minimum wage), Better food, made ON-SITE, not in a factory kitchen and reheated. You know, what they were ONCE known for having.
I absolutely love the sentiment that nobody has ever complained that a restaurant wasn't modern enough. The best Ruben sandwich I ever had was at the creepiest, most run down, dark, ancient looking store in the middle of nowhere on the way to Tombstone Arizona. 0/10 modern but that doesn't matter because it was an incredible experience.
Really the most hole in the wall place in the world is probably run by a family and stays open on the power of their food and service. This has been my experience.
For what it's worth, there are things that can be modernized that people would enjoy: Updated bathrooms that are clean If seats or tables, etc are old n bad shape - get new ones that still maintain the look. Etc... etc... those are things that any restaurant would do well to keep up to date. But yeah going "modern" with cracker barrel won't do anyone any good.
I swear. I think people are sick of the aesthetic fisher-price-ification of every aspect of western society, i.e. the ubiquitous over-simplification of and reduction in stimuli in everything to the point that you don't have to use your brain anymore. I think this is a big part of this newer wave of increased interest in East Asian cultures (since the 2010s), the fact that they're pretty much exactly the opposite of this. It's like there's more to look at in everything they have. Plus, they continue to embrace older stuff alongside new stuff for longer, so it's like modern advancement feels like making additions rather than potentially net-negative changes.
We have a Mc.D. that is trending that way in spite of itself. Plays old school country. Tried to change it and it was explained, people do not like modern country here. They listened and switched it back. I admit it is hard on all restaurants now as to prices and high tips.🦇
The atmosphere and feel of the tables, the inside store, that triangle game, the big ass checkers, the all day breakfast food, all the chairs put outside that never seem to sell but are fun to sit on. This is my favorite sit down and I hope it doesn't lose its way.
Same. Despite it being labelled as an "old folk's restaurant" I'm 28 and I love cracker barrel for the aesthetic (and them biscuits). If they modernize it like they have been with all these other companies I'm legit gonna be heartbroken.
@HolyApplebutter I've come to find out that many younger people actually like Cracker Barrel. My best friend likes it, his girlfriend like it, I like it, my ex liked it, etc
- Take all the money they'd spend on rebranding and redecorating, and use it instead for better wages and more competitive sourcing of ingredients. - Have the menu be incredibly competitively priced, and put some loss leaders on there. 50 years and people still haven't learned the lesson of the CostCo Hotdog and the Denny's Grand Slam. - If all else fails, shorten the name to CRACK BAR and court controversy.
"I'll have the chicken-fried steak with biscuits and gravy, please." "Sir, this is CRACK PIPE, we serve narcotics here. You're looking for CRACK BAR, that's 2 blocks east of here"
Better ingredients would get me back in. Tried their meat loaf and fried chicken, loved the atmosphere, but that food was drier and blander than a saltine.
Hiring someone who used to work at modern, young companies like Starbucks and Taco Bell for old-fashioned Cracker Barrel of all places just sounds dumb.
Was reading this as someone who is working on the floor/line but then realized yeah no execs are just idiots who have never worked floor/line of anywhere
@@CrazyBear65 has absolutely nothing to do with the propagandized movement of "woke," please take your face out of the ass that is FOX news for a second and try living in reality.
I had visited the restaurant near Hanover MD on a Sunday early afternoon. There was a 10 minute wait and every single seat was full. The food ordered was presented incredibly well and the taste was great. The pricing there is fair (compared to most other restaurants). They need to get people to simply come in and enjoy the great food. I loved its rustic charm.
Modern businesses are pump-and-dump schemes for the executives. New CEO comes in, guts the company for short-term profits (raking in lots of cash for themself), leaves, then does the same thing for the next business. You can see this time and time again.
We're in this terrifying end game where leadership has never worked the line and line workers can never make it to leadership. The MBA industrial complex in full swing. Now bolts are falling off planes, we're asked to tip machines and McDonald's is luxury dining.
I work in manufacturing and a fun game to play is to wait for someone in management to suggest a canine-faeces tier process modification and to ask them to show you how. "Oh, you think the hinges should be pre-installed on the deckled and then we'll just shoot the hinges into the parcel shelf? A fascinating idea, but I'm a little confused on the specifics. Let me see it in action."
It's too late. The "simplification" decor to the logos is on its way out the door. It's very 2015, and it's starting to show that people are fed up with the aesthetic. There's a reason the over-design of the 00s are getting popular with youths as well. People are getting tired of modern, flat, corporate barren hospital cafeteria aesthetics, and as a graphic designer, I welcome this change with open arms. I don't pretend to know exactly where it is going, but it's clear that people want personality.
People wanna go into a restaurant for the V I B E S! Fast food places are literally losing money by focusing too much on the drive thru side of things. People aren't gonna sit inside a McDonald's these days unless it's retro.
I love 90s/00s designs! I'd much rather have websites with dancing letters, eyesore backgrounds, visitor counters, and stylesheets short enough to fit on a napkin than "modern" sterilized trash. That sounds sarcastic but it isn't, I genuinely love that era of design. It's nice to have a clearer signal what the vibe is - if I'm in the right mood I'll walk in and buy something. I've impulse-gone to places just from looking in their windows and liking the decor.
I feel like design trends fade once large public institutions like education or health or government adopt them. My high school was a single story building made of red brick with a pretty unimpressive entrance of 4 double doors. Now it’s being remodeled with an extra story and millennial grey accents around these giant glass panes. I remember the auditorium having those test trays that fold over with signs screwed in that forbade cellphones and pagers. I went to visit for an open house and it just felt like a Starbucks inside, all the concrete bricks covered with drywall, lights that turn off as you walk away. Worst of all, the auditorium had no charm with grey carpet and lighter grey movie theater seats, of course missing those janky trays. They painted over murals I remember seeing every day, the names students years before, with and after me signed on the exposed stage bricks hidden by the curtains just gone, completely replaced by sturdier albeit boring steel pillars. Now these designs hurt me, seeing the character of a beloved institution just gone. Now people are seeing issue with this starbucking and I feel the next trend in design/style will be a radical shift to some sorta kitschy 90’s modernism that millennials and gen z grew up with, were intimately involved with in their childhood and now inspire their design as they enter the professional world these next several years.
@@HauntakuTVIronically related to the topic of this video, the only reason I EVER eat at McDonald’s anymore is going on Friday mornings and listening to the local elderly farmers talk about mundane local happenings. If there were a Cracker Barrel in my hometown, I wouldn’t have any reason to eat there. Once again, localism seems to be the universal answer in this collapsing nation, more concerned with Russia and China than our neighbours.
Thank you SO much for making this video and for mentioning the ETCs. I’ve been an ETC for almost three and a half years and I’m also a district leader. This news has been heartbreaking. There’s been ETCs in this company long than I’ve been alive (23 yo) and this is a position that so many of us wanted to keep forever. We help develop and train all our employees, act as a counselor, a google search engine, a mentor, and a guide for all things CB. We were known to many as “the glue that holds each store together.” I’m so devastated that this is really happening.
I don't understand why companies who want to rebrand always make the worst possible logo imaginable. The old logo was a bit dated, sure, but it was instantly recognizable. The new one looks like a new boutique brunch spot that's just like the 20 others around it.
The new one makes me worry for the wooden barrel with a plant in it. That wood is going to rot and what on Earth is that plant and why is its stalk bare?
My conspiracy theory is that graphic designers within companies intentionally try to convince their upper management to change logos solely so that they can retain their position in the company. If there's no rebranding happening, why do you still need them around?
Then again Burger King and Pizza Hut have basically done the opposite by just going back to their old logos. Sometimes the more recognizable logo is the one you previously had before it was modernized in the late 90’s/early 2000’s.
@@harrisonbaylor1432 Need a 4 horsemen theme on these. Harambe, Brad's Wife, Fyre Festival, and... I want to say Mulan Szechuan Sauce, but as that was technically a good thing I'm not sure it works. How about the (arguably) botched Szechuan Sauce roll-out?
Cracker Barrel has good food and a decent atmosphere. Nothing wrong with it and nothing that needs changing except for its reputation, since the longer it continues being an "old white southern racist people's restaurant" the less popular it becomes with new generations
1:10 I also heard that as a kid, but we had one down the road from where i lived so we went relatively often and I just loved the shop/restaurant combo and being able to play checkers with my dad
and to add to this - the 600+ employees are the Employee Training Coordinators. These are the people in charge of onboarding, training new hires, coaching and developing employees, ensuring that their stores are compliant with Labor Laws and State Alcohol permits, and employee morale. Now these responsibilities are being given to the managers who most have no clue or time to perform these responsibilities because they're either short staffed or busy running the business, making sure the store is clean and checking on food safety, and being out in the dining room with the guests who are eating and shopping. The restaurant is only as good as it's Emplpyee Training Coordinator and his/her partnership with the General Manager. Managers are already working 50+ hours a week and are EXHAUSTED. Eliminating this position is going to lead to higher employee and manager turnover, untrained employees, bad service, and less return rate from guests.
And also have to be a prep cook 2-5 hours cuz they have to cut down labor cost. It has a trickle down effect, as a backup cook I end up having to take the time to fry chicken cuz im back there and the managers busy.
I know it isn't a restaurant, but touching on your last point about community engagement; Barnes and Noble was falling off bad a few years ago but they have really worked to shift the image by allowing each store to stock what they want, host events, and even change interior signage. I think the sooner companies and CEOs stop making stupid decisions where they think one month ahead, instead of years ahead, the sooner we will see better food and service.
true; i went to a barnes and noble in a republican area and there were Atlas Shrugged posters, whereas a barnes and noble in a democrat area advertised Obama's autobiography.
I feel like she does have a plan but it's not about making any of the brands better or more successful. Given her previous leadership positions I speculate its more like: 1. Get hired by a food chain thats struggling with the promise to turn the ship around 2. Squeeze out a quick short term cash flow increase via increasing prices. 3. after a while, leave with a nice bonus package 4. let someone else deal with the long term consequences of unsustainable business practices, not your problem since you'll be long gone by then.
@@StaticR That is just the basic CEO playbook at this point. You show up and cut a bunch of positions to push profits up nominally for a year or two, finalize your exit bonus based on how much "profit" you were able to bring in, then leave while distracting people away from the fact that all executive positions are leeching away the profits regular employees make.
@ 5:28 I had to do a double take! That's Cookeville TN. I grew up around that area. It's cool to see a place you know randomly in a video. There's also a cracker barrel there.
“Young people will eat there if the prices were cheaper and the food were better” - I will take that a step further to say young people would actually enjoy the environment too, because what’s now become vintage is food quality and well paid staff.
The whole reason why I love Cracker Barrel is BECAUSE it still has its charm and isn't boring, cold & dead modern. That and the chicken and dumplings. Really the only upgrade they could use beyond actually paying their employees more is the floors. Leave everything else alone.
Cracker Barrel *is* Nostalgia. Like it’s whole aesthetic is to give a vibe that it’s remained unchanged since before you were born. The most innovation needed is taking classic ingredients and putting a spin on them.
When I go into a Cracker Barrel (been a while) I always am reminded of my grandmom taking me and me playing with that little plank board on the table. With no knowledge, and little to offer when it comes to running a restaurant chain company… I’m not sure why companies want to move away from the old guard when so many people nowadays seem to fawn over nostalgia and the way things used to be. Wouldn’t it make more sense to lean into that? Even seeing in Austin’s video the logo changes for Wendy’s, Sonic, BK, etc. that just annoys me cuz there’s no need to change what’s already a good thing. But again I know I don’t know anything about this stuff so it’s all just my personal feelings that may very well not be commonly thought by others.
Those shots of Cracker Barrel interiors do feel dated and uninviting in like three different ways. First of all is that particular staggered brick-wood-whatever floor pattern that I associate with the 1980's, then the entire building inside and out is meant to look like a Wild West set, greys and greyish-greens meant to look like unfinished wood that's been left outside for a century. The people this aesthetic is nostalgic for are the same people who lynched black people for drinking out of the wrong fountain, the faster we can eliminate their contributions to society the better we'll be. Ditch that for a varnished pine look. Get rid of the kerosene lamps on the tables. Warm up and brighten the interior. Make it rustic but freshly built. "The old fashioned way" doesn't need to mean "built in 1860 by a man in a stove pipe hat." That's beyond un-blanding the food. I don't eat at Cracker Barrel very often because my last few visits there included dry biscuits, unseasoned meat, several kinds of runny slop...we're talking public school cafeteria grade food here, served by someone in an apron in a dark dingy building with a gift shop.
@@thegardenofeatin5965 Thank you!! I’ve begun to wonder if I’m the only person who doesn’t care for Cracker Barrel. It’s not inviting to me, it just feels like yet another corporate appropriation of of Nostalgia(tm). The food is consistently boring, and I have never in my life had a single meal at a Cracker Barrel that was memorable enough for me to say “I need this in my life again.” It’s generic, under seasoned, under flavored, inoffensive food. In my world, it fills a slightly slower paced spot alongside McDonald’s for places I know I can get edible food on a trip or with a group. It will neither offend nor impress. And somehow, I don’t see THAT changing any time soon. If Cracker Barrel closest it’ll just be relaxed with another fast casual chain serving the same generic fast casual food. It will not be missed, nor will its inevitable replacement likely be any more interesting.
I worked at Cracker Barrel for years awhile ago. One of the ideas they tried to run with was switching out the salt and pepper shakers for grinders. The BIG STINK that was made about those (because a lot of customers have arthritis/hand issues) was crazy. These folks definitely do not want to mess with an app. Even in the few years i worked there (pre-pandemic) they kept cutting hours for employees. Starting out they had more focus on customer service in the shop. Gift wrapping, gift bundles, interacting with folks coming in the store. When i left it was limited to one person in the entire retail area, limited customer interaction, and heaven forbid you mention gift wrap. Funnily enough, you still had to do all your daily tasks but you couldnt leave the floor or leave the register. OKAY Sharon, how am i supposed to clean the restroom or straighten the store or restock anything if i cant leave the register at all. 🙄
@@baronvonslambertthat and because they think they have to because the others do... like back in the 90s every company had to have a website, even if they had absolutely no reason to have one, and when you got there, it was the equivalent of a yellow pages ad's worth of information... one way where you're all wrong though, old people are ALL about figuring out that app if it'll give them a discount... they will struggle with that shit in the checkout line, holding up the works for hours trying to figure it out just for that 15% discount (that ends up only being $1.50) honestly, I'm surprised the scammers haven't figured that out yet... why are they struggling with pretending to be the IRS when they can make a coupon app with huge on-screen buttons?
I have a EE degree and 38 years' experience with computers - and I don't want to look at a cell phone while dining or at a theme park. I do those things to *get away from* apps and cell phones. And, no, I don't want to see McDonald's or Starbucks in theme parks either - but those have gotten so expensive I probably won't go any more. More bang for the buck on a Viking River Cruise.
On the idea of working with local communities, in Australia we have Grill'd. It's a so-so - maybe better than average - burger chain that uses avocado in too many burgers. But, every person who places a burger order gets a bottle cap. They can take these bottle caps to 3 jars, each of which is for a local community group or issue. Things like dog shelters, homeless shelters or junior athletic clubs. Each jar will receive a portion of a lump sum, divided up by community vote. It's a small notion, but most of the time I can get behind the causes involved (sometimes it's things like donations to a local church and that feels icky compared to the other options I've mentioned). It doesn't have to be a huge amount per store per month. But a little bit of appreciation is earned by the company for having that kind of charity.
I've worked in the restaurant industry for almost 20 years and in my experience there's a big difference in the way corporate places run compared to independently owned. Just stop eating at big chain restaurants, go to your locally owned place. I promise the food will always better, and less expensive.
I predict the chain's logo will be "updated" into the two letters, "cb", in lowercase, colored flat gold with a brown edging stroke, with the 'b', kicked out at an informal angle. And that the redesign process will be billed to corporate for at least us$1.1 million.
Reminds me a lot of the fiasco of the redesign of the University of Kentucky logo...which ended up being a slight variation of the logo their famous basketball team had used for the past several decades. And by slight, I mean they used a SLIGHTLY different varsity font than they did before.
The Fed recently released a study that thoroughly tested and debunked the idea that prices are up because of corporate greed. Profit figures are setting records because that's what businesses rebounding from recession and an inflating currency predispose. Profit _margins_ are the relevant metric, not profit totals, and profit margins are in line with those companies had during past economic recoveries. And looking at stock buybacks and dividends in addition to profit is double counting because those aren't subtracted in the course of calculating profit. They're paid out _using_ profit. Profit and profit margin figures already capture them.
@@the_travelingbreeze Profit is a product of combining capital with labor. (And the labor is sometimes as insignificant as the capital owner's own acts of buying and selling the capital.) The shareholders are the source of the capital. Marx's labor theory of value has been known to be wrong for a long time. There's a good reason Marxism is far more popular in humanities departments than economics ones.
There's a local Mexican restaurant I've loved since I was a kid, and they reopened today after closing for remodeling due to being purchased in 2021. Half of the seating is closed, they removed the salsa bar, they added a regular bar (including regular bar food like wings), over half the menu is gone, there were 3 employees in the building, everything was about $4 more, and they evidently skimped on the silverware (The fork was like a pound of force away from bending, and the serrated "knife" cut about as well as a blunt object. I tested the latter by trying and failing to cut my finger)
Something restaurants miss is that people don't just come for food, but for the experience. Is the place clean? Are the workers nice? Is the food good? It's a good experience that keeps people coming back. Unfortunately, the key to all of that is for the parent company to put more money into the restaurants... and we all know companies hate doing that.
They know that, they don't care. Corporations do not care about the quality of their products, they care about profits. If ignoring consumer complaints helps boost profits, that's what they do. If making the dining experience less enjoyable boosts profits, that's what they do. When shareholders see anything less than quarter after quarter growth as a failure, that's what the company aims to do.
Am part of the younger generation, never particularly identified with the southern/country culture of my local area, still adore the rustic vibes of cracker barrel. If all of the cracker barrels get remodeled with sterile white lighting and generic fast food architecture I literally see no point in even going anymore. This reminds me a lot of what happened with stake n' shake after the pandemic. Gutted menu, automated ordering, unique quirks stripped away. They used to give all of the kids little hats, coloring page menus, and even little car models that you'd punch out of cardboard and fold up. That's all gone now (to my memory at least.)
isnt that steak n shake ceo a hedge guy? think he is. they took away the 4 buck meals and changed the buns to dried sawdust . and no wait staff . that ended it for us.
Agreed. I'm not a country guy myself but I still have a lot of fondness for Cracker Barrel. It's just so cozy and chill, the food was great, and going there was always a treat. I have a lot of fond memories of it and yet going there even recently is like walking right into those old memories. Modernizing that would be an enormous mistake.
The same thing is happening to Hwy 55. They used to be all about the nostalgia, but their newer restaurants lack personality (aside from the strange modern architecture), the decor is nothing special and lost all of it's 1950's charm, and some restaurants even did away with the cardboard cars they'd give kids with their kids meals and all their famous frozen custard flavors (even though their website still shows them, the restaurant in Elizabeth City, NC does not offer them). It's a shame, because it was such a fun restaurant and now it's just a plain jane burger joint that's nothing special.
I called it Crack Bar because we couldnt get enough of what we loved there. Then they dropped ALL of our favorite menu items. I still eat there often (I'm a senior citizen, after all) and enjoy the decorations and store. Stop changing!
They changed the recipe of the chicken fried chicken that I've eaten on every trip to Cracker Barrel for about 35 years. That's possibly worse than the year my mother surprised us at Thanksgiving with some sort of fancy, homemade cranberry sauce she found a recipe for in a magazine, when we had lived our entire lives--for multiple generations--eating cranberry sauce out of a can like God intended. I stopped eating there after that. If my mother suggests CB, I say I don't like it anymore and suggest somewhere else.
My least favorite thing ever is adding tips to everything… like no I’m not going to tip 30% - which was originally intended to incentivize good service - to pick up a mobile order, something that requires sometimes no customer service, especially when I’m ordering on the app. I’m not responsible for playing your employee’s wages past what I’m charged for the food
After having listened to the Trader Joe’s podcast and developing a great deal of respect for their company, I’m starting to appreciate more just how unique they are. Not a restaurant, I know, but they prioritize finding high quality food to share with their customers for low prices. They make a point of hiring friendly, dedicated employees. They don’t have TVs or screens or terminals-just people. They don’t sell products online, despite huge demand, but instead they really focus on making a unique and special in-store experience. All their stores have a program giving food to folks in the local community who need it. They are, in my mind, the exactly what they claim to be: a national chain of neighborhood grocery stores. And I really admire them for it. I hope the pendulum swings back soon and that the trend among companies becomes more like the Trader Joe’s business model.
I like this sentiment. there is definitely some overlap between industries making things sterile and automated and younger generations getting more terminally online and out of touch with their roots and communities. the human experience seems more streamlined than ever now.
I LOVE Trader Joe's. They remind me of the little independent grocery stores you find near the beach when on vacation, which means that when I'm at Joe's I feel like I'm on vacation rather than on a dreary visit to the usual chain grocery store. They also hire artists... I like that, too.
Cracker Barrel is wonderful, it reminds me of my childhood and having dinner with my Grandparents. It is a slice of home for me and it changing would be so sad.
A few months ago my dad and I went to the Cracker Barrel in Springfield for his birthday and we both noticed that the food was a lot worse than usual, the prices were higher, and the service was nearly nonexistent. We decided we wouldn't be going back. I had no idea they were going through a corporate overhaul.
There's a local diner that servers a lot of the same food and it is super busy all the time. But it has good food, quick service and consistency. That last one is one of the defining features of success now.
There’s a breakfast place in my city that is packed from open to close, every day. The food is said to be amazing and affordable. I’ve never been because an hour wait to be seated is ridiculous IMO. There is demand for those types of restaurants. Cracker Barrel isn’t one of them. I think they’re best days are behind them
That's a great point. The good diner in your hometown is much better. But on the road CB was solid. Yes, the diner you don't know might be good, but you knew CB was solid. But the food quality dropped and I stopped going.
I also don't go to Cracker Barrel to get drunk. So strange that they got a liquor license and started serving alcohol. The place always had an "after church" vibe going and when they started serving alcohol, it just seemed to break this.. Just my perspective.
I worked at a Cracker Barrel for a bit, it was one of the more populated stores, lots of visitors and made lots of money. Most people came for the food believe it or not…. When it comes to the store people loved that you could get things you can’t get anywhere else… like Candy that isn’t manufactured anymore, or nick nacs and board games and toys in the same vain. Lot of the other stuff was just stupidly expensive, like seriously…. I almost got fired because I felt bad trying to push that shit onto people on the sales floor. Their leadership to me felt rotten, I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing the entire time, all my co-workers just felt like they didn’t want to be there, it’s like a McDonald’s as far as worker morale goes. Was also very cringe culture in management, they made us wear a neck tag that basically said “This person is capable of basic human communication” In that business language everyone hates.
8:15 So, I worked at a Cracker Barrel and there is absolutely no lack of adequate training, not at any point in the last decade or so. The training was the most thorough I’ve ever experienced and I’ve worked at 8 or 9 chain restaurants . It was somewhat obnoxious how thorough it was at times. The stars on the servers aprons represent how much training they have received. In order to earn a star You have to go through and pass a test for an insane amount of training modules. If you want better sections and would like to be a shift lead, trainer or advance yourself up the ladder… You have to go through the training and have the correct number of stars. However, I completely agree with so many of your points and your over all sentiment. The switching of the decor and simplifying of their offerings could really backfire because their audience has come to expect a wide variety. It makes it feel like a real old country store if they simplify it’s just gonna feel like another gift shop . Also, their menu is outdated and could use a little refresher. But if they are too heavy-handed and strip away everything that makes the brand what it is… There seriously going to alienate their audience. It will be really interesting to see how this all plays out. I think your prediction may be correct though…
Also, 98% of what I did in the training modules was completely self administered on a computer. Cracker Barrel has a robust library of in-house trading media and software. So, we actually didn’t even have a “trainer” per se. I’m not sure if the eliminating of any position would affect the thoroughness of the training that they do at Cracker Barrel. Just offering more context to why I mentioned training specifically.
I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one bothered by how the aesthetic for modern fast food joints has uniformly been...the lobby of a three-star hotel 😂
Most modern fast food restaurants scream "Don't come in here. You aren't welcome. Use the drive thru and leave NOW!" and its being reinforced by ripping out the self service drinks and free refills on them. I hate it.
They all look like dentist offices!! Who wants to eat at your dentists?? There is a clean look. It's called keeping the area clean! I dont want sterile, I just want clean!!!
@@andrewhooper7603Have you ever traveled the interstate? At the exits there is usually only fast food places and cracker barrel tends to be one of the only sit down restaurants.
@@andrewhooper7603there's a difference between the actual road trip and the time spent at the place you Travel to. Eating at cracker barrel on the actual drive is amazing. It's familiar, nostalgic, easy to get to off the interstate, and gives you a chance to stretch your legs from the drive. However when I'm actually at my destination, I would never go to a chain as I know have time to explore new food options.
YES THIS SO MUCH! What Cracker Barrel needs to do is charge a reasonable price for overnight parking (many RVers park in their parking lot for free overnight). Just charge $5.
Classic restaurant known for its atmosphere has out of touch management completely change its aesthetic to try to make it more "modern", driving away old clientele while failing to attract a new one. Classic.
8:40 Pizza Hut, Subway and BK went back to variations of their older logos. For those of us old enough to remember them the first time around, it's a bit of nostalgia to have them back.
Considering that one of my favorite parts of Cracker Barrel, as a 20 something “young” person, is the antique looking and feeling furniture and real antique often very local decor, it surprises me what the CEO really wants to modernize and homogenize. I always like seeing exactly what the decorators scrounged from the area to put on the walls. Trying to sus out what the themes they tapped into for certain vignettes is a favorite part of the experience. At a local one, situated in a lakes and hills region of my state, they themed the decor on skiing, winga-dinga auto culture, waterfront activities, and small scale agriculture adjacent industry. Hunting and trapping was heavily featured in Harrisburg, PA. One in Tennessee that I visited featured forestry and and subsistence farming equipment. Honestly I agree with your assessment of how to better connect with customers. Trying to make them places that revolve around a hyper local focus would actually help greatly in building the places up, but it must be focused on in the marketing. Gen Z will only get caught up in this if it is used like a typical TikTok gimmick. Additionally there is no place by me where I can buy food like what a Cracker Barrel serves. That living history elements can help to highlight some influencer centric type of outreach. A campaign to help to highlight local historic variations on classic disses or entirely new menu items based on local flavors could really help with doubling down on the Brand’s local looking competency.
i work at a panera bread and they've been doing the same thing, we're currently in the process of losing our bakers/fresh bread in favor of frozen bread. they keep introducing stupid menu items and cutting old favorites, keeping prices high, lowering ingredient quality, and pressuring stores to save on labor.
I use to eat at Panera for lunch fairly regularly and stopped because the bread was just meh and the price doubled. So this comment makes a lot of sense.
I remember the last time I tried to eat at a Panera. Had to order at a kiosk, at least 50% of the menu wasn't available because they didn't have the ingredients, the prices were ridiculous. I don't plan on returning. Granted, I never liked it in the first place, but my wife used to love it.
I worked at a Cracker Barrel 2 years ago here in Missouri and the amount of boomers, and some even older folks, being confused by just tapping a card makes me glad I never had to force an app on them. The $11.50 I was getting paid as an employee in retail was not worth the headaches lol
The fact that Five Guys _started_ at 6 dollars for a cheeseburger the first time I went there and have doubled since then is not convincing me that I made the right choice by having _never_ eaten one of their burgers. Everything is turning into Krabby O'Monday's now. Spongebob made fun of this nearly 20 years ago and the people who grew up watching that show are now old enough to be in market consultancy, _and doing the exact thing they made fun of._
We used to eat at CB pretty often. It's one of only a few sit-down restaurants in our town. We stopped going there a couple of years ago after several, several consecutive experiences where we got terrible service and bad food. It had nothing to do with the decor.
If anything the rebrand will make them go belly up, people like cracker barrel the way it WAS., not the way it is now, after they went out of their way to make everything cheeper (for them to make), but the way it used to be 20 plus years ago. And going "modern" will do nothing but drive even more customers away.
Even as a gen z’er, I hate the modern look too, nobody likes it. It’s just out-of-touch rich people trying to guess what normal humans want, and failing miserably.
1) Keep working there until they remodel and throw out all the awesome decorations. 2) Use them to open a highly successful restaurant chain. 3) Profit.
Get ready lose your job because your braindead CEO decided to overpay a marketing team millions of dollars to make an objectively worse MS Paint bland modernized logo and repaint your walls.
We used to eat here about once a week. But the service and food has both went down hill in the past couple years.. it has nothing to do with decor or comfortable chairs. We don't go anymore. So sad.
You are 100% correct. The way to save Cracker Barrel is to double down on what makes it stand out. Making it blend into the blur of corporate blah is suicidal.
I'm just commenting to improve this video's algorithmic reach in the hope that as many franchise restaurant finance and operational executives will be exposed to it as possible.
Old folks love cracker barrel. The portions are good, the food is good and the prices aren't terrible. Olds also love that old look. Making sweeping changes seems like a bad move, but I also didn't know the chain was struggling. So who knows? I certainly don't.
Maybe because I was raised on my parents/grandparents nostalgia and around home restoration projects, but I love the old look and I just turned 32. It's a time at my birth I was 80 years separated from and I LOVE it.
Cracker Barrel, like many companiee, don't understand the people that go there. Honestly if they can't keep it as it is now, or the same style, it is pointless and should just be let go of or convered into a whole new thing.
There was once a pirate themed bar that got turned into a corporate modern mess and then later reverted back to the pirate theme because pirates are better than men in suits
I loved this video, it was great, your words were pure gold. The best part about Cracker Barrel is that it’s a step back in time. It’s like a museum that you get to eat in and feel welcomed!
I worked at Cracker Barrel for 2 years, loved eating there, great experience anytime I went. After I stopped working there they seem to change a lot, which was weird to me because their core values were always remaining the same and providing good service. After covid the service seemed to diminish, they tried to change their menu up but all the new stuff was bad and they removed some of my favorite items from the menu. The fact that they were beginning to change was an immediate red flag to me, instead of paying people more and maintaining quality they kept trying new gimmicks. Weird cheap low quality menu items, overpriced coffee and they began serving alcohol. Nothing anyone ever asked for, or expected from a restaurant whose entire identity is being old country style where you can expect big portions of No Frills Southern Comfort food. The shop hasn't changed much since I've been, which is nice I really love the general store and I haven't noticed too much change with that although some of the nicer higher dollar items like tiffany style glass lamps aren't stocked as often as they used to be
Clean bathrooms???!? Based on my last visit, someone had some intense intestinal issues and left their ruined attire on the floor. My son reported this to the staff and we got a "Oh. Yeah. We know." in response, no timeline of correction or apologies. The manager was standing around talking to someone our entire visit. I would say they need to work on that suggestion as well.
That one episode from Futurama comes to mind. The CEO just casually scoots in on a hoverchair and says "What IS a Cracker Barrel, really?" 🙄 In short, you're absolutely right. It's like these people want to change everything BUT the stuff that matters to us youngsters. I hope this doesn't take a turn for the worst. Great video! 🧡
I love your “think local, not global” point. I was just at Hersheypark for the first time and I was most taken by how locally focused it is and how I think that’s contributed to their success. They never tried to open another one in California or Texas or something. They put all their local profits into improving their local park and the city around it. Milton Hershey started this by building a theater, stadium, arena, theme park all in the town of his factory, helping the town as a whole. Other profits seem to go to giving back as well. And part of that is it gives the town and the park and the company the same identity. That feels more right to me than a faceless global corporation, every day of the week.
Using the Five Guys menu is a good example of how prices have just gotten so inflated. It was always seen as something that would be a bit more pricey then other fast food like Mcdonolds or Berger King because of better quality, but it has gotten to a place where the only real difference between the experience of going to a sit down place is just im getting my food quicker
Their recent menu seems to be targeted to college students, but I should know from more than a dozen family outings that it is people of much more advance age which frequent this establishment- so they should target their menu accordingly.
It's families. The number one draw is families. But the quality has gone down hill so much recently I don't really want to go back. If I'm being honest
I’m only 43 but yeah, I love the décor of the store/restaurant and it’s always cool to see the vintage candies and sodas they sell. Plus, occasionally I can find a package of Hydrox, the *superior* chocolate sandwich cookie, come at me, Oreo lovers LOL.
I love Cracker Barrel! There are no convenient Cracker Barrel locations where we live in the NW suburbs of Chicago, but they are a staple of every road trip I've ever taken. Whether with my family as a kid, my wife now, or with friends, we always go. Stopping at Cracker Barrel on the road trip is a necessary part of the journey, imo. I feel like I'm not alone in that experience, and it makes me wonder how much of the lost revenue is due to people just not taking road trips as often.
Same! My mom complained about the food EVERY TIME, yet we always went (and still do) because that's just What You Do On Road Trips. I guess I was surprised to hear there aren't any in the NW suburbs though, because there are like 3 in the W/SW like 30 minutes apart. lol
You'd think a place that calls itself an "old country store" would see the obvious folly of making everything "modern."
“And if everywhere is modern..Nowhere will be.”
As Austin said, distinctive brand identity. Carving a market niche is important
Reminds me of a pharmacy I used to work at when it got bought by another one just around the corner. The new owner made the two of them the same and eliminated the stuff appealing to hippy-dippy organic obsessives at the one I worked at.
Unless demand is insanely high (I was not), there’s no point having two of the same shop practically next to each other 🙄 and the new Cracker Barrel CEO seems to be looking to essentially do the same by being “just another” with no point of differentiation
@@MarkHeathcliff-bf2im imagine everything and everywhere is just "contemporary". Bleh!
Or rebrand it in "Back to the Future Part III"/Steampunk vibes.
@@WouldntULikeToKnow. Oh, lawd! You don't want to be left behind in the past, do you?!?!?
The draw of cracker barrel is the vibes, getting rid of them will only make things worse
Yeah, it'd be like McDonald's becoming lame instead of a goofy circus thing
Brad's wife loved vibes
They need to double down on the vibe. Embrace it. Add a country bear jamboree. Oversized lawn game version of the pegs. Poach whoever runs Wendy’s Facebook to do social media. Add a map where you can put a pin where you’re from.
If they want to try something different, add a new concept: scale it up to a massive buc-ees type deal. Or, hear me out…bring Cracker Barrel to Japan. Odd restaurant for an odd country. Could work.
I like Austin's idea of unique decor for each state, but I'd do that for the merch as well. Sell shirts and mugs unique to each state. That stuff sells like hotcakes. It's some of the best selling merch at every Starbucks and Hard Rock Café.
Vibes, AND the food is actually pretty decent at a good price... the latter of which is actually a great selling point to younger generations who generally aren't as prosperous as the Boomers.
The reason you go to Cracker Barrel is to go to Cracker Barrel. I don’t know why people don’t seem to know that.
Gotta get mo money, fast. The bottom line is the only line that matters to national corporations.
Gotta get so much money then more money the next quarter and more money the next quarter @WavingWorld
Most of the times my family went to Cracker Barrel were because we were on a road trip and it was the closest restaurant.
Brand recognition is important
Reminds me of the Disney Parks. We're there for the original attractions and stories, not IP we already know.
“Make it local” is the best advice, and the least likely to be heard.
But when you described that I actually got kind of hyped for Cracker Barrel. It fits into their current aesthetic and branding to have local pictures everywhere. Just add some town history and give a random old dude a harmonica next to the rocking chairs and suddenly they’re a destination.
Yes!! I was thinking the same thing!! Every little (or big) town has history, managers/owners should seek out local historic photos and antiques! It would really make the place feel special!
My local location has a table display front and center of the store portion that's all related to the state or town area. Typical tourist gifts and things but also books about the local history and it makes me so happy. If that was an expanded aspect of the stores it would be so much fun!
Every restaurant worker knows what a death knell looks like, and yet investors can't figure it out
Wanting to make Cracker Barrel hip is like trying to teach a pile of dog bones to sit. It won't work, it's a terrible idea, and it's entirely useless to all involved.
Plans screwed
well what if it does work? where will you be when i'm rich and famous for discovering necromancy and making a dog bones do tricks?
Just get someone famous to make a tiktok hyping up the old country vibes
has a Bud Light vibe
@HauntakuTV at least until the app gets banned in half a year
It's like taking charge of a renaissance fair and saying "You know what this could really use? Fancy computers, lasers, and holograms". I'm not a fan of Cracker Barrel but when you make a business around the idea of an old time sit down restaurant, it seems insane to try and make it fancy and modern
The last time I visited the Tower of London - a medieval castle - some idiot put color-changing LED lights behind the armor display.
I absolutely despise the wall street enshittification of everything
If Buc-ees, Chik-fil-a, or In-n-Out ever go public, were all !@#$ed.
that word-coinage is inspiring.
"Something something fiduciary duty to shareholders something that's why everything has to suck and why we have to force ourselves to like it." - that one apologist that might respond to your comment.
everything is a hedge fund
@@jrr851TBH, I wouldn’t be mad if In-n-Out went public because their geographic scope is BAD. The nearest to me is 8 hours away according to Google
That thing about all fast food restaurants turning into "Starbucks, but with a different sign out front"... You put into words that strange feeling that I've been having for at least the past decade or so.
The...iunno, Un-Funification of eating out? All the mascots went away, all the fun aesthetics went away, Fast Food lost its play-places, all the unique buildings were remodeled into Featureless squares... Service got worse, pay stayed the same, prices went up...
Everything lost its identity and soul, And everything is getting shittier because some hyper rich asshole who you will never so much is glance at Demanded even more money from a finite market.
This is exactly how I feel too.
The purpose of food is not to entertain you.
@@AaZz-x7p: Then why go out?
If I recall right, McDonald's makes most of their money from real estate, I think most locations the franchisee is leasing the land the restaurant sits on from McDonalds. The more "modern corporate look" of a lot of these fast food chains is about making the buildings more nondescript so that if the location fails they can sell the building for a higher price. It's harder to sell a building that looks like a pizza hut when the next tenant is a vape shop or some nonsense
There's a deas pizza hut in my town. An iconic tragedy.
On the flip side, I would absolutely buy an old red roof Pizza Hut if I was looking to open a business
👁👄👁
Companies that afford McDonald's real estate can afford the remodel. An older location with in my hometown post remodel now is home to some kind of insurance company.
Also leasing and licensing may make up most of their revenue and eventual profits but that's also been the case since Ray Croc took over so that's not the reason they're generecizing their locations.
The only way to save the company is to hire Brad’s Wife once more.
Damn, beat me to it. 😂
Got it in one, my man. Brad's Wife was holding that place up
The comment did not disappoint me
It was all downhill since they fired her tbh
Brad's wife goes on a John Wick esque journey to get her way to the CEO position
"What if we took [thing] and removed every quality about it that made it desirable and successful in the first place." - _brave bold innovative_ CEO
Yep, don’t know why they think this.
@@Flynn217something That is the most COURAGEOUS idea I have ever heard!!!!
Sounds like what has happened with Panera. I hope she is UNSUCCESSFUL in her attempt.
Want to increase business? Better and quicker service (hiring more, not less and paying them ALL a living wage, not minimum wage), Better food, made ON-SITE, not in a factory kitchen and reheated. You know, what they were ONCE known for having.
True
It’s like a postmodernist deconstruction, but much less fun and audacious.
I absolutely love the sentiment that nobody has ever complained that a restaurant wasn't modern enough. The best Ruben sandwich I ever had was at the creepiest, most run down, dark, ancient looking store in the middle of nowhere on the way to Tombstone Arizona. 0/10 modern but that doesn't matter because it was an incredible experience.
The worst the restaurant, the better the food. It's science
Really the most hole in the wall place in the world is probably run by a family and stays open on the power of their food and service. This has been my experience.
@@WaallyOne Corollary, if the food and service is good, no one cares about the decor.
For what it's worth, there are things that can be modernized that people would enjoy:
Updated bathrooms that are clean
If seats or tables, etc are old n bad shape - get new ones that still maintain the look.
Etc... etc... those are things that any restaurant would do well to keep up to date.
But yeah going "modern" with cracker barrel won't do anyone any good.
I swear. I think people are sick of the aesthetic fisher-price-ification of every aspect of western society, i.e. the ubiquitous over-simplification of and reduction in stimuli in everything to the point that you don't have to use your brain anymore. I think this is a big part of this newer wave of increased interest in East Asian cultures (since the 2010s), the fact that they're pretty much exactly the opposite of this. It's like there's more to look at in everything they have. Plus, they continue to embrace older stuff alongside new stuff for longer, so it's like modern advancement feels like making additions rather than potentially net-negative changes.
Honestly I love your idea at the end there. Having Cracker Barrels act as local community hubs sounds great, both for local customers and visitors
We have a Mc.D. that is trending that way in spite of itself. Plays old school country. Tried to change it and it was explained, people do not like modern country here. They listened and switched it back. I admit it is hard on all restaurants now as to prices and high tips.🦇
The only modernization thats required for restaurants is to modernize the staff wages out of the early 1960s.
The atmosphere and feel of the tables, the inside store, that triangle game, the big ass checkers, the all day breakfast food, all the chairs put outside that never seem to sell but are fun to sit on. This is my favorite sit down and I hope it doesn't lose its way.
Same. Despite it being labelled as an "old folk's restaurant" I'm 28 and I love cracker barrel for the aesthetic (and them biscuits). If they modernize it like they have been with all these other companies I'm legit gonna be heartbroken.
@HolyApplebutter I've come to find out that many younger people actually like Cracker Barrel. My best friend likes it, his girlfriend like it, I like it, my ex liked it, etc
@@HolyApplebutter If they "modernize" the stores I'll bet money they will go bankrupt.
The triangle game, oh the triangle game. How i love thee
@@HolyApplebutter i am 19 and i absolutely love the breakfast benny and watermelon lemonade
- Take all the money they'd spend on rebranding and redecorating, and use it instead for better wages and more competitive sourcing of ingredients.
- Have the menu be incredibly competitively priced, and put some loss leaders on there. 50 years and people still haven't learned the lesson of the CostCo Hotdog and the Denny's Grand Slam.
- If all else fails, shorten the name to CRACK BAR and court controversy.
"I'll have the chicken-fried steak with biscuits and gravy, please."
"Sir, this is CRACK PIPE, we serve narcotics here. You're looking for CRACK BAR, that's 2 blocks east of here"
Hey dad, can we get dinner at Crack Bar tonight?
Too bad Hunter Biden already trademarked Crack Bar
But that would make too much sense.
Better ingredients would get me back in.
Tried their meat loaf and fried chicken, loved the atmosphere, but that food was drier and blander than a saltine.
Hiring someone who used to work at modern, young companies like Starbucks and Taco Bell for old-fashioned Cracker Barrel of all places just sounds dumb.
This is so common nowadays. Companies are bought by investors who only care about how they can squeeze money out before they sell off the assets.
Was reading this as someone who is working on the floor/line but then realized yeah no execs are just idiots who have never worked floor/line of anywhere
That's "woke" mentality for ya... Idiocracy in action.
@@CrazyBear65 has absolutely nothing to do with the propagandized movement of "woke," please take your face out of the ass that is FOX news for a second and try living in reality.
@@CrazyBear65 nope, hate this too
I had visited the restaurant near Hanover MD on a Sunday early afternoon. There was a 10 minute wait and every single seat was full. The food ordered was presented incredibly well and the taste was great. The pricing there is fair (compared to most other restaurants). They need to get people to simply come in and enjoy the great food. I loved its rustic charm.
They should just go for it and bring back radio ads with the acoustic guitars.
This feels like that one episode of Spongebob where Pearl "modernized" the Krusty Krab by making it a completely different restaurant.
Modern businesses are pump-and-dump schemes for the executives. New CEO comes in, guts the company for short-term profits (raking in lots of cash for themself), leaves, then does the same thing for the next business. You can see this time and time again.
Agreed, even if they get fired they get a HUGE severance and somehow that crappy performance on their resume helps them land the next big job!
Sounds exactly like how crypto scams operate
I've never thought about it like that before but that's a good way to sum it up
I honestly think this is what’s happening with Disney
We're in this terrifying end game where leadership has never worked the line and line workers can never make it to leadership. The MBA industrial complex in full swing.
Now bolts are falling off planes, we're asked to tip machines and McDonald's is luxury dining.
I work in manufacturing and a fun game to play is to wait for someone in management to suggest a canine-faeces tier process modification and to ask them to show you how.
"Oh, you think the hinges should be pre-installed on the deckled and then we'll just shoot the hinges into the parcel shelf? A fascinating idea, but I'm a little confused on the specifics. Let me see it in action."
Very true, everything in society has simply gotten too big. I don't think people realize how much the population of the US has grown since 1950
Wait until you get a new DEI pilot or surgeon.
the average MBA couldn’t be trusted to use a toaster, never mind spearhead company changes. drives me fucking nuts that the degree exists
@SloMoMonday beautifully said.
It's too late. The "simplification" decor to the logos is on its way out the door. It's very 2015, and it's starting to show that people are fed up with the aesthetic. There's a reason the over-design of the 00s are getting popular with youths as well. People are getting tired of modern, flat, corporate barren hospital cafeteria aesthetics, and as a graphic designer, I welcome this change with open arms. I don't pretend to know exactly where it is going, but it's clear that people want personality.
People wanna go into a restaurant for the V I B E S! Fast food places are literally losing money by focusing too much on the drive thru side of things. People aren't gonna sit inside a McDonald's these days unless it's retro.
I love 90s/00s designs! I'd much rather have websites with dancing letters, eyesore backgrounds, visitor counters, and stylesheets short enough to fit on a napkin than "modern" sterilized trash.
That sounds sarcastic but it isn't, I genuinely love that era of design. It's nice to have a clearer signal what the vibe is - if I'm in the right mood I'll walk in and buy something. I've impulse-gone to places just from looking in their windows and liking the decor.
I feel like design trends fade once large public institutions like education or health or government adopt them. My high school was a single story building made of red brick with a pretty unimpressive entrance of 4 double doors. Now it’s being remodeled with an extra story and millennial grey accents around these giant glass panes. I remember the auditorium having those test trays that fold over with signs screwed in that forbade cellphones and pagers. I went to visit for an open house and it just felt like a Starbucks inside, all the concrete bricks covered with drywall, lights that turn off as you walk away. Worst of all, the auditorium had no charm with grey carpet and lighter grey movie theater seats, of course missing those janky trays. They painted over murals I remember seeing every day, the names students years before, with and after me signed on the exposed stage bricks hidden by the curtains just gone, completely replaced by sturdier albeit boring steel pillars. Now these designs hurt me, seeing the character of a beloved institution just gone. Now people are seeing issue with this starbucking and I feel the next trend in design/style will be a radical shift to some sorta kitschy 90’s modernism that millennials and gen z grew up with, were intimately involved with in their childhood and now inspire their design as they enter the professional world these next several years.
@@HauntakuTVIronically related to the topic of this video, the only reason I EVER eat at McDonald’s anymore is going on Friday mornings and listening to the local elderly farmers talk about mundane local happenings. If there were a Cracker Barrel in my hometown, I wouldn’t have any reason to eat there. Once again, localism seems to be the universal answer in this collapsing nation, more concerned with Russia and China than our neighbours.
THANK YOU! finally someone says it
"This may be nostalgia talking"
*proceeds to explain the entirety of whats going wrong with the restaurant industry in such a good way
Thank you SO much for making this video and for mentioning the ETCs. I’ve been an ETC for almost three and a half years and I’m also a district leader. This news has been heartbreaking. There’s been ETCs in this company long than I’ve been alive (23 yo) and this is a position that so many of us wanted to keep forever. We help develop and train all our employees, act as a counselor, a google search engine, a mentor, and a guide for all things CB. We were known to many as “the glue that holds each store together.” I’m so devastated that this is really happening.
Yeah my etc has been there for like 20 years, I didn't even know about this till today. How are the new hires going to be handled?
@@hmmmm636 It’s all on the managers now..
I don't understand why companies who want to rebrand always make the worst possible logo imaginable. The old logo was a bit dated, sure, but it was instantly recognizable. The new one looks like a new boutique brunch spot that's just like the 20 others around it.
I'm convinced that if you gave the decision makers at these companies an IQ test, they'd all score at below average. Nothing else makes sense
The new one makes me worry for the wooden barrel with a plant in it. That wood is going to rot and what on Earth is that plant and why is its stalk bare?
My conspiracy theory is that graphic designers within companies intentionally try to convince their upper management to change logos solely so that they can retain their position in the company. If there's no rebranding happening, why do you still need them around?
Its for scaleability
Gotta have it visable from an app icon or merch...
Then again Burger King and Pizza Hut have basically done the opposite by just going back to their old logos. Sometimes the more recognizable logo is the one you previously had before it was modernized in the late 90’s/early 2000’s.
They shouldn't have fired Brad's wife
Never forgive, never forget
11 YEARS OF SERVICE GODDAMNIT! AND THEY FIRED HER!
This old boy is steaming
One of the pillars that caused this country to fall. Up there with Harambe.
@@harrisonbaylor1432 Need a 4 horsemen theme on these. Harambe, Brad's Wife, Fyre Festival, and... I want to say Mulan Szechuan Sauce, but as that was technically a good thing I'm not sure it works.
How about the (arguably) botched Szechuan Sauce roll-out?
I hate everything about these plans. Literally ate at Cracker Barrel yesterday and she wants to change everything that everyone loves about the place.
@@growingmelancholy8374 Some men just want to watch the world burn
@@growingmelancholy8374 get better bait 🤡
Cracker Barrel has good food and a decent atmosphere. Nothing wrong with it and nothing that needs changing except for its reputation, since the longer it continues being an "old white southern racist people's restaurant" the less popular it becomes with new generations
Evidently people don't love it anymore, the business is declining in sales & reputation.
Agree,cHiring former Taco Bell CEO invites a sure failure. All it needs is more comfortable seating and portion control.
1:10 I also heard that as a kid, but we had one down the road from where i lived so we went relatively often and I just loved the shop/restaurant combo and being able to play checkers with my dad
and to add to this - the 600+ employees are the Employee Training Coordinators. These are the people in charge of onboarding, training new hires, coaching and developing employees, ensuring that their stores are compliant with Labor Laws and State Alcohol permits, and employee morale. Now these responsibilities are being given to the managers who most have no clue or time to perform these responsibilities because they're either short staffed or busy running the business, making sure the store is clean and checking on food safety, and being out in the dining room with the guests who are eating and shopping. The restaurant is only as good as it's Emplpyee Training Coordinator and his/her partnership with the General Manager.
Managers are already working 50+ hours a week and are EXHAUSTED. Eliminating this position is going to lead to higher employee and manager turnover, untrained employees, bad service, and less return rate from guests.
And also have to be a prep cook 2-5 hours cuz they have to cut down labor cost. It has a trickle down effect, as a backup cook I end up having to take the time to fry chicken cuz im back there and the managers busy.
I know it isn't a restaurant, but touching on your last point about community engagement; Barnes and Noble was falling off bad a few years ago but they have really worked to shift the image by allowing each store to stock what they want, host events, and even change interior signage. I think the sooner companies and CEOs stop making stupid decisions where they think one month ahead, instead of years ahead, the sooner we will see better food and service.
Corporations really need to allow local stores to cater to their local populace... one size fits all, does not fit all around a country this big.
@@froglaps40 PREACH!
true; i went to a barnes and noble in a republican area and there were Atlas Shrugged posters, whereas a barnes and noble in a democrat area advertised Obama's autobiography.
How long ago was this? I noticed a good... 10-ish years ago that the selecton between B&N's varied pretty widely.
@@professorhaystacks6606 Around 2017 or so they had a change in leadership and until 2021 it was looking pretty bad.
CEO's doing anything except fix the actual problem moment
I feel like she does have a plan but it's not about making any of the brands better or more successful. Given her previous leadership positions I speculate its more like:
1. Get hired by a food chain thats struggling with the promise to turn the ship around
2. Squeeze out a quick short term cash flow increase via increasing prices.
3. after a while, leave with a nice bonus package
4. let someone else deal with the long term consequences of unsustainable business practices, not your problem since you'll be long gone by then.
that's because 90% of the time the problem is them.
@@StaticR show up
do what the management consultants tell you to do
oopsie.jpg
?????
private equity time
@@StaticR That is just the basic CEO playbook at this point. You show up and cut a bunch of positions to push profits up nominally for a year or two, finalize your exit bonus based on how much "profit" you were able to bring in, then leave while distracting people away from the fact that all executive positions are leeching away the profits regular employees make.
@@StaticRthis is the playbook of most corporate executives
You have reservations? Huh, normally I just walk into Cracker Barrel and they have seats open.
*Badum tish*
That's funny.
😂
I don't know where you live, but here in the South, EVERY Cracker Barrel historically has no parking spaces open, let alone seats - until last week.
Since when I've never seen a Cracker Barrel that was packed months gills at breakfast and dinner? That's really sad if that no longer the case.
@ 5:28 I had to do a double take! That's Cookeville TN. I grew up around that area. It's cool to see a place you know randomly in a video. There's also a cracker barrel there.
“Young people will eat there if the prices were cheaper and the food were better” - I will take that a step further to say young people would actually enjoy the environment too, because what’s now become vintage is food quality and well paid staff.
The whole reason why I love Cracker Barrel is BECAUSE it still has its charm and isn't boring, cold & dead modern. That and the chicken and dumplings. Really the only upgrade they could use beyond actually paying their employees more is the floors. Leave everything else alone.
Cracker Barrel *is* Nostalgia. Like it’s whole aesthetic is to give a vibe that it’s remained unchanged since before you were born. The most innovation needed is taking classic ingredients and putting a spin on them.
When I go into a Cracker Barrel (been a while) I always am reminded of my grandmom taking me and me playing with that little plank board on the table. With no knowledge, and little to offer when it comes to running a restaurant chain company… I’m not sure why companies want to move away from the old guard when so many people nowadays seem to fawn over nostalgia and the way things used to be. Wouldn’t it make more sense to lean into that?
Even seeing in Austin’s video the logo changes for Wendy’s, Sonic, BK, etc. that just annoys me cuz there’s no need to change what’s already a good thing. But again I know I don’t know anything about this stuff so it’s all just my personal feelings that may very well not be commonly thought by others.
Those shots of Cracker Barrel interiors do feel dated and uninviting in like three different ways.
First of all is that particular staggered brick-wood-whatever floor pattern that I associate with the 1980's, then the entire building inside and out is meant to look like a Wild West set, greys and greyish-greens meant to look like unfinished wood that's been left outside for a century. The people this aesthetic is nostalgic for are the same people who lynched black people for drinking out of the wrong fountain, the faster we can eliminate their contributions to society the better we'll be.
Ditch that for a varnished pine look. Get rid of the kerosene lamps on the tables. Warm up and brighten the interior. Make it rustic but freshly built. "The old fashioned way" doesn't need to mean "built in 1860 by a man in a stove pipe hat."
That's beyond un-blanding the food. I don't eat at Cracker Barrel very often because my last few visits there included dry biscuits, unseasoned meat, several kinds of runny slop...we're talking public school cafeteria grade food here, served by someone in an apron in a dark dingy building with a gift shop.
@@thegardenofeatin5965 Thank you!! I’ve begun to wonder if I’m the only person who doesn’t care for Cracker Barrel. It’s not inviting to me, it just feels like yet another corporate appropriation of of Nostalgia(tm). The food is consistently boring, and I have never in my life had a single meal at a Cracker Barrel that was memorable enough for me to say “I need this in my life again.” It’s generic, under seasoned, under flavored, inoffensive food. In my world, it fills a slightly slower paced spot alongside McDonald’s for places I know I can get edible food on a trip or with a group. It will neither offend nor impress. And somehow, I don’t see THAT changing any time soon.
If Cracker Barrel closest it’ll just be relaxed with another fast casual chain serving the same generic fast casual food. It will not be missed, nor will its inevitable replacement likely be any more interesting.
@@thegardenofeatin5965 you sound insane
Apparently, the menu changes have received some positive feedback (people love the jalapeno corn bread), but it's the aesthetic that's the issue.
I worked at Cracker Barrel for years awhile ago. One of the ideas they tried to run with was switching out the salt and pepper shakers for grinders. The BIG STINK that was made about those (because a lot of customers have arthritis/hand issues) was crazy. These folks definitely do not want to mess with an app.
Even in the few years i worked there (pre-pandemic) they kept cutting hours for employees. Starting out they had more focus on customer service in the shop. Gift wrapping, gift bundles, interacting with folks coming in the store. When i left it was limited to one person in the entire retail area, limited customer interaction, and heaven forbid you mention gift wrap. Funnily enough, you still had to do all your daily tasks but you couldnt leave the floor or leave the register. OKAY Sharon, how am i supposed to clean the restroom or straighten the store or restock anything if i cant leave the register at all. 🙄
@@baronvonslambertthat and because they think they have to because the others do... like back in the 90s every company had to have a website, even if they had absolutely no reason to have one, and when you got there, it was the equivalent of a yellow pages ad's worth of information...
one way where you're all wrong though, old people are ALL about figuring out that app if it'll give them a discount... they will struggle with that shit in the checkout line, holding up the works for hours trying to figure it out just for that 15% discount (that ends up only being $1.50)
honestly, I'm surprised the scammers haven't figured that out yet... why are they struggling with pretending to be the IRS when they can make a coupon app with huge on-screen buttons?
Quite recently grandmothers spouse couldn't even work out which way to hold a pepper grinder. I only narrowly avoided a LOL
I have a EE degree and 38 years' experience with computers - and I don't want to look at a cell phone while dining or at a theme park. I do those things to *get away from* apps and cell phones. And, no, I don't want to see McDonald's or Starbucks in theme parks either - but those have gotten so expensive I probably won't go any more. More bang for the buck on a Viking River Cruise.
On the idea of working with local communities, in Australia we have Grill'd.
It's a so-so - maybe better than average - burger chain that uses avocado in too many burgers. But, every person who places a burger order gets a bottle cap. They can take these bottle caps to 3 jars, each of which is for a local community group or issue. Things like dog shelters, homeless shelters or junior athletic clubs. Each jar will receive a portion of a lump sum, divided up by community vote.
It's a small notion, but most of the time I can get behind the causes involved (sometimes it's things like donations to a local church and that feels icky compared to the other options I've mentioned).
It doesn't have to be a huge amount per store per month. But a little bit of appreciation is earned by the company for having that kind of charity.
I've worked in the restaurant industry for almost 20 years and in my experience there's a big difference in the way corporate places run compared to independently owned. Just stop eating at big chain restaurants, go to your locally owned place. I promise the food will always better, and less expensive.
I predict the chain's logo will be "updated" into the two letters, "cb", in lowercase, colored flat gold with a brown edging stroke, with the 'b', kicked out at an informal angle.
And that the redesign process will be billed to corporate for at least us$1.1 million.
Flawless modern design 10/10
Reminds me a lot of the fiasco of the redesign of the University of Kentucky logo...which ended up being a slight variation of the logo their famous basketball team had used for the past several decades. And by slight, I mean they used a SLIGHTLY different varsity font than they did before.
Making the b look like a rocking chair is kind of genius regardless of the whole modern design thing
Yeah the pic of Uncle Hershel will probably be accused of being racist
I hate corporations are blaming inflation yet have record profits, exec bonuses, stock buybacks and dividends
These big companies are always struggling because of their stupid decisions, so then they make MORE stupid decisions and then...
Gotta pay those shareholder somehow, even if shareholders are not the ones actually making profits
@@the_travelingbreeze That really is true. They have a legal obligation to maximize value to shareholders, even if it means making dubious decisions.
The Fed recently released a study that thoroughly tested and debunked the idea that prices are up because of corporate greed. Profit figures are setting records because that's what businesses rebounding from recession and an inflating currency predispose. Profit _margins_ are the relevant metric, not profit totals, and profit margins are in line with those companies had during past economic recoveries. And looking at stock buybacks and dividends in addition to profit is double counting because those aren't subtracted in the course of calculating profit. They're paid out _using_ profit. Profit and profit margin figures already capture them.
@@the_travelingbreeze Profit is a product of combining capital with labor. (And the labor is sometimes as insignificant as the capital owner's own acts of buying and selling the capital.) The shareholders are the source of the capital. Marx's labor theory of value has been known to be wrong for a long time. There's a good reason Marxism is far more popular in humanities departments than economics ones.
Ah, yes, I go to Cracker Barrel the OLD country store to have a simplistic and "hip" vibe.
... "Oh hey did you hear Cracker Barrel is paying their employees $5/hr more? Oh snap, let's go eat there!"
There's a local Mexican restaurant I've loved since I was a kid, and they reopened today after closing for remodeling due to being purchased in 2021. Half of the seating is closed, they removed the salsa bar, they added a regular bar (including regular bar food like wings), over half the menu is gone, there were 3 employees in the building, everything was about $4 more, and they evidently skimped on the silverware (The fork was like a pound of force away from bending, and the serrated "knife" cut about as well as a blunt object. I tested the latter by trying and failing to cut my finger)
Something restaurants miss is that people don't just come for food, but for the experience. Is the place clean? Are the workers nice? Is the food good? It's a good experience that keeps people coming back.
Unfortunately, the key to all of that is for the parent company to put more money into the restaurants... and we all know companies hate doing that.
They know that, they don't care. Corporations do not care about the quality of their products, they care about profits. If ignoring consumer complaints helps boost profits, that's what they do. If making the dining experience less enjoyable boosts profits, that's what they do. When shareholders see anything less than quarter after quarter growth as a failure, that's what the company aims to do.
Agreed. If the only thing a restaurant offers is food, you might as well stay home. The food's usually better and you can have whatever you like.
Am part of the younger generation, never particularly identified with the southern/country culture of my local area, still adore the rustic vibes of cracker barrel.
If all of the cracker barrels get remodeled with sterile white lighting and generic fast food architecture I literally see no point in even going anymore.
This reminds me a lot of what happened with stake n' shake after the pandemic. Gutted menu, automated ordering, unique quirks stripped away. They used to give all of the kids little hats, coloring page menus, and even little car models that you'd punch out of cardboard and fold up. That's all gone now (to my memory at least.)
As someone who loves the old vibes, this hits hard.
isnt that steak n shake ceo a hedge guy? think he is. they took away the 4 buck meals and changed the buns to dried sawdust . and no wait staff . that ended it for us.
Agreed. I'm not a country guy myself but I still have a lot of fondness for Cracker Barrel. It's just so cozy and chill, the food was great, and going there was always a treat. I have a lot of fond memories of it and yet going there even recently is like walking right into those old memories. Modernizing that would be an enormous mistake.
The same thing is happening to Hwy 55. They used to be all about the nostalgia, but their newer restaurants lack personality (aside from the strange modern architecture), the decor is nothing special and lost all of it's 1950's charm, and some restaurants even did away with the cardboard cars they'd give kids with their kids meals and all their famous frozen custard flavors (even though their website still shows them, the restaurant in Elizabeth City, NC does not offer them). It's a shame, because it was such a fun restaurant and now it's just a plain jane burger joint that's nothing special.
I called it Crack Bar because we couldnt get enough of what we loved there. Then they dropped ALL of our favorite menu items. I still eat there often (I'm a senior citizen, after all) and enjoy the decorations and store. Stop changing!
They changed the recipe of the chicken fried chicken that I've eaten on every trip to Cracker Barrel for about 35 years. That's possibly worse than the year my mother surprised us at Thanksgiving with some sort of fancy, homemade cranberry sauce she found a recipe for in a magazine, when we had lived our entire lives--for multiple generations--eating cranberry sauce out of a can like God intended.
I stopped eating there after that. If my mother suggests CB, I say I don't like it anymore and suggest somewhere else.
@@kerim.peardon5551 "eating cranberry sauce out of a can like God intended"
Spoken like a true American.
My least favorite thing ever is adding tips to everything… like no I’m not going to tip 30% - which was originally intended to incentivize good service - to pick up a mobile order, something that requires sometimes no customer service, especially when I’m ordering on the app. I’m not responsible for playing your employee’s wages past what I’m charged for the food
Localization of merch/deco/events is actually a very interesting suggestion
"Gamifying inflation"
Wow. That made me think.
After having listened to the Trader Joe’s podcast and developing a great deal of respect for their company, I’m starting to appreciate more just how unique they are. Not a restaurant, I know, but they prioritize finding high quality food to share with their customers for low prices. They make a point of hiring friendly, dedicated employees. They don’t have TVs or screens or terminals-just people. They don’t sell products online, despite huge demand, but instead they really focus on making a unique and special in-store experience. All their stores have a program giving food to folks in the local community who need it.
They are, in my mind, the exactly what they claim to be: a national chain of neighborhood grocery stores. And I really admire them for it.
I hope the pendulum swings back soon and that the trend among companies becomes more like the Trader Joe’s business model.
I like this sentiment. there is definitely some overlap between industries making things sterile and automated and younger generations getting more terminally online and out of touch with their roots and communities. the human experience seems more streamlined than ever now.
I LOVE Trader Joe's. They remind me of the little independent grocery stores you find near the beach when on vacation, which means that when I'm at Joe's I feel like I'm on vacation rather than on a dreary visit to the usual chain grocery store.
They also hire artists... I like that, too.
All of these restaurants go into heavy debt with "modernization" instead of focusing on customer service and value.
The focus should be on BRAND IDENTITY! Without a clear vision of what your brand stands for, it will slowly die.
There is no _value_ anymore. Everything is just cheap, mass-produced, plastic junk.
One thing I'll always remember about cracker barrel is my family always being the only black family in the whole restaurant
Cracker Barrel is wonderful, it reminds me of my childhood and having dinner with my Grandparents. It is a slice of home for me and it changing would be so sad.
A few months ago my dad and I went to the Cracker Barrel in Springfield for his birthday and we both noticed that the food was a lot worse than usual, the prices were higher, and the service was nearly nonexistent. We decided we wouldn't be going back.
I had no idea they were going through a corporate overhaul.
I don't get to go there very often. (I don't drive.) But when I do, I love it. I had no idea all of this was going on either.
This is a shock to me too, I can only see it getting worse as this "overhaul" proceeds.
@@chessiecat96 It's a shame. It was a great place to make memories.
@@Yesica1993 Indeed.
That's sad, that was my Family stop for food. Grandparents, My parents, and now me? What am I to have?
Time to go to Waffle House
There's a local diner that servers a lot of the same food and it is super busy all the time. But it has good food, quick service and consistency. That last one is one of the defining features of success now.
There’s a breakfast place in my city that is packed from open to close, every day. The food is said to be amazing and affordable. I’ve never been because an hour wait to be seated is ridiculous IMO. There is demand for those types of restaurants. Cracker Barrel isn’t one of them. I think they’re best days are behind them
That's a great point. The good diner in your hometown is much better. But on the road CB was solid. Yes, the diner you don't know might be good, but you knew CB was solid.
But the food quality dropped and I stopped going.
I also don't go to Cracker Barrel to get drunk. So strange that they got a liquor license and started serving alcohol.
The place always had an "after church" vibe going and when they started serving alcohol, it just seemed to break this..
Just my perspective.
I worked at a Cracker Barrel for a bit, it was one of the more populated stores, lots of visitors and made lots of money. Most people came for the food believe it or not…. When it comes to the store people loved that you could get things you can’t get anywhere else… like Candy that isn’t manufactured anymore, or nick nacs and board games and toys in the same vain. Lot of the other stuff was just stupidly expensive, like seriously…. I almost got fired because I felt bad trying to push that shit onto people on the sales floor.
Their leadership to me felt rotten, I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing the entire time, all my co-workers just felt like they didn’t want to be there, it’s like a McDonald’s as far as worker morale goes.
Was also very cringe culture in management, they made us wear a neck tag that basically said “This person is capable of basic human communication”
In that business language everyone hates.
8:15 So, I worked at a Cracker Barrel and there is absolutely no lack of adequate training, not at any point in the last decade or so. The training was the most thorough I’ve ever experienced and I’ve worked at 8 or 9 chain restaurants . It was somewhat obnoxious how thorough it was at times. The stars on the servers aprons represent how much training they have received. In order to earn a star You have to go through and pass a test for an insane amount of training modules.
If you want better sections and would like to be a shift lead, trainer or advance yourself up the ladder… You have to go through the training and have the correct number of stars.
However, I completely agree with so many of your points and your over all sentiment. The switching of the decor and simplifying of their offerings could really backfire because their audience has come to expect a wide variety. It makes it feel like a real old country store if they simplify it’s just gonna feel like another gift shop .
Also, their menu is outdated and could use a little refresher. But if they are too heavy-handed and strip away everything that makes the brand what it is… There seriously going to alienate their audience.
It will be really interesting to see how this all plays out. I think your prediction may be correct though…
Also, 98% of what I did in the training modules was completely self administered on a computer. Cracker Barrel has a robust library of in-house trading media and software.
So, we actually didn’t even have a “trainer” per se. I’m not sure if the eliminating of any position would affect the thoroughness of the training that they do at Cracker Barrel.
Just offering more context to why I mentioned training specifically.
I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one bothered by how the aesthetic for modern fast food joints has uniformly been...the lobby of a three-star hotel 😂
It's like they had extra siding and decided to put it on the inside too.
Most modern fast food restaurants scream "Don't come in here. You aren't welcome. Use the drive thru and leave NOW!" and its being reinforced by ripping out the self service drinks and free refills on them. I hate it.
They all look like dentist offices!! Who wants to eat at your dentists?? There is a clean look. It's called keeping the area clean! I dont want sterile, I just want clean!!!
@@briandonegan8480That's the philosophy lately for Starbucks interior design, including uncomfortable chairs to keep customers from staying long
I am so sad to hear this. That restaurant was my childhood. Went there to cheer up after my beloved cat passed away. I don't want it to change.
It’s the ultimate roadtrip restaurant. My family would always stop there
I can't understand stopping at a national chain while traveling abroad.
@@andrewhooper7603 RIGHT?!?! Like are these people terminally stupid?!?!
@@andrewhooper7603Have you ever traveled the interstate? At the exits there is usually only fast food places and cracker barrel tends to be one of the only sit down restaurants.
@@andrewhooper7603there's a difference between the actual road trip and the time spent at the place you Travel to. Eating at cracker barrel on the actual drive is amazing. It's familiar, nostalgic, easy to get to off the interstate, and gives you a chance to stretch your legs from the drive. However when I'm actually at my destination, I would never go to a chain as I know have time to explore new food options.
I love how each cracker barrel is unique.
New prices = higer prices.
I want my plate for 12.99 Sharon.
this reminds me of what happened to Red Lobster and Olive Garden. they went the "bistro" route.
YES THIS SO MUCH!
What Cracker Barrel needs to do is charge a reasonable price for overnight parking (many RVers park in their parking lot for free overnight). Just charge $5.
Classic restaurant known for its atmosphere has out of touch management completely change its aesthetic to try to make it more "modern", driving away old clientele while failing to attract a new one. Classic.
8:40 Pizza Hut, Subway and BK went back to variations of their older logos. For those of us old enough to remember them the first time around, it's a bit of nostalgia to have them back.
Ford used to have glommy modern logos but then went back to the Spencerian script in a blue oval. Graphic design success!
Considering that one of my favorite parts of Cracker Barrel, as a 20 something “young” person, is the antique looking and feeling furniture and real antique often very local decor, it surprises me what the CEO really wants to modernize and homogenize. I always like seeing exactly what the decorators scrounged from the area to put on the walls. Trying to sus out what the themes they tapped into for certain vignettes is a favorite part of the experience. At a local one, situated in a lakes and hills region of my state, they themed the decor on skiing, winga-dinga auto culture, waterfront activities, and small scale agriculture adjacent industry. Hunting and trapping was heavily featured in Harrisburg, PA. One in Tennessee that I visited featured forestry and and subsistence farming equipment.
Honestly I agree with your assessment of how to better connect with customers. Trying to make them places that revolve around a hyper local focus would actually help greatly in building the places up, but it must be focused on in the marketing. Gen Z will only get caught up in this if it is used like a typical TikTok gimmick.
Additionally there is no place by me where I can buy food like what a Cracker Barrel serves. That living history elements can help to highlight some influencer centric type of outreach.
A campaign to help to highlight local historic variations on classic disses or entirely new menu items based on local flavors could really help with doubling down on the Brand’s local looking competency.
i work at a panera bread and they've been doing the same thing, we're currently in the process of losing our bakers/fresh bread in favor of frozen bread. they keep introducing stupid menu items and cutting old favorites, keeping prices high, lowering ingredient quality, and pressuring stores to save on labor.
I use to eat at Panera for lunch fairly regularly and stopped because the bread was just meh and the price doubled. So this comment makes a lot of sense.
Wait. The *Bread* restaurant is currently uninvesting in bread. Are they trying to go bankrupt?
Like yoga mat Subway bread.
Noted, I will try to avoid them.
I remember the last time I tried to eat at a Panera. Had to order at a kiosk, at least 50% of the menu wasn't available because they didn't have the ingredients, the prices were ridiculous. I don't plan on returning. Granted, I never liked it in the first place, but my wife used to love it.
I worked at a Cracker Barrel 2 years ago here in Missouri and the amount of boomers, and some even older folks, being confused by just tapping a card makes me glad I never had to force an app on them. The $11.50 I was getting paid as an employee in retail was not worth the headaches lol
In my country, you will just psy cash. Chain restaurants aren't as common and many small ones won't accept anything else
The fact that Five Guys _started_ at 6 dollars for a cheeseburger the first time I went there and have doubled since then is not convincing me that I made the right choice by having _never_ eaten one of their burgers.
Everything is turning into Krabby O'Monday's now. Spongebob made fun of this nearly 20 years ago and the people who grew up watching that show are now old enough to be in market consultancy, _and doing the exact thing they made fun of._
We used to eat at CB pretty often. It's one of only a few sit-down restaurants in our town. We stopped going there a couple of years ago after several, several consecutive experiences where we got terrible service and bad food. It had nothing to do with the decor.
"....by making ultimately superficial changes that nobody is really asking for."
Felt.
Raisin Canes and Whataburger do the Community stuff. especially in the decor and showcasing the local schools from high school to college.
Whataburger employee here, they are too slowly becoming everyone else, and trying to cheap out.
If anything the rebrand will make them go belly up, people like cracker barrel the way it WAS., not the way it is now, after they went out of their way to make everything cheeper (for them to make), but the way it used to be 20 plus years ago. And going "modern" will do nothing but drive even more customers away.
It’s already going belly up. This might just expedite it a bit.
Thanks for saying this. 100% agree with the apps, and the boring coffee shop look of every fast food chain.
Even as a gen z’er, I hate the modern look too, nobody likes it. It’s just out-of-touch rich people trying to guess what normal humans want, and failing miserably.
1:51 “The business started in 1969” and you’ve had to have someone 69 years or older at your table ever since.
where the FRICK did the BARREL in CRACKER BARREL go
exactly! where did it come from? where did it go?
Where did it come from cracker barrel joe
@@SrirachaChugChallenge747-jq7by where did it come from, cotton eyed Joe?
@@SrirachaChugChallenge747-jq7by Where did it come from, Cracker-Barrelled Joe?
@@SrirachaChugChallenge747-jq7by where did it come from, cracker-eye Joe?
Trying to make Cracker Barrel hip is like a mom using internet slang.
Bro I deadass started working at Cracker Barrel as a summer job this year
oof dawg u cooked
1) Keep working there until they remodel and throw out all the awesome decorations.
2) Use them to open a highly successful restaurant chain.
3) Profit.
Get ready lose your job because your braindead CEO decided to overpay a marketing team millions of dollars to make an objectively worse MS Paint bland modernized logo and repaint your walls.
We used to eat here about once a week. But the service and food has both went down hill in the past couple years.. it has nothing to do with decor or comfortable chairs. We don't go anymore. So sad.
You are 100% correct. The way to save Cracker Barrel is to double down on what makes it stand out. Making it blend into the blur of corporate blah is suicidal.
I'm just commenting to improve this video's algorithmic reach in the hope that as many franchise restaurant finance and operational executives will be exposed to it as possible.
Old folks love cracker barrel. The portions are good, the food is good and the prices aren't terrible. Olds also love that old look. Making sweeping changes seems like a bad move, but I also didn't know the chain was struggling. So who knows? I certainly don't.
I guess not enough old crackers are still alive to fill that barrel.
Maybe because I was raised on my parents/grandparents nostalgia and around home restoration projects, but I love the old look and I just turned 32. It's a time at my birth I was 80 years separated from and I LOVE it.
Cracker Barrel, like many companiee, don't understand the people that go there.
Honestly if they can't keep it as it is now, or the same style, it is pointless and should just be let go of or convered into a whole new thing.
There was once a pirate themed bar that got turned into a corporate modern mess and then later reverted back to the pirate theme because pirates are better than men in suits
I loved this video, it was great, your words were pure gold. The best part about Cracker Barrel is that it’s a step back in time. It’s like a museum that you get to eat in and feel welcomed!
I worked at Cracker Barrel for 2 years, loved eating there, great experience anytime I went. After I stopped working there they seem to change a lot, which was weird to me because their core values were always remaining the same and providing good service. After covid the service seemed to diminish, they tried to change their menu up but all the new stuff was bad and they removed some of my favorite items from the menu. The fact that they were beginning to change was an immediate red flag to me, instead of paying people more and maintaining quality they kept trying new gimmicks. Weird cheap low quality menu items, overpriced coffee and they began serving alcohol. Nothing anyone ever asked for, or expected from a restaurant whose entire identity is being old country style where you can expect big portions of No Frills Southern Comfort food. The shop hasn't changed much since I've been, which is nice I really love the general store and I haven't noticed too much change with that although some of the nicer higher dollar items like tiffany style glass lamps aren't stocked as often as they used to be
You are spot. on. Thank you for saying what we’re all saying, but not into microphones!
Clean bathrooms???!? Based on my last visit, someone had some intense intestinal issues and left their ruined attire on the floor. My son reported this to the staff and we got a "Oh. Yeah. We know." in response, no timeline of correction or apologies. The manager was standing around talking to someone our entire visit.
I would say they need to work on that suggestion as well.
I mean did you see the food they served there? I am not surprised they are used to it.
Just goes to show how bad their training and compensation as a company is.
That one episode from Futurama comes to mind. The CEO just casually scoots in on a hoverchair and says "What IS a Cracker Barrel, really?" 🙄
In short, you're absolutely right. It's like these people want to change everything BUT the stuff that matters to us youngsters. I hope this doesn't take a turn for the worst.
Great video! 🧡
I love your “think local, not global” point. I was just at Hersheypark for the first time and I was most taken by how locally focused it is and how I think that’s contributed to their success. They never tried to open another one in California or Texas or something. They put all their local profits into improving their local park and the city around it. Milton Hershey started this by building a theater, stadium, arena, theme park all in the town of his factory, helping the town as a whole. Other profits seem to go to giving back as well. And part of that is it gives the town and the park and the company the same identity. That feels more right to me than a faceless global corporation, every day of the week.
God, it’s so frustrating that you’re as right as you are and that they absolutely will never ever listen to you
Using the Five Guys menu is a good example of how prices have just gotten so inflated. It was always seen as something that would be a bit more pricey then other fast food like Mcdonolds or Berger King because of better quality, but it has gotten to a place where the only real difference between the experience of going to a sit down place is just im getting my food quicker
Their recent menu seems to be targeted to college students, but I should know from more than a dozen family outings that it is people of much more advance age which frequent this establishment- so they should target their menu accordingly.
It's families. The number one draw is families.
But the quality has gone down hill so much recently I don't really want to go back. If I'm being honest
I’m only 43 but yeah, I love the décor of the store/restaurant and it’s always cool to see the vintage candies and sodas they sell. Plus, occasionally I can find a package of Hydrox, the *superior* chocolate sandwich cookie, come at me, Oreo lovers LOL.
7:03 those prices are actually crazy, I used to see those prices that ski resorts a few years ago, now it’s at way too many places
I love Cracker Barrel!
There are no convenient Cracker Barrel locations where we live in the NW suburbs of Chicago, but they are a staple of every road trip I've ever taken. Whether with my family as a kid, my wife now, or with friends, we always go. Stopping at Cracker Barrel on the road trip is a necessary part of the journey, imo.
I feel like I'm not alone in that experience, and it makes me wonder how much of the lost revenue is due to people just not taking road trips as often.
this was exactly my experience as well
Same! My mom complained about the food EVERY TIME, yet we always went (and still do) because that's just What You Do On Road Trips.
I guess I was surprised to hear there aren't any in the NW suburbs though, because there are like 3 in the W/SW like 30 minutes apart. lol