Cracker Barrel’s co-founder has given a damning verdict on the company’s CEO following the chain’s rebranding fiasco.
Tommy Lowe, 93, accused Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino of failing to understand what the company stands for, citing her previous stint at Taco Bell.
‘They’re trying to modernize to be like the competition… Cracker Barrel doesn’t have any competition,’ Lowe told WTVF of Masino’s leadership.
‘I heard she was at Taco Bell. What’s Taco Bell know about Cracker Barrel and country food? They need to work on the food and service and leave the barrel, the logo, alone.’
Cracker Barrel was forced to axe its new logo Tuesday after the negative reaction to the new logo, which removed the iconic image of an old man leaning against a barrel and left just the name in a new font.
Lowe co-founded the first Cracker Barrel with the late Dan Evins in Lebanon Tennessee, in 1969.
His comments came as Masino, who makes about $6.68 million a year from her salary and bonuses, broke cover and was spotted by Fox News Digital as she left her home in an affluent Nashville neighborhood on Thursday.
Masino declined to answer any questions as she got inside her Mercedes-Benz and was protected by security in another vehicle as she made her way to a Starbucks to pick up coffees.
Cracker Barrel’s co-founder Tommy Lowe, 93, slammed the chain’s now-axed logo rebrand
Masino broke cover and was spotted as she left her home in an affluent Nashville neighborhood on Thursday
It was the first time she was seen publicly since the rebrand of the logo, which also eliminated the pinto bean shape behind the name, a nod to one of the original side dishes offered when Cracker Barrel first opened.
Low called the re-brand ‘land and pitiful’ and said that ‘Spending $700 million dollars doing that is throwing money out the window.’
‘If they don’t get back to keeping it country, then it ain’t gonna work,’ he added.
Critics said the changes stripped away the brand’s character and charm, and the backlash cost the company nearly $100 million in market value last week.
Even President Donald Trump weighed in on the change, telling Cracker Barrel bosses to scrap the new logo.
Shortly after Trump’s comments, the company scrapped the re-brand effort.
‘We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel. We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘old timer’ will remain,’ the company said.
CNN reported that after the rebrand U-turn, Cracker Barrel deleted its ‘Pride page’ from its website and scrubbed references to Diversity and Inclusion efforts.
Cracker Barrel was forced to axe the rebrand on Tuesday after the negative reaction to the new logo, which removed the iconic image of an old man leaning against a barrel
The now-axed new logo also eliminated the pinto bean shape behind the name, a nod to one of the original side dishes offered when Cracker Barrel opened. The traditional logo is pictured
Trump later congratulated the brand for listening to consumers.
Writing on Truth Social, he said: ‘Congratulations “Cracker Barrel” on changing your logo back to what it was.
‘All of your fans very much appreciate it. Good luck into the future. Make lots of money and, most importantly, make your customers happy again!’
The controversy over the new logo came as the company overhauled its 650 restaurants nationwide, swapping rustic southern-style interiors for a modern look.
That shift, too, has sparked backlash, with customers complaining the chain is ‘just turning into any other restaurant.’
The chain’s name itself comes from barrels once used to deliver crackers to country stores, which later doubled as makeshift tables for community gatherings.
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