Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Masino said she feels like she was “fired by America” after receiving backlash for the restaurant chain’s sterile remodeling design.
Masino made the comment during an interview with The Blaze’s Glenn Beck on Thursday, a few months after the company’s decision to halt the remodeling of its restaurants and maintain its traditional branding in response to widespread customer feedback.
“This is probably very unfair to ask you. Were you surprised you weren’t fired?” Beck asked.
“Um, I feel like I’ve been fired by America,” Masino said.
“That’s probably worse,” Beck replied.
The company drew backlash in August after replacing its iconic “Uncle Herschel” logo with more simple lettering and launching modern remodels of the classic Americana interiors. Even President Donald Trump weighed in on the changes and encouraged the company to revert to its classic branding. Trump congratulated Cracker Barrel after the reversal, saying the move could help restore customer loyalty.
Masino, who made the media appearance with the Senior Vice President of Store Operations Doug Hisel, said she only wanted to “help people love this brand” as much as she does. She added that she her team never planned to redesign the entire restaurant.
“I think a lot of people think that Doug and me and other people sit around, are like, ‘Let’s remodel Cracker Barrel.’ Nothing could be further from the truth,” Masino said. “The notion for some of that truly came out of a lot of the work that we were doing on how do we improve food and experience. When we were talking to our guests, they said, ‘Stores could be a little bit more comfortable. They’re real dark. I can’t read the menu.’”
She admitted she and her team “missed the mark.”
“We’re sorry that that’s what people feel,” Masino said. “That was not the intent. It was not the intent. It hurts me, because I don’t want people to be mad at Cracker Barrel. Our job is to make people love Cracker Barrel the way that our guests do, right? And so, even trying to invite new people in, it was always about how do we show them the magic that is Cracker Barrel.”
After the initial backlash, Crack Barrel stood by the changes and claimed the outrage came from a “vocal minority,” the New York Post reported. But by September, the chain had reversed course.
“This is a humble brand with humble beginnings here in the center of this great country,” Masino said. “Other brands that you go into, you sit down and when you look around, and you see things on the walls, they’re the brand’s story. They’re telling you about the ingredients. They’re telling you about their founding, whatever they want you to think. We don’t do that here at Cracker Barrel… This is America’s story.”
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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