There is one ironclad rule of business: turn an MBA loose on an otherwise healthy business model, and he or she will screw it up.
It took a Wharton and Harvard graduate, Alissa Heinerscheid, to concoct the transgender marketing plan that destroyed Bud Light’s position in the marketplace in 2023. Bud Light had been doing well since Anheuser-Busch introduced it in 1982. Then Heinerscheid (with the help of Dylan Mulvaney) decided to “rebrand” the beer.
Julie Felss Masino, the current CEO of Cracker Barrel, does not list an MBA among her credentials. But we can bet that she consulted with some, when coming up with Cracker Barrel’s new minimalist, me-too logo and interior redesign.
Even the mainstream media (see above) admits that the rebrand is getting “mixed reviews”.
When speaking to the press, Felss Masino has partly justified the change as a need to appeal to “all generations”. Is this code for saying that Cracker Barrel aims to become the next Gen Z hangout?
On the contrary, Cracker Barrel has always appealed most to families and folks over 40. Cracker Barrel is especially popular on Sunday mornings, with the after-church brunch crowd.
Part of that appeal is the restaurant’s cluttered, anachronistic decor. When I’m in a Cracker Barrel, I get the feeling that I’m somewhere in Tennessee, circa 1969 (the year the restaurant chain was founded). The gift store is filled with wonderful, gaudy items that you almost never need, but feel compelled to purchase, nevertheless.
Other restaurant chains have undergone similar rebrands in recent years, making their interiors resemble the sterile waiting rooms of dentists’ offices. Or rather, the look and feel of the poorly functioning Apple Store seems to be what they’re aiming for. They are definitely trying to make all restaurant interiors look more or less the same.
That may work for McDonald’s (although not very well). Cracker Barrel, though, has traditionally provided a complete experience of which food is but one component. The complete Cracker Barrel experience is also based on the restaurant chain’s unique and consciously counter-modern dining facilities. My guess is that most Cracker Barrel customers don’t want to eat in the restaurant equivalent of an Apple Store.
-ET