Steak ’n Shake has publicly criticized Cracker Barrel following the Southern-style restaurant chain’s unveiling of a new logo, accusing the company of abandoning its heritage and alienating its traditional customer base.
The Indianapolis-based burger chain took to X on Thursday to directly attack Cracker Barrel’s leadership for eliminating the long-standing image of a man sitting on a barrel from its branding.
“Sometimes, people want to change things just to put their own personality on things,” Steak ’n Shake posted.
“At [Cracker Barrel], their goal is to just delete the personality altogether. Hence, the elimination of the ‘old-timer’ from the signage. Heritage is what got Cracker Barrel this far, and now the CEO wants to just scrape it all away. At Steak ’n Shake, we take pride in our history, our families, and American values. All are welcome. We will never market ourselves away from our past in a cheap effort to gain the approval of trend seekers.”
Sometimes, people want to change things just to put their own personality on things. At CB, their goal is to just delete the personality altogether. Hence, the elimination of the “old-timer” from the signage. Heritage is what got Cracker Barrel this far, and now the CEO wants to… pic.twitter.com/Aoml8ZOfuT
— Steak ‘n Shake (@SteaknShake) August 21, 2025
The post followed another statement Wednesday in which Steak ’n Shake responded to Trump advisor Alex Bruesewitz, who criticized Cracker Barrel’s rebranding efforts.
In its reply, Steak ’n Shake accused Cracker Barrel’s board of directors of dismissing the chain’s “historical customers” and “brand.”
“At Steak ’n Shake, we have gone back to basics,” the company posted. “Our tallow fries are waiting for you. Oh yeah, you can also now pay with Bitcoin!”
This is what happens when you have a board that does not respect their historical customers or their brand.
At Steak n Shake, we have gone back to basics. Our tallow fries are waiting for you. Oh yeah, you can also now pay with Bitcoin! https://t.co/F5cBwUBVns
— Steak ‘n Shake (@SteaknShake) August 21, 2025
Cracker Barrel unveiled its new logo Tuesday as part of a rebranding campaign. For the first time since 1977, the logo is text-only, eliminating the longtime image of a man resting on a barrel.
The change immediately sparked criticism online, with many detractors accusing the company of stripping away the traditional country identity that defined its brand.
Some conservative critics described the move as the company’s “Bud Light moment,” citing the swift online backlash.
CEO Julie Felss Masino has defended the redesign, insisting the reaction has been largely favorable.
According to the company’s press release, the new logo “is anchored in Cracker Barrel’s signature gold and brown tones” and “is now rooted even more closely to the iconic barrel shape and word mark that started it all.”
Despite those assurances, Cracker Barrel’s stock price dropped sharply after the announcement.
Shares of the company fell more than 12% on Thursday, the steepest single-day decline since April.
Steak ’n Shake’s decision to directly target a rival’s rebranding effort is unusual in the restaurant industry, but reflects broader cultural debates over the importance of heritage in corporate branding.
Cracker Barrel has long emphasized its country-store aesthetic, pairing restaurants with gift shops and marketing itself as a family-oriented, traditional Southern dining experience.
Both companies have deep histories in American dining. Steak ’n Shake was founded in 1934 in Normal, Illinois, and has promoted its “steakburgers” for nearly a century.
Cracker Barrel opened its first store in 1969 in Lebanon, Tennessee, and has since grown into a national chain with hundreds of locations.
The clash between the two brands has highlighted the risks companies face when altering longstanding imagery tied closely to their public identity.
While Cracker Barrel insists the changes will strengthen its brand, its critics — including direct competitors like Steak ’n Shake — argue the move discards the company’s tradition in favor of trends that could alienate loyal customers.
Iranian-born Sardar Biglari presently controls Steak ‘n Shake. Wiki:
Steak ‘n Shake page:
“…Entrepreneur Sardar Biglari took control of Steak ‘n Shake…” and “He focused the brand on burgers, fries and milkshakes, reducing the menu from eight pages to a bi-fold” and “In 2021, Steak N’ Shake made a strategic decision to transition away from casual dining and become a fast food restaurant. Steak ‘n Shake replaced lunch counters with self-serve kiosks in 2021 to improve efficiency and reduce costs.”
Sardar Biglari page:
“By 2024, after seven unsuccessful attempts to take control of the company over a 14-year period — by which time Biglari Holdings had accumulated 9.3% of Cracker Barrel’s stock — Biglari nominated a slate of five candidates for election to the Cracker Barrel board of directors. One was Michael Goodwin, the chief technology officer of PetSmart, who was agreed upon by the existing board as an overture to Biglari. In November 24, shareholders rejected the Biglari slate (which included Biglari himself), but did elect Goodwin as part of the slate of existing board members.[20]”
So exactly whose decision was this, to whose benefit?? and how is what Steak ‘n Shake did any different from what Cracker Barrel did??
Anything that evokes traditional culture is inherently bad and must be cancelled, erased from history, apologized for, and revealed as morally wrong (for whatever passes as morality to the left).
The CEO is delusional if she thinks this rebrand was a good idea. The new logo is totally uninspired, a third grader could have done a better job. It’s boring, sterile and conveys no information. All they did was remove the imagery, wow! How much did they get paid to do that??
I suspect this idiot woman actually hates Cracker Barrel and wants to destroy it. She’s doing a great job. Judge a person by the results, not their claims.
Before this rebrand, Cracker Barrel removed a signature dish from it’s menu. My personal favorite and go to when I went to Cracker Barrel was slices of Viginia Ham on those great Southern Biscuits. The last time I went to Cracker Barrel, several years ago, before Covid, in fact, it wasn’t on the menu. I asked and was told it had been removed. When I asked if they would give it to me anyway, they did. Things change, that’s a given. The problem is, when something changes its identity, it by default becomes something else, something different. I’m sure this new CEO came to a chain that was suffering decline and increased competition in a flagging economy (thanks Brandon) and took the easiest, most obvious, option ~ change the brand. The brand was never the problem. Competition, pricing, and advertising were the problems. Cracker Barrel food was awesome! Granny smith fried apples? You can’t beat that. CB, you should have doubled down on your identity, appealed to customers with tradition, solid good food, and all-american values. That was your brand, you should have stuck with it, invested in it.