Cracker Barrel’s 93-Year-Old Co-Founder Slams CEO as Investor Demands She Be Fired Amid Logo Disaster

The storm engulfing Cracker Barrel shows no sign of clearing. After a logo redesign triggered outrage, the chain’s 93-year-old co-founder has broken his silence with a blistering attack on the current CEO — while one of the company’s top investors is publicly calling for her to be removed.

Julie Felss Masino, who took the reins of the 650-restaurant chain in 2023 with a pay package worth nearly $7 million a year, is facing pressure on all sides following the failed “modern refresh.” The company was forced to abandon its new branding this week after a furious backlash from customers, shareholders, and even political voices.

For Tommy Lowe, who co-founded the beloved Southern comfort food chain back in 1969, the fiasco was proof that Masino simply doesn’t understand the culture and values Cracker Barrel was built on. Speaking to a Tennessee outlet, the 93-year-old icon of the brand didn’t mince his words. “They’re trying to modernize to be like everybody else. But Cracker Barrel never had competition — we were unique. The only thing they should be working on is food and service. Leave the barrel and the history alone,” he said.

His frustration came after the chain quietly unveiled a new logo that stripped away one of its most recognizable elements: the image of an elderly man resting on a barrel, a folksy emblem that had defined the brand for decades. In its place was a sleeker, minimalist typeface that critics compared to “any other casual dining chain.”

Customers erupted in protest online. Within days, petitions spread, hashtags trended, and loyal diners warned that the redesign had erased the heart of the company. The backlash wiped nearly $100 million off Cracker Barrel’s market value in less than a week. By Tuesday, executives were in retreat, issuing a statement confirming that the “Old Timer” image and the original logo would be restored.

“We thank our guests for sharing your voices and your love for Cracker Barrel,” the company said in a carefully worded message. “We said we would listen, and we have. The original logo will remain.”

But the apology did little to calm critics. For Sardar Biglari, CEO of Steak ’n Shake and a longtime shareholder who controls almost 10% of Cracker Barrel’s stock, the misstep was yet another sign of mismanagement at the top.

Biglari took to social media with a message that was impossible to miss: “Fire Cracker Barrel CEO.” He mocked the redesign with images of red caps, riffing on the wave of populist anger that had spread across the internet. He accused the board of throwing away money and ignoring their customer base, tweeting, “They’ve lost touch with reality. The CEO should be told: you’re fired.”

This wasn’t Biglari’s first warning. In a 2024 letter to shareholders, he had already blasted the company for shifting from Americana-themed interiors filled with knick-knacks and antiques to sleek booths and generic décor. He predicted the changes would fail to stop declining foot traffic. The logo fiasco, he argued, was simply confirmation.

Inside the company, the numbers speak loudly. Shares had fallen for over a week straight before rebounding after management announced the U-turn. Analysts described the logo experiment as a “self-inflicted wound” that distracted from deeper problems like menu innovation and service quality.

Adding to the humiliation, a prominent conservative leader also waded in, publicly urging Cracker Barrel’s bosses to scrap the new logo and return to tradition. The intervention, widely shared on social media, intensified the pressure and made it impossible for Masino to defend the redesign. Hours later, the chain officially reversed course.

For customers, the affair was about more than a logo. To them, Cracker Barrel represented a slice of Americana — rocking chairs on the porch, fireplaces inside, and shelves stacked with nostalgic candy. The redesign felt like erasure. “It’s like they wanted to erase who we are,” one loyal diner wrote online. “We don’t go to Cracker Barrel for modern fonts. We go there because it feels like home.”

Masino herself has kept a low profile throughout the crisis. On Thursday, she was finally photographed in public for the first time since the fiasco broke. Cameras caught her leaving her upscale Nashville home, flanked by security, before slipping into a black Mercedes and heading to Starbucks. When approached for comment, she declined to answer questions, her face tight, her pace quick.

To many, that image — a CEO on the run, silent as the brand’s identity crumbled — summed up the state of Cracker Barrel.

Lowe, the 93-year-old founder, called the entire exercise “pitiful” and warned that “spending millions to erase history is throwing money out the window.” He added: “If they don’t get back to keeping it country, it ain’t gonna work.”

The anger has spread beyond shareholders and co-founders. Grassroots customers have organized online groups pledging to boycott if further “modernizations” are attempted. Analysts say the company, already facing declining traffic, can’t afford to alienate its core base.

What’s next for Masino is uncertain. Her $6.68 million annual package is under scrutiny, and with a powerful investor publicly calling for her ouster, the pressure is intense.

Cracker Barrel’s leadership insists they are listening, but critics say the damage is already done. The attempt to modernize backfired spectacularly, and the CEO now finds herself facing not only a co-founder’s wrath but also a shareholder’s fury and a customer base that no longer trusts the board’s judgment.

In the words of one analyst: “Cracker Barrel tried to reinvent itself and almost reinvented itself out of existence. Their customers want biscuits, rocking chairs, and the Old Timer. Not another faceless chain.”

For now, the barrel remains. But whether Julie Felss Masino will still be standing next to it in the months ahead is an open question.