Crackerless Barrel

Overview of Cracker Barrel's History

• Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. is a well-known American restaurant and gift store chain founded in 1969. The first location opened in Lebanon, Tennessee, and was designed to attract travelers along highways. Founding and Early Years (1969-1980)
• Founder: Dan Evins, who aimed to boost gasoline sales by creating a restaurant-gas station combo.
• First Location: Opened on September 19, 1969, near Interstate 40.
• Concept: Modeled after traditional country stores, featuring Southern cuisine and a welcoming atmosphere.
• Uncle Herschel: Herschel McCartney was the uncle of Cracker Barrel founder Dan Evins. McCartney was a long-time salesman for the Martha White Flour Company, known for wearing overalls, and later became a goodwill ambassador for Cracker Barrel. Herschel is a significant figure in the history of Cracker Barrel, both as a namesake for a popular menu item and as a representation of the company's values and culture. He was known for his warm personality and his commitment to the principle of treating others with kindness, famously stating, "Treat everyone as you’d like to be treated yourself." This philosophy became a cornerstone of Cracker Barrel's customer service ethos.
• Growth and Expansion (1981-2000)
• Public Offering: Became publicly traded in 1981, raising funds for expansion.
• Rapid Growth: By the late 1980s, Cracker Barrel had over 50 locations and continued to expand throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
• Menu: Focused on Southern comfort food, including biscuits, grits, and country ham.
• Challenges and Controversies (1990s-2000s)
• Discrimination Lawsuits: Faced multiple lawsuits for racial discrimination, leading to a significant settlement in the early 2000s, which has brought about needed change that can be backed up by God's word.
• Policy Changes: Adjusted policies in response to NGO backlash regarding anti-LGBT stances, bowed to these ungodly forces departing from a wholesome family environment In 2004, Cracker Barrel was criticized for its policy of firing employees who were found to be gay or who supported LGBTQ+ rights.
• Turning against nature and against founding principals: Cracker Barrel was originally given a score of zero when the CEI debuted in 2002. Later that year, the franchise added "sexual orientation" to its list of characteristics protected by its employment discrimination policy. Over time, Cracker Barrel’s score increased. It achieved a score of 80 in 2021 after it had taken some high-profile pro-LGBT stands.
  
• Recent Developments (2011-Present)
• Journey to woke: Cracker Barrel over the past decade has worked closely with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), changing its company culture to be more inclusive and LGBT-friendly ahead of its controversial store rebrand. The restaurant chain’s former management and training leader, Steve Smotherman, who is gay and spearheaded an LGBT employee resource group at Cracker Barrel, went on to sit on the HRC’s Business Advisory Council, Upward News reported. "For more than ten years of my time at Cracker Barrel, I had an emphasis on Diversity & Inclusion, especially with LGBTQ workplace inclusion. My training background allowed me to understand the steps of adult learning, facilitate difficult conversations and be effective at it [sic] Diversity & Inclusion content," Smotherman, who joined the company in 2005, wrote. He co-founded an LGBT Employee Resource Group: why being gay in the workplace should not be an issue.
• 2014: it pulled "Duck Dynasty" products from its shelves after star Phil Robertson made remarks that many deemed to be homophobic.
• 2019: the restaurant chain barred a pastor from hosting an event at one of its 660 locations after he preached that homosexuals were "freaks" and "animals" who are "worthy of death" in a sermon.
• 2023: the "Old Country Store" celebrated Pride by unveiling rainbow-colored rocking chairs.
• 2024: Cracker Barrel sponsored the Nashville Pride Parade.
• Cracker Barrel is now in the crosshairs of consumer backlash after it unveiled a new logo and restaurant redesign. The logo, which drops the imagery of a man leaning over a barrel and instead just has the restaurant’s name in black text over a yellow barrel-shaped backdrop, has elicited sharp criticism online.
• Current Operations: As of 2024, Cracker Barrel operates approximately 660 locations across 45 states, maintaining its focus on Southern hospitality and comfort food.
• Brand Refresh: In August 2025, Cracker Barrel lost their mind and soul, abandoning their iconic logo with the image of Uncle Herschel, unveiling a new text-only logo, marking a hat tip to the far left and like organizations like the woke Human Rights Council. They maintain that is merely a call back to Cracker Barrel's 1969 roots which is just a creative opening to sanitize the logo to remove the old white man.
Cracker Barrel has evolved over the years while remaining a staple for travelers and families seeking a nostalgic dining experience until August of 2025, and has begun its devolution to the ocean of mediocre cookie cutter woke inspired 'dining experiences'.

I've been eating at Cracker Barrel for over 25 years.

The food is just as much of the draw as the atmosphere, with the decor of old equipment and pictures that always spark conversation with old and young family members and friends.

You can change seating.

You might paint the walls white to lighten up the rooms so we can see the decor.

However, Julie, if you, infected by the woke mind virus, listen to the voices in your head and that think that 'change' needs to be made to 'stay relevant', to be 'more inclusive' by bending to these of unsound mind, and destroy the things that make Cracker Barrel ... Cracker Barrel ... like the logo, and also remove the decor, you'll lose Cracker Barrel's identity and what makes Cracker Barrel special and it will just be a regular cookie cutter identityless restaurant and lose the patronage of me and my family and friends that regularly dine there and countless other loyal customers. We'll only stop in on road trips to use the bathroom.