Recently, the American chain restaurant “Cracker Barrel” sparked a cultural war by changing its logo. Alongside reverting to its old logo and regaining favor in the stock market, the company quietly removed its “Pride” and “DEI” pages from its official website which supported left-wing culture.
The issue of Cracker Barrel changing its logo has garnered nationwide attention in the United States. Not only did the stock market react to this change, even President Trump expressed his opinion on social media, urging the fifty-year-old chain restaurant to revert to using the traditional old logo.
According to website archive records accessed by CNN, the roadside restaurant chain headquartered in Tennessee deleted a dedicated “Pride” page this week. The page introduced the company’s LGBTQ+ Alliance and showcased the company’s participation in Pride parades in Nashville in support of LGBTQ+ and transgender rights.
Cracker Barrel’s official website also had a page specifically outlining the company’s initiatives in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program, which is now inaccessible.
The internet archive tool “Wayback Machine” shows that both of these web pages have been running for several years.
On another page promoting the company’s “culture of belonging,” Cracker Barrel also deleted a list of business resource groups led by employees. These groups provided opportunities for employees from groups such as African-American, Hispanic, LGBTQ+, and neurodivergent individuals. The information regarding these resource groups was publicly available until Tuesday. However, despite their removal from the website, it is unclear if these groups themselves are still operational.
Archive records from Wayback Machine show that the section titled “Culture and Belonging” has been modified to more broadly discuss company culture in the new version.
A spokesperson for Cracker Barrel stated in a statement to CNN, “As part of our ongoing branding efforts, we recently updated the Cracker Barrel website, including adding new content and removing outdated content.”
This website adjustment seems to be one of Cracker Barrel’s responses in this cultural battle. Last week, Cracker Barrel unveiled a minimalist new logo, removing the barrel icon and the “old-fashioned character” from the original logo. This move sparked criticism from right-wing conservatives, leading to a roughly 4% drop in the company’s stock price within five days. However, this Tuesday, after President Trump’s call, the company reverted to the old logo, resulting in a 7% immediate increase in its stock price after hours.