Cracker Barrel Co-Founder, 93, Blasts CEO Over ‘Pitiful’ Rebrand

The battle over Cracker Barrel’s identity just got personal. Tommy Lowe, the 93-year-old co-founder of the iconic Southern restaurant chain, has publicly slammed CEO Julie Felss Masino over a $700 million modernization push that critics say nearly wrecked the beloved brand.

“They’re trying to modernize to be like the competition,” Lowe told Nashville’s WTVF. “Cracker Barrel doesn’t have any competition. Folks come to us because we’re not like everybody else.”

Lowe — who opened the very first Cracker Barrel in Lebanon, Tennessee, back in 1969 — didn’t hold back when criticizing Masino, a former Taco Bell executive who took the reins in 2023. “I heard she was at Taco Bell,” he scoffed. “What’s Taco Bell know about Cracker Barrel and country food? They need to work on the food and service and leave the barrel — the logo — alone.”

The backlash erupted after Masino approved a controversial rebrand earlier this year, ditching the company’s iconic barrel-and-rocking-chair logo and scrapping “Uncle Herschel,” a character beloved by longtime diners. The move triggered a social media firestorm, with customers accusing the chain of “losing its soul.”

“Spending $700 million dollars doing that is throwing money out the window,” Lowe said. “You don’t mess with what works.”

Following weeks of plummeting stock prices and fierce customer protests, Cracker Barrel’s board announced this week it would scrap the new branding entirely and return to the “Old Timer” logo.

“We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel,” the company said in a statement. “We said we would listen, and we have. Our ‘old timer’ will remain.”

The controversy even reached the White House. President Donald Trump blasted the rebranding effort on Truth Social earlier this week, calling it “a disaster” and urging the company to “stay true to its roots.”

“Cracker Barrel is a great American institution,” Trump wrote. “We don’t need another woke, modernized chain. Bring back the old logo. Keep it country!”

Trump’s post went viral, racking up over three million likes and helping fuel a growing boycott movement among loyal customers.

Lowe, who spent decades as Cracker Barrel’s Vice President of Operations and sat on its board until his retirement, says current leadership risks alienating the very customers who built the brand.

“This place was built for truckers, for families, for country folks who wanted a good meal and a little piece of home,” he said. “If they don’t get back to keeping it country, then it ain’t gonna work.”

Lowe also shared advice he once received from country music legend String Bean at the Grand Ole Opry when the first store opened: “He told me, ‘Keep it country.’ That’s what made us great. If they forget that, Cracker Barrel’s finished.”

Cracker Barrel began as a simple idea: combine a gas station with a country-style restaurant to lure highway travelers. Lowe and co-founder Dan Evins scraped together just $10,000 in 1969 to launch the first location off Highway 109 in Lebanon, Tennessee.

By sticking to Southern roots — rocking chairs on the porch, biscuits and gravy, country store vibes — the chain exploded to more than 650 locations in 44 states. But critics argue Masino’s attempt to “modernize” nearly broke the bond between the brand and its base.

Lowe’s message to the board is clear: stop chasing trends and remember why people fell in love with Cracker Barrel in the first place.