Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Masino spoke to The Blaze’s Glenn Again in regards to the backlash she and the corporate confronted after its controversial redesign this yr.
Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Masino described feeling as if she was “fired by America” in an interview final week following the backlash over the restaurant’s controversial reworking design.
Masino mentioned her management position with The Blaze’s Glenn Beck on Thursday, a place Beck famous she nonetheless holds regardless of the controversy.
“That is in all probability very unfair to ask you. Had been you shocked you were not fired?” he requested.
“Um, I really feel like I have been fired by America,” Masino stated with fun.
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Customers rapidly spoke out towards Cracker Barrel after it unveiled a brand earlier this yr that eradicated the imagery of a person leaning on a barrel. (Cracker Barrel / Fox Information)
“That is in all probability worse,” Beck remarked.
The Southern-style restaurant chain drew backlash in August after altering its iconic brand of “Uncle Herschel” in a chair resting his arm on a barrel and introducing a extra fashionable eating design.
Masino, sitting alongside Senior Vice President of Retailer Operations Doug Hisel, stated she solely wished to “assist folks love this model” the best way she does, including that she and her workforce by no means meant to revamp your complete restaurant.
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Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Masino insisted that they didn’t intend to rework your complete retailer. (Joe Raedle/Getty Photos)
“I feel lots of people suppose that Doug and me and different folks sit round, are like, ‘Let’s rework Cracker Barrel.’ Nothing may very well be farther from the reality,” Masino stated. “The notion for a few of that actually got here out of a whole lot of the work that we have been doing on how can we enhance meals and expertise. Once we have been speaking to our friends, they stated, ‘Shops may very well be a little bit bit extra snug. They’re actual darkish. I can not learn the menu.'”
She admitted they “missed the mark” and expressed regret over disappointing prospects.
“We’re sorry that that is what folks really feel,” Masino stated. “That was not the intent. It was not the intent. It hurts me, as a result of I do not need folks to be mad at Cracker Barrel. Our job is to make folks love Cracker Barrel the best way that our friends do, proper? And so, even making an attempt to ask new folks in, it was at all times about how can we present them the magic that’s Cracker Barrel.”
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Cracker Barrel started restoring its unique designs in September. (iStock)
Cracker Barrel initially stood by the adjustments, claiming that the backlash got here from a “vocal minority.”
Nevertheless, by September, Cracker Barrel started restoring its unique brand and restaurant fashions.
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“This can be a humble model with humble beginnings right here within the middle of this nice nation,” Masino stated. “Different manufacturers that you simply go into, you sit down and whenever you go searching, and also you see issues on the partitions, they’re the model’s story. They’re telling you in regards to the substances. They’re telling you about their founding, no matter they need you to suppose. We do not do this right here at Cracker Barrel … That is America’s story.”
