I know many of you are tired of hearing about the Cracker Barrel thing, but there’s much hidden in this story that explains a lot about America right now, and we need to pay attention. 1/
Let’s start with reality. Cracker Barrel is following the lifecycle we’ve seen with many chains (Looking at you, Red Lobster): Popular idea -> IPO -> rapid expansion -> market saturation -> cost cutting -> quality decline -> customer dissatisfaction -> bankruptcy. 2/
A lot has been made about what this extreme makeover backlash has done to Cracker Barrel’s stock price. That’s nothing. The company had a post-pandemic high of $175 per share. It fell to a low of $40 BEFORE all this happened. 3/
Why? Because it’s not growing. Mind you, it’s profitable. But those profits aren’t getting bigger and there are only so many interstate interchanges in America where it can build new locations. 4/
When this happens to chains, the next step is to cut costs, which leads to cutting corners, which leads to cutting quality. As someone who eats at Cracker Barrel probably five or six times a year, I can say from experience, this has been going on for a while. 5/
I mean, a cocktail menu? Who goes to Cracker Barrel to drink? Somebody from church might see you. 6/
The okra tastes like rocks. The chicken and dumplings are bland ribbons of undercooked dough in a tasteless slurry and no chicken. Cracker Barrel ain’t what it used to be. 7/
Despite this, Cracker Barrel’s loyal customers have stuck for one reason above others — habit. They’ve been willing to forgive the slow decline in quality, one awful biscuit at a time. 8/
Then the C-suite announces they have a plan to fix things — by redecorating the place and changing the sign to make it look like a different restaurant! It’s no wonder regular customers snapped. 9/
To make matters worse, they planned to make their restaurants the same drab color gray as the interior of every new-build home in America. It wasn’t just the logo. 10/
When the WSJ reported about this makeover a month or so ago, the signs were there. Cracker Barrel’s loyal customers aren’t typically the type who are down for change. They’re the folks who’ve ordered the same Sunday breakfast for decades. 11/
The thing is, it’s not enough anymore to say, “You’re changing something I love without asking for my input and if I’m going to keep spending money here, I wish you’d worry more about the food rather than the paint color.” Nobody listens to that. 12/
For many, this was the last straw. And then those folks Amanda Ripley calls “conflict entrepreneurs” stepped in. This change – it was woke! Suddenly, we have a wildfire. 13/
A problem with our political language is that words and terms frequently mean different things to different groups. For the folks who got behind this, woke didn’t mean social justice for minorities. 14/
To them “woke” can mean any change they don’t like being forced on them without their say. 15/
And in this case, it’s also about Wall Street greed (those ELITES again) setting the terms with disregard for what it means to middle-class and working-class people. 16/
Not only did crying woke in a half-full restaurant get more attention than putting a complaint in the suggestions box, but it was highly effective. The president of the United States chimed in. 17/
And even though Cracker Barrel was probably going to reverse course already, now he gets to take the credit. And why? Because he listened to people who were mad because they felt they hadn’t been listened to. 18/
Folks can shout fascism until the sun sets, but we shouldn’t discount how much of Trump’s power comes from little moments like this — when he listens to people others have written off. 19/
What explains Bernie Bros who jumped to Trump? Those OOT voters (Obama-Obama-Trump) who defected? Call them “low information” if you dare. They’re trying to say something. And that something is as simple as “We’re not being heard.” 20/
It’s easy to look at your typical Cracker Barrel patron and say those people don’t have real problems. Don’t do that. /21
When we talk about inequality, the conversation almost always falls back to income inequality, but inequality is something that manifests in many different forms. 22/
There’s inequality of voice, of influence and status. Even spiritual things like a sense of belonging or a higher purpose. Together, these disparities are the cauldron of magma bubbling under the American crust right now and it’s looking for ways to vent to the surface. 23/
What the charlatans like Trump have figured out is that if you satisfy a simple disparity — like being heard — you don’t have to fix the hard stuff. Heck, you can even make it worse and get rich doing it. 24/
He knows what good restaurant owners and managers know — people will forgive bad food before bad service. A bright smile gets you further than a better biscuit. 25/
But America deserves both. And also a little chicken in the dumplings, if you please. 26/ al.com/news/2025/08/m…
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