Cracker Barrel is at a crossroads — again.
The Southern restaurant chain is getting a new CEO, it said on Monday. David Deno will take over as Cracker Barrel’s top executive next month, replacing Julie Masino, who has been CEO since late 2023.
In her time as CEO, Masino oversaw changes at Cracker Barrel in an effort to reverse the chain’s declining sales and attract more customers to its antique-filled dining rooms. “We’re just not as relevant as we once were,” she said on an earnings call in 2024.
Last year, Cracker Barrel tried to rebrand with a more modern logo, drawing mixed reactions. It reversed course after public blowback, including from President Donald Trump. The chain also hit pause on restaurant renovations that involved a lighter color scheme and less kitsch adorning its walls.
Since the failed rebrand, Cracker Barrel’s quarterly sales continue to decline. And as Masino leaves the CEO role, Cracker Barrel looks a lot like it did when she took over three years ago.
Soon, Deno will need to find a winning strategy for Cracker Barrel, said Wendy Zajack, adjunct professor of marketing at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business.
One chain that’s pulled off a turnaround after facing similar troubles is Chili’s, Zajack said. The brand is outperforming casual-dining rivals like Applebee’s and Red Lobster in sales and traffic growth.
Chili’s revamped its menu, keeping some longtime menu items while adding new ones, such as its Triple Dipper, a trio of appetizers that diners can customize. It has also advertised meal deals to inflation-weary diners and gone after Gen Z customers on social media.
“If Cracker Barrel can unlock this formula, it has a fighting chance,” she said.
Having previously dined at the chain for Business Insider, I wanted to check in on the state of Cracker Barrel and see what incoming CEO Deno has to work with. Here’s what I experienced.
Do you have a tip about Cracker Barrel to share? Contact this reporter at [email protected] or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.
I dined at a Cracker Barrel in Sterling, Virginia.
I visited this Cracker Barrel on a Monday mid-afternoon. It’s located near major freeways and Washington Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia.
This Cracker Barrel restaurant was untouched by recent renovations.
Cracker Barrel had renovated some of its restaurants using a brighter, less-cluttered look. This location never changed and looked the same as the other times I visited.
I got a seat right away.
The host seated me right as I walked in. I got this table, which had a checkerboard on the tabletop and a set of wooden checkers in a wall-mounted holder.
I ordered one of Cracker Barrel’s Campfire meals.
One of Cracker Barrel’s newest menu items is the Campfire Breakfast Skillet, which includes eggs, sausage, vegetables, cheese, and a couple of biscuits on the side.
A few minutes after I was seated, a Cracker Barrel employee showed up to take my order. The server was friendly, stopping by frequently to ask: “How’s everything going, dumpling?”
I also ordered some soup and a salad.
I also ordered a soup-and-salad combo after seeing this card at my table. Masino has talked about offering more budget-friendly menu options at Cracker Barrel, so I wanted to try one.
I played Cracker Barrel’s peg game as I waited for my food.
A staple at Cracker Barrel restaurants, the goal of the game is to remove as many pegs as possible from the board by jumping them over each other. The chain’s website calls it “a great way to test your IQ.”
The watermelon lemonade was refreshing.
A summer menu item, the watermelon lemonade was just what I wanted on a warm Northern Virginia afternoon.
My soup and salad arrived shortly after my beverage.
The House Salad included lettuce, tomatoes, croutons, bacon bits, cheese, ranch dressing, and crackers on the side. It was unremarkable.
The soup was simple but surprisingly tasty.
This Cracker Barrel restaurant advertised “Campfire soup,” though my server said that they didn’t have any when I visited. Instead, I chose the chicken noodle soup.
I appreciated the rough-cut noodles. It made a simple dish feel more homemade — something that felt in line with Cracker Barrel’s image.
The Campfire Breakfast Skillet was perfectly average.
I tried Cracker Barrel’s Campfire Meal with Beef on my visit last year. It tasted the most like home cooking out of anything I’ve ever had at Cracker Barrel.
This breakfast skillet was a little less impressive. The smoked sausage was tasty, but the egg, potatoes, and peppers didn’t taste like much of anything, and each ingredient was kept separate from the others.
Overall, it was okay, but it didn’t feel like a cohesive meal.
The skillet meal came with two buttermilk biscuits and butter on the side.
I was eager to try these biscuits, both because I make them regularly at home and because of my past experiences with Cracker Barrel biscuits.
Cracker Barrel’s biscuits remain a weak point.
On my previous visits, Cracker Barrel’s biscuits weren’t very fresh. They were a little sour, lukewarm, and reminded me more of the ones you can buy in a tube at the grocery store than anything homemade.
This time, they were a little better: Warmer and seemingly fresher. But the sour taste was still there.
For a chain specializing in Southern comfort food, good biscuits are a must-have.
The All-American Double Chocolate Fudge Coca-Cola Cake was the best item I’ve ever had at Cracker Barrel.
As my server cleared away my dishes, I ordered a Double Chocolate Fudge Coca-Cola Cake — well, technically, the All-American version, since it came with red, white, and blue sprinkles.
Pouring Coke into cake batter might sound over the top, but it worked. The warm, gooey cake contrasted with the cold vanilla ice cream.
Despite a mediocre main meal, I left Cracker Barrel feeling better thanks to the cake.
After finishing the cake, I headed up to the register to pay for my check.
Despite the branding drama, Cracker Barrel’s menu is what really needs attention.
Yes, many patrons say that they love Cracker Barrel for the funny photos or the antique farm tools mounted on the wall. Others, though, have told me that the chain’s food quality has slipped in recent years, prompting them to go elsewhere for a meal out.
The need for a broader overhaul of the menu has been evident on my past two visits, and it was again this time. While the Coca-Cola cake and the soup were nice, everything else was average to disappointing.
As I walked back to my car, I wondered the same thing that I had after my previous visits: What can I eat at Cracker Barrel that’s better than at any other restaurant? The answer still isn’t clear to me.
Cracker Barrel’s new CEO may want to take the chain beyond its nostalgia-focused approach.
Restaurants often have to balance pleasing long-time guests with attracting new ones, Georgetown’s Zajack told me.
Cracker Barrel has plenty of old-world charm, but has yet to find a strategy for winning over a new generation of customers.
“Nostalgia only takes you so far, you have to find a way to harness it while moving forward with new taste preferences and offerings,” she said.
