Julia Masino lost billions of dollars for Cracker Barrel… should have been terminated, and only as of recently decided to take the money and run. Your “success” at Taco Bell isn’t much to brag about. You optimized ordering food at a place where speed is important, a kid in Pre-K could uncover this… You consistently changed the menu to find out worked, which was called creativity – I call it uncertainty. You landed a hit for Nacho Fries as your most prominent menu discovery. Personally, I stopped going to Taco Bell when they got rid of the .99 cent meximelt. Now it’s like $3.49 cents with all the add ons to a cheese wrap.
The idea of modernizing Cracker Barrel, is the equivalent of deciding Taco Bell will compete with all of the burger chains – Burger Bell. Cracker Barrel is a sit down restaurant with a peg game to play and burn time. There’s even a checkers rug where you can sit down in rocking chairs and watch the sunrise, while trying to earn a king. Were you trying to turn Lancelot into Iron Man or Elroy Jetson?
I will never scrutinize without suggesting a preferable method but I’m not sure if David Geno is going to be able to move the needle either. He’s practically moved Outback Steakhouse into North Sentinel Island (a forbidden island for indigenous only). So to preface, when I was in college, I had the opportunity to listen to one of the founding fathers of Cracker Barrel, Tommy Lowe, speak. Here he is in an interview about the modernization of the logo – Tommy Lowe Interview. He said just making the brand as country as it could be, would result in more success.
Cracker Barrel’s Targer Market
Cracker Barrel was originally designed to service truckers. That was their entire preferred target market. Here are the clues… Every Cracker Barrel is located on a major highway. All of their parking lots are large enough to hold an 18 wheeler. The original store also had a gas station. When you walk in to eat, there is a gift shop for the customer to buy gifts for their family they missed while being on the road. The home cooked meal was to help that customer feel comfortable, “at home”. The secondary customer would be families that are moving across country to a new location. A place to relax and take a break from driving. That doesn’t mean those will be the only customers that go there, that just means you need to focus on making those customers as comfortable as you can.
HERE’S WHAT CRACKER BARREL SHOULD HAVE DONE…