August 28, 2025 • 24 mins
The Cracker Barrel Logo change recently to a plain, minimalistic design caused a massive uproar all over social media and tv. There's 3 big lessons small business owners can learn so you never have to upset your customers this way.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Well, hello.
This is Kimberly Brock, and forover 20 years I've been running
my own businesses that have notonly been profitable but
personally fulfilling to me.
So now I'm on a mission to helpother new business owners, just
like you, make money doing whatyou love to.
Now we're going to have somefun, so let's get started.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Well, hello friends, let's get started.
Cracker Barrel it's like atongue twister.
Have y'all tried to say that ina while?
Anyways, the Cracker Barrellogo debacle has been all over
the news.
You've seen it, I'm sure howthere was outrage over their new
minimalist logo.
You can learn from that wholecontroversy, okay, and actually
(01:07):
I'm gonna talk about threethings that you can learn from
it.
As a small business owner, Ithink it's so important that we
look at things that are going onin the world with bigger
businesses and we use that dataand we use that information to
apply it to our businesses so wecan be successful.
So I'm so excited you're here.
If you're new, welcome.
You've come on a fun day.
(01:28):
I'm so glad you're here.
Whether you're in the idea stageof your business starting or
growing, this is for you.
Whether you're a new coach,service provider, product seller
, whatever you are, you're inthe right place, because I just
want to help you get moving andstart building your business
dream.
There are all kinds of freeresources down below, so grab
them, and there are paidresources.
I offer one-on-one coaching.
(01:49):
Yes, you can work directly withme and I can help you, as you
are moving along, to be morestrategic and smart about the
steps that you are taking andget you moving fast.
So make sure you check out thefreebies below.
Also, I have a free Facebookgroup.
It's called Women StartingBusinesses and Podcasts Doing
what we Love.
So, yes, I can help you withyour podcast as well.
(02:09):
If you've got a business thatyou want to grow online,
especially, a podcast is anawesome way to do that.
Y'all, I started my podcastright as I was starting this
business and literally the bestbusiness decision I've ever made
.
I love it so much.
It's a blast.
So, anyways, make sure youcheck all that out below.
And, if you've been listening awhile, thank you so much to all
(02:30):
my loyal listeners.
Y'all are amazing.
All my GrowGretters, all ofthose of you that were in the
PodSquad and the Binge-WorthyPodcasting Bootcamp y'all are
just inspiring, and I looked upto each of you.
I really do.
I know some of you may notbelieve that, but I do.
I look up to you because I seethat you are taking courageous
(02:52):
steps and you are pursuing yourdream, and it's just awesome to
watch.
So that's it.
Okay, on to the episode.
Well, hello friends.
How are you?
How is everything going today?
Are you having a good day.
If not, it's time to changethat.
(03:12):
Put a smile on your face, getexcited.
We're about to have a funconversation about the Cracker
Barrel debacle.
No, I'm not saying like let'shave fun out of someone else's
like pain, but I think what wecan learn from the whole cracker
barrel thing if I can say itagain, y'all, it's a tongue
twister If we can learn a fewthings from it, we're going to
(03:35):
be better off and I think that'swhat we've got to do.
In life, you know, there'sthings that are hard, that go on
around us or even in our ownlives, and we have to take the
lessons and we have to turn theminto good for what we're doing.
So today I had to talk about it.
It's actually in the morning.
I rarely record these in themorning, but it was just on the
Today Show and stuff and I waslike that's what I've got to do,
(03:55):
my podcast episode on this week.
I had another one recorded togo live this week and with the
whole debacle with the logo, Iwas like I've got to talk about
that.
It's so pertinent and there'sso many lessons to be learned
from this.
So let's kind of talk aboutwhat happened.
So I know that and I'm kind ofreading on some of the data that
(04:17):
I found online and stuff.
But there, so Cracker Barrelhas been in business.
Gosh, how long has CrackerBarrel been in business?
Cracker Barrel has been inbusiness, y'all, for 55 years,
55 years.
I need to find out if they'vehad this exact same logo.
Let me look it up really quickand have they had the same logo?
(04:38):
I'm looking this up on Google.
Okay, so it has changed overtime with a text-only design.
Oh, and 1977 was when theiconic logo featuring a man by a
barrel was introduced.
Okay, so since 1977, they'vehad that logo.
They opened in 69.
(05:00):
If y'all don't know what CrackerBarrel is, it's a restaurant
that's kind of like a countrystore.
It's an old like country storefeel where there's the whole
merchandise area at the front,which I think is so cool because
you kind of have an experienceas you go to this restaurant and
in the front, like on the porch, there's a whole porch to it
and there's rocking chairs andit's just kind of like this
(05:23):
nostalgic restaurant that's gothome-style cooking.
Okay, travelers have been knownto stop here Like people
traveling.
It's always all along thehighway or something where you
can pull over and have a countryhome-style meal and it's just a
cute little place.
It's a cute place.
They have all this candy in thefront.
It just feels you know.
(05:45):
It kind of feels like thoselike old timey ice cream shops
or something where you're likeyou want to feel the days of old
.
We have one near us.
I used to have them in Austinwhen I lived there and they're
great.
So, from what I've read, theyhad missed earnings recently, in
May of like 2024, and it hasfallen and so everything had
(06:10):
been kind of weaker at thatpoint.
And they hired a new CEO.
Her name is Julie Messino, Ithink that's how you pronounce
it.
She took over in 2023 and wasgoing to try to help the company
create like a strategictransformation plan to modernize
the brand.
Okay.
So they came out and announcedin August of 2025.
(06:37):
So that's this month.
Just a few like days agoliterally this is like a week
and plus a few days theyunveiled a new minimalist,
text-only logo.
So if you see the logo onlineand maybe you've seen this on
social media, it's been all overmy social media and everything
(06:57):
and it has a logo with the manleaning against a barrel, okay,
and it's an older gentleman.
It looks like in the logo,right, and it kind of has that
feel of the country store.
To me it fits the brandperfectly.
And they had removed the manand the man's name.
I don't know if they call himOldtimer or Uncle Herschel, I've
(07:19):
heard both.
They removed that whole barrelimagery and the gentleman and it
just was completely stripped ofall of its personality.
The logo was completelystripped to a minimalist design.
Okay, which I know.
It's good to be a minimalistand not have extra stuff.
Sometimes with your logo yougot to be careful, okay.
(07:41):
So, anyways, that happenedsupposedly on August 19th of
2025.
There was instant I'm talkinginstantaneous backlash all over,
all over social media, all overthe news.
It triggered a complete, likemedia uproar.
People were posting about it.
(08:03):
Then there was all this talkthat the brand had gone woke and
it was, you know, some kind ofpolitical move.
I have no idea if that hadanything to do with it or not.
Its stock plummeted likesomewhere.
They said between 7 and 12percent, wiping out nearly 100
million in market value.
Y'all that freaks me out justthinking about that, that just
(08:27):
by changing your logo, thatcould drop that much.
President Trump even hadweighed in and was like it needs
to be changed back, like thisis ridiculous.
The company did come out andrespond and it acknowledged that
it mishandled the communicationof the rebrand, that it
(08:47):
affirmed that its signatureelements, the rocking chairs,
uncle Herschel and its classicwhole-country hospitality vibe
would remain now despite theredesign.
So this is like a total 180from where they were a few days
ago.
This is like a total 180 fromwhere they were a few days ago.
(09:12):
And they have come out over thelast two days, like August 26,
august 27, saying that they arereverting to the original logo.
So again, y'all can look it upif it's not already on your
feeds, everywhere you can see it.
So here's the deal.
The company was probably, like Ihad said earlier, that probably
trying to come in and likelet's revamp this, let's clean
it up, let's give it a freshlook, a fresh new face don't
(09:41):
exactly look better than theoriginal.
Would y'all agree when it comesto some of the women, dare I
say, out there who are gettingall kinds of facial stuff done?
That does not look natural?
I mean, I think we can allagree there's times when
(10:02):
facelifts don't work and this isone of them, but it has to do
with a restaurant, right.
And so what can we learn assmall business owners from this
whole mania about this?
And I think there's some reallyimportant lessons.
Okay, I mean, there was aliteral uproar.
(10:23):
The customers online, everyonewas freaking out like absolutely
freaking out about this.
Okay, now, our businessesaren't this big, but we have to
keep in mind a whole bunch ofthings when it comes to this,
like, let's go through this.
I've picked three that I thinkare really important.
(10:43):
I think you can learn from it,and don't let this happen to you
.
Don't let this happen to youwhere you get alienated from the
people who actually support you, right?
Don't get alienated from thepeople who pay you money, right?
Don't turn people away.
Don't be your own worst enemy,okay, okay.
So here's the three big lessonsthat I think we should take
(11:04):
away from this debacle.
Number one talk to yourcustomers.
I kept wondering the whole timewhen they changed the logo.
I'm like, did they do focusgroups?
Did they go to stores and townsand be like, hey, if we change
it to this?
I mean, they literally couldhave had a mock-up printed out
(11:27):
and stood in front of the storewhen people were coming in the
restaurant and they could havesaid, hey, what do you think of
this new logo?
They could have had employeesthat were already working at the
stores.
They could have had themanagers do this y'all.
They could have taken a poll.
They could have done it online.
They could have done anInstagram poll, like literally,
they could have done anything toverify.
(11:48):
Now, I don't know what they did, so I'm not going to act like I
know what focus groups they didor didn't have, but I'm willing
to bet they didn't get a bigenough sample size, because the
uproar was so fast that it wasobvious that people would have
said that right away Like no,why are you taking the whole
(12:09):
personality of this brand out?
You know, talk to your customers, everybody.
Listen to me.
If you are creating a product,you are creating a service, and
you want to know what's going tosell, or you want to pivot, or
you want to change something,talk to your people and don't
just talk to two people.
(12:29):
Don't just talk to your sisteror your BFF.
Okay, don't just do that.
That's not enough.
That's not a big enough focusgroup.
I guarantee you that the peoplethat were around them that were.
You know they were wanting tochange.
They all had the same kind ofmentality and they were not
actually the customers, like thecustomers in a town.
(12:50):
They are too close to thesituation.
They needed to get people thatwere removed from corporate.
I don't know.
I just feel like there wasn'tenough done.
I think it's a huge lesson toeverybody.
You have to talk to yourcustomers.
So please tell me now, rightnow.
Agree with me.
You'll say, yes, I will.
I will talk to my customers, Iwill put polls out.
(13:11):
I will ask people if they comein, if you have a store, if you
have a booth.
I will send out emails with asurvey.
You can do Google Forms and youcan do a quick survey there.
There are so many things youcan do.
You can have a little anonymoustip jar, a jar where they can
put comments.
That's what I mean, not a tipjar, but comments, feedback.
(13:32):
I always want to do that atbusinesses.
I often look around for afeedback jar that's anonymous,
because I'd like to saysomething that would help them
from a customer's point of view.
Y'all you can't see the labelfrom the inside of the bottle
(13:53):
that you're in.
Everyone is stuck inside abottle with a label and we
literally can't see it.
It is impossible.
It's like saying can you seethe back of your head?
You cannot see the back of yourhead unless you have a mirror,
and even then it's a reflected,reversed image, but you cannot
see the back of your head.
You cannot see the back of yourhead unless you have a mirror,
and even then it's a reflected,reversed image.
But you cannot see the back ofyour head standing there without
anything.
It's the same with yourbusiness.
Like we literally can't see howwe're viewed, and wouldn't you
(14:16):
like to know how you're viewed?
It's hard.
We probably will never know the100% truth about how anyone
views us.
But we can talk to people, beclose to people, have
relationships with people sothat they'll be honest with us
about things, right?
So talk to your customers.
Talk to your people, even ifthey're not customers.
They're just people who seeyour stuff.
(14:36):
They're shoppers, whatever,they're browsers.
Ask them what do you want?
Do you like this or that?
You need data before you makeany big changes.
So talk to your customers.
That's number one.
Number two don't be afraid tobe who you really are.
Okay, I think you should sharewho you are.
(15:07):
Every business now has to bebased on a story and a brand.
Cracker Barrel had a storywithin that logo with the Uncle
Herschel leaning on the barrel,and it has a story when you walk
in the store.
It has this old-timey feel thatsomehow you get transposed,
transformed into I don't evenknow the word.
You get, you know, teleportedto days of old.
(15:28):
That's what I feel like.
When you walk in the store, youare put in a different day and
time and you have to rememberthat we only felt teleported to
a different day and time becausethey shared who they were.
They had a whole brand on whothey are right and what they
(15:49):
kind of stand for.
This old feel this country feellike life is good, life can be
easy.
I don't know, that's just kindof how I describe it.
Right, you have to share whoyou are, your values and
everything that you're buildingyour brand around, right?
Maybe your brand of yourbusiness isn't exactly
representing who you are, yourvalues and everything that
you're building your brandaround, right?
Maybe your brand of yourbusiness isn't exactly
representing who you are, but Ithink people buy into brands.
(16:12):
Now.
Branding is more important thanever.
In fact, on next week's episode, I'm talking about that, y'all.
It is crucial that you build abrand now.
It's around a story, it'saround a feel.
It's around a feel, it's arounda vibe Like I want you to think
about.
Even when you listen to thispodcast each week, is it
consistent in terms of thefeeling that you get every time
(16:38):
you listen?
Now I'm only asking you thisbecause people tell me this that
like I know that I can go toyour podcast, I'm going to feel
uplifted.
I like your energy, I feelmotivated, I feel like I can do
things.
I feel like I can get past allthe things that I'm doing, like
overthinking, procrastinatingall that stuff.
Like I feel like I can getmoving.
Right is that you do feel asense of consistency with that.
(17:04):
And you know where I stand onthings.
Right, I stand for simplicity.
I believe in faith in yourbusiness and your life.
I believe in I don't talk aboutit a ton, but like physical
fitness, taking care of yourbody, but also just the ways
that we run our business withintegrity and really pursuing
our dream and going for it,because we know that our
businesses are more than just abusiness.
(17:25):
They are a sense of purpose forus.
They bring us fulfillment inour life.
They allow us to use ourGod-given gifts for greater
right.
So I hope that you feel thiseach week, that you show up
right, so you cannot be afraidto share who you are.
Do not be generic, do not be aminimalist.
I don't think you should be aminimalist in terms of what you
(17:47):
share about you and yourbusiness.
I think you should share itbecause that's why people will
follow you and want to buy fromyou, because they buy into the
story, and I'm not talking abouta fake story, I'm talking about
the real story.
They literally and figurativelybuy into your story.
So, share who you are, okay.
So number one, I said talk toyour customers, make sure you
(18:10):
have open communication aboutanything you're doing, any
changes you're making, anythingyou're offering that.
Number two share who you are.
Don't be afraid to be, be whoyou are, because you will
attract your people.
And number three, offer peoplewhat they want.
So last week I talked about thison episode 306.
(18:30):
I said how are you going tostart making money?
You're going to start makingmoney by selling something that
people actually want to buy, notwhat you want to sell.
Now, this is hard forpassion-based businesses like
ours, like something we're verypassionate about.
We already have in mind what wewant to sell, but I think it
(18:50):
has to be in the form thatpeople want to pay money for it.
It has to be in the form thatpeople want to pay money for it.
So think about this logo.
All of a sudden now they're notbought into this brand and they
don't even want it because itdoesn't represent what they
wanted to buy.
They wanted to buy that feelingand the story when they come in
, no one's even talking aboutthe food.
(19:13):
Do y'all see this Like?
This has nothing to do with thefood is what they are selling,
but everyone is walking in witha feeling, with a feeling.
What's that saying that quotepeople won't remember what you
said, but they remember how youmade them feel.
(19:34):
Oh, my gosh, I can't think ofit.
Let me say this statement Okay,it was Maya Angelou.
Like I did not know that.
It's a famous quote by MayaAngelou.
People will forget what yousaid.
People will forget what you did, but people will never forget
how you made them feel.
Y'all people will never forgethow you made them feel.
(19:55):
Y'all people will never forgethow you made them feel.
Sell what they want.
They want a feeling.
They want to buy something thatyou offer that product or
service, but they're actuallybuying a feeling.
This is kind of an aha momenthere.
Sit with this for a minute.
Whatever you're selling, what'sthe feeling that you're selling
?
If you're a landscaper, what'sthe feeling?
(20:17):
That I have a happy home, thatI can feel proud of my home,
that I can get excited to havepeople over because I'm not
embarrassed, right?
What is the feeling that peopleget when they listen to this
podcast?
Like what I said, they'rebuying into the feeling of I can
do this.
Like I can actually do this.
(20:37):
That's the feeling I can pursuegreater things.
I can.
I have more to give.
Like I'm excited.
Let's go Right.
When I sold monogrammed gifts,what's the feeling?
They were so excited to givethe gifts to their friends
because it was actually apersonal gift.
It had their initials on it,had their name on it.
(20:58):
They were proud.
They helped them.
Just feel good about giving.
What is the feeling?
I think, if you can get down tothe feeling, y'all, this is a
huge lesson.
Provide them what they want,right, but give them the feeling
with it.
Provide them what they want.
They do need something, they'renot going to pay unless it's
(21:20):
something they need, right,whether it's just cute jewelry
or whatever, it can be somethingvery you know fun, or it can be
life coaching or divorcecoaching.
I mean it can be something verylife-changing, right.
It doesn't matter where you areon that spectrum of what you're
selling, right, but you have toprovide what they want with a
(21:44):
feeling.
What they want with a feeling.
And when the logo changed, itremoved the feelers, it removed
all the feels, it removed it andthey were like wait, what am I
buying?
This is boring.
This is not what I wanted tofeel when I looked at your logo
(22:07):
or your store, because nowyou've revamped it all to
minimalist and I loved that.
It was like kind of I don'teven want to say junkie, not
junkie, but there was just a.
There's a lot of stuff in thatstore Like you can spend a long
time and I'm sure it's by designand it's awesome because it
keeps you in there while you'rewaiting on your table and you're
like shopping around thiscountry store Y'all.
There are so many lessons to belearned from this.
(22:27):
Let's review again.
Number one talk to yourcustomers Open communication,
okay.
Number two don't be afraid toshare who you are.
Be who you are.
That's what people are buyinginto, is the story.
And number three sell what theywant with the feeling that they
want.
Sell what they want with thefeeling Because if you're not
doing this, then are you reallya brand?
(22:50):
What are you?
You're just a drive-throughbusiness where they just buy and
go and they don't care.
You're more than that.
You're a brand, and this isproof of that.
This whole debacle is proof ofthat.
That there is so muchimportance in the way that you
build your brand and what you doand the decisions you make for
the people that you are meant toserve.
(23:12):
Okay, remember that.
I am so glad you're here.
This was so much fun.
I like doing this.
Current events I need to startdoing more current events.
This was like firing me up thismorning.
It's 830 in the morning.
I literally never do this andI'm fired up.
I'm ready to go.
I'm gonna go play somepickleball and have a great day.
So I hope you're going to havea great day ahead.
So happy for you, so proud ofyou.
(23:32):
Keep moving, start pursuingyour dream even more than you
were before, because you can doit.
Life is short people.
Okay, have a great day.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Bye now.
Now this episode may be over,but our relationship does not
have to end here.
Our relationship does not haveto end here.
Head on over toKimberlyBrockcom and, yes, you
can get more valuableinformation for your journey and
you know what.
You don't need to go throughthis alone.
I would love to help you.
(24:03):
Thank you so much and have agreat day.
Bye.
Well, hello.
This is Kimberly Brock, and forover 20 years I've been running
my own businesses that have notonly been profitable but
personally fulfilling to me.
So now I'm on a mission to helpother new business owners, just
like you, make money doing whatyou love to.
Now we're going to have somefun, so let's get started.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Well, hello friends, let's get started.
Cracker Barrel it's like atongue twister.
Have y'all tried to say that ina while?
Anyways, the Cracker Barrellogo debacle has been all over
the news.
You've seen it, I'm sure howthere was outrage over their new
minimalist logo.
You can learn from that wholecontroversy, okay, and actually
(01:07):
I'm gonna talk about threethings that you can learn from
it.
As a small business owner, Ithink it's so important that we
look at things that are going onin the world with bigger
businesses and we use that dataand we use that information to
apply it to our businesses so wecan be successful.
So I'm so excited you're here.
If you're new, welcome.
You've come on a fun day.
(01:28):
I'm so glad you're here.
Whether you're in the idea stageof your business starting or
growing, this is for you.
Whether you're a new coach,service provider, product seller
, whatever you are, you're inthe right place, because I just
want to help you get moving andstart building your business
dream.
There are all kinds of freeresources down below, so grab
them, and there are paidresources.
I offer one-on-one coaching.
(01:49):
Yes, you can work directly withme and I can help you, as you
are moving along, to be morestrategic and smart about the
steps that you are taking andget you moving fast.
So make sure you check out thefreebies below.
Also, I have a free Facebookgroup.
It's called Women StartingBusinesses and Podcasts Doing
what we Love.
So, yes, I can help you withyour podcast as well.
(02:09):
If you've got a business thatyou want to grow online,
especially, a podcast is anawesome way to do that.
Y'all, I started my podcastright as I was starting this
business and literally the bestbusiness decision I've ever made
.
I love it so much.
It's a blast.
So, anyways, make sure youcheck all that out below.
And, if you've been listening awhile, thank you so much to all
(02:30):
my loyal listeners.
Y'all are amazing.
All my GrowGretters, all ofthose of you that were in the
PodSquad and the Binge-WorthyPodcasting Bootcamp y'all are
just inspiring, and I looked upto each of you.
I really do.
I know some of you may notbelieve that, but I do.
I look up to you because I seethat you are taking courageous
(02:52):
steps and you are pursuing yourdream, and it's just awesome to
watch.
So that's it.
Okay, on to the episode.
Well, hello friends.
How are you?
How is everything going today?
Are you having a good day.
If not, it's time to changethat.
(03:12):
Put a smile on your face, getexcited.
We're about to have a funconversation about the Cracker
Barrel debacle.
No, I'm not saying like let'shave fun out of someone else's
like pain, but I think what wecan learn from the whole cracker
barrel thing if I can say itagain, y'all, it's a tongue
twister If we can learn a fewthings from it, we're going to
(03:35):
be better off and I think that'swhat we've got to do.
In life, you know, there'sthings that are hard, that go on
around us or even in our ownlives, and we have to take the
lessons and we have to turn theminto good for what we're doing.
So today I had to talk about it.
It's actually in the morning.
I rarely record these in themorning, but it was just on the
Today Show and stuff and I waslike that's what I've got to do,
(03:55):
my podcast episode on this week.
I had another one recorded togo live this week and with the
whole debacle with the logo, Iwas like I've got to talk about
that.
It's so pertinent and there'sso many lessons to be learned
from this.
So let's kind of talk aboutwhat happened.
So I know that and I'm kind ofreading on some of the data that
(04:17):
I found online and stuff.
But there, so Cracker Barrelhas been in business.
Gosh, how long has CrackerBarrel been in business?
Cracker Barrel has been inbusiness, y'all, for 55 years,
55 years.
I need to find out if they'vehad this exact same logo.
Let me look it up really quickand have they had the same logo?
(04:38):
I'm looking this up on Google.
Okay, so it has changed overtime with a text-only design.
Oh, and 1977 was when theiconic logo featuring a man by a
barrel was introduced.
Okay, so since 1977, they'vehad that logo.
They opened in 69.
(05:00):
If y'all don't know what CrackerBarrel is, it's a restaurant
that's kind of like a countrystore.
It's an old like country storefeel where there's the whole
merchandise area at the front,which I think is so cool because
you kind of have an experienceas you go to this restaurant and
in the front, like on the porch, there's a whole porch to it
and there's rocking chairs andit's just kind of like this
(05:23):
nostalgic restaurant that's gothome-style cooking.
Okay, travelers have been knownto stop here Like people
traveling.
It's always all along thehighway or something where you
can pull over and have a countryhome-style meal and it's just a
cute little place.
It's a cute place.
They have all this candy in thefront.
It just feels you know.
(05:45):
It kind of feels like thoselike old timey ice cream shops
or something where you're likeyou want to feel the days of old
.
We have one near us.
I used to have them in Austinwhen I lived there and they're
great.
So, from what I've read, theyhad missed earnings recently, in
May of like 2024, and it hasfallen and so everything had
(06:10):
been kind of weaker at thatpoint.
And they hired a new CEO.
Her name is Julie Messino, Ithink that's how you pronounce
it.
She took over in 2023 and wasgoing to try to help the company
create like a strategictransformation plan to modernize
the brand.
Okay.
So they came out and announcedin August of 2025.
(06:37):
So that's this month.
Just a few like days agoliterally this is like a week
and plus a few days theyunveiled a new minimalist,
text-only logo.
So if you see the logo onlineand maybe you've seen this on
social media, it's been all overmy social media and everything
(06:57):
and it has a logo with the manleaning against a barrel, okay,
and it's an older gentleman.
It looks like in the logo,right, and it kind of has that
feel of the country store.
To me it fits the brandperfectly.
And they had removed the manand the man's name.
I don't know if they call himOldtimer or Uncle Herschel, I've
(07:19):
heard both.
They removed that whole barrelimagery and the gentleman and it
just was completely stripped ofall of its personality.
The logo was completelystripped to a minimalist design.
Okay, which I know.
It's good to be a minimalistand not have extra stuff.
Sometimes with your logo yougot to be careful, okay.
(07:41):
So, anyways, that happenedsupposedly on August 19th of
2025.
There was instant I'm talkinginstantaneous backlash all over,
all over social media, all overthe news.
It triggered a complete, likemedia uproar.
People were posting about it.
(08:03):
Then there was all this talkthat the brand had gone woke and
it was, you know, some kind ofpolitical move.
I have no idea if that hadanything to do with it or not.
Its stock plummeted likesomewhere.
They said between 7 and 12percent, wiping out nearly 100
million in market value.
Y'all that freaks me out justthinking about that, that just
(08:27):
by changing your logo, thatcould drop that much.
President Trump even hadweighed in and was like it needs
to be changed back, like thisis ridiculous.
The company did come out andrespond and it acknowledged that
it mishandled the communicationof the rebrand, that it
(08:47):
affirmed that its signatureelements, the rocking chairs,
uncle Herschel and its classicwhole-country hospitality vibe
would remain now despite theredesign.
So this is like a total 180from where they were a few days
ago.
This is like a total 180 fromwhere they were a few days ago.
(09:12):
And they have come out over thelast two days, like August 26,
august 27, saying that they arereverting to the original logo.
So again, y'all can look it upif it's not already on your
feeds, everywhere you can see it.
So here's the deal.
The company was probably, like Ihad said earlier, that probably
trying to come in and likelet's revamp this, let's clean
it up, let's give it a freshlook, a fresh new face don't
(09:41):
exactly look better than theoriginal.
Would y'all agree when it comesto some of the women, dare I
say, out there who are gettingall kinds of facial stuff done?
That does not look natural?
I mean, I think we can allagree there's times when
(10:02):
facelifts don't work and this isone of them, but it has to do
with a restaurant, right.
And so what can we learn assmall business owners from this
whole mania about this?
And I think there's some reallyimportant lessons.
Okay, I mean, there was aliteral uproar.
(10:23):
The customers online, everyonewas freaking out like absolutely
freaking out about this.
Okay, now, our businessesaren't this big, but we have to
keep in mind a whole bunch ofthings when it comes to this,
like, let's go through this.
I've picked three that I thinkare really important.
(10:43):
I think you can learn from it,and don't let this happen to you
.
Don't let this happen to youwhere you get alienated from the
people who actually support you, right?
Don't get alienated from thepeople who pay you money, right?
Don't turn people away.
Don't be your own worst enemy,okay, okay.
So here's the three big lessonsthat I think we should take
(11:04):
away from this debacle.
Number one talk to yourcustomers.
I kept wondering the whole timewhen they changed the logo.
I'm like, did they do focusgroups?
Did they go to stores and townsand be like, hey, if we change
it to this?
I mean, they literally couldhave had a mock-up printed out
(11:27):
and stood in front of the storewhen people were coming in the
restaurant and they could havesaid, hey, what do you think of
this new logo?
They could have had employeesthat were already working at the
stores.
They could have had themanagers do this y'all.
They could have taken a poll.
They could have done it online.
They could have done anInstagram poll, like literally,
they could have done anything toverify.
(11:48):
Now, I don't know what they did, so I'm not going to act like I
know what focus groups they didor didn't have, but I'm willing
to bet they didn't get a bigenough sample size, because the
uproar was so fast that it wasobvious that people would have
said that right away Like no,why are you taking the whole
(12:09):
personality of this brand out?
You know, talk to your customers, everybody.
Listen to me.
If you are creating a product,you are creating a service, and
you want to know what's going tosell, or you want to pivot, or
you want to change something,talk to your people and don't
just talk to two people.
(12:29):
Don't just talk to your sisteror your BFF.
Okay, don't just do that.
That's not enough.
That's not a big enough focusgroup.
I guarantee you that the peoplethat were around them that were.
You know they were wanting tochange.
They all had the same kind ofmentality and they were not
actually the customers, like thecustomers in a town.
(12:50):
They are too close to thesituation.
They needed to get people thatwere removed from corporate.
I don't know.
I just feel like there wasn'tenough done.
I think it's a huge lesson toeverybody.
You have to talk to yourcustomers.
So please tell me now, rightnow.
Agree with me.
You'll say, yes, I will.
I will talk to my customers, Iwill put polls out.
(13:11):
I will ask people if they comein, if you have a store, if you
have a booth.
I will send out emails with asurvey.
You can do Google Forms and youcan do a quick survey there.
There are so many things youcan do.
You can have a little anonymoustip jar, a jar where they can
put comments.
That's what I mean, not a tipjar, but comments, feedback.
(13:32):
I always want to do that atbusinesses.
I often look around for afeedback jar that's anonymous,
because I'd like to saysomething that would help them
from a customer's point of view.
Y'all you can't see the labelfrom the inside of the bottle
(13:53):
that you're in.
Everyone is stuck inside abottle with a label and we
literally can't see it.
It is impossible.
It's like saying can you seethe back of your head?
You cannot see the back of yourhead unless you have a mirror,
and even then it's a reflected,reversed image, but you cannot
see the back of your head.
You cannot see the back of yourhead unless you have a mirror,
and even then it's a reflected,reversed image.
But you cannot see the back ofyour head standing there without
anything.
It's the same with yourbusiness.
Like we literally can't see howwe're viewed, and wouldn't you
(14:16):
like to know how you're viewed?
It's hard.
We probably will never know the100% truth about how anyone
views us.
But we can talk to people, beclose to people, have
relationships with people sothat they'll be honest with us
about things, right?
So talk to your customers.
Talk to your people, even ifthey're not customers.
They're just people who seeyour stuff.
(14:36):
They're shoppers, whatever,they're browsers.
Ask them what do you want?
Do you like this or that?
You need data before you makeany big changes.
So talk to your customers.
That's number one.
Number two don't be afraid tobe who you really are.
Okay, I think you should sharewho you are.
(15:07):
Every business now has to bebased on a story and a brand.
Cracker Barrel had a storywithin that logo with the Uncle
Herschel leaning on the barrel,and it has a story when you walk
in the store.
It has this old-timey feel thatsomehow you get transposed,
transformed into I don't evenknow the word.
You get, you know, teleportedto days of old.
(15:28):
That's what I feel like.
When you walk in the store, youare put in a different day and
time and you have to rememberthat we only felt teleported to
a different day and time becausethey shared who they were.
They had a whole brand on whothey are right and what they
(15:49):
kind of stand for.
This old feel this country feellike life is good, life can be
easy.
I don't know, that's just kindof how I describe it.
Right, you have to share whoyou are, your values and
everything that you're buildingyour brand around, right?
Maybe your brand of yourbusiness isn't exactly
representing who you are, yourvalues and everything that
you're building your brandaround, right?
Maybe your brand of yourbusiness isn't exactly
representing who you are, but Ithink people buy into brands.
(16:12):
Now.
Branding is more important thanever.
In fact, on next week's episode, I'm talking about that, y'all.
It is crucial that you build abrand now.
It's around a story, it'saround a feel.
It's around a feel, it's arounda vibe Like I want you to think
about.
Even when you listen to thispodcast each week, is it
consistent in terms of thefeeling that you get every time
(16:38):
you listen?
Now I'm only asking you thisbecause people tell me this that
like I know that I can go toyour podcast, I'm going to feel
uplifted.
I like your energy, I feelmotivated, I feel like I can do
things.
I feel like I can get past allthe things that I'm doing, like
overthinking, procrastinatingall that stuff.
Like I feel like I can getmoving.
Right is that you do feel asense of consistency with that.
(17:04):
And you know where I stand onthings.
Right, I stand for simplicity.
I believe in faith in yourbusiness and your life.
I believe in I don't talk aboutit a ton, but like physical
fitness, taking care of yourbody, but also just the ways
that we run our business withintegrity and really pursuing
our dream and going for it,because we know that our
businesses are more than just abusiness.
(17:25):
They are a sense of purpose forus.
They bring us fulfillment inour life.
They allow us to use ourGod-given gifts for greater
right.
So I hope that you feel thiseach week, that you show up
right, so you cannot be afraidto share who you are.
Do not be generic, do not be aminimalist.
I don't think you should be aminimalist in terms of what you
(17:47):
share about you and yourbusiness.
I think you should share itbecause that's why people will
follow you and want to buy fromyou, because they buy into the
story, and I'm not talking abouta fake story, I'm talking about
the real story.
They literally and figurativelybuy into your story.
So, share who you are, okay.
So number one, I said talk toyour customers, make sure you
(18:10):
have open communication aboutanything you're doing, any
changes you're making, anythingyou're offering that.
Number two share who you are.
Don't be afraid to be, be whoyou are, because you will
attract your people.
And number three, offer peoplewhat they want.
So last week I talked about thison episode 306.
(18:30):
I said how are you going tostart making money?
You're going to start makingmoney by selling something that
people actually want to buy, notwhat you want to sell.
Now, this is hard forpassion-based businesses like
ours, like something we're verypassionate about.
We already have in mind what wewant to sell, but I think it
(18:50):
has to be in the form thatpeople want to pay money for it.
It has to be in the form thatpeople want to pay money for it.
So think about this logo.
All of a sudden now they're notbought into this brand and they
don't even want it because itdoesn't represent what they
wanted to buy.
They wanted to buy that feelingand the story when they come in
, no one's even talking aboutthe food.
(19:13):
Do y'all see this Like?
This has nothing to do with thefood is what they are selling,
but everyone is walking in witha feeling, with a feeling.
What's that saying that quotepeople won't remember what you
said, but they remember how youmade them feel.
(19:34):
Oh, my gosh, I can't think ofit.
Let me say this statement Okay,it was Maya Angelou.
Like I did not know that.
It's a famous quote by MayaAngelou.
People will forget what yousaid.
People will forget what you did, but people will never forget
how you made them feel.
Y'all people will never forgethow you made them feel.
(19:55):
Y'all people will never forgethow you made them feel.
Sell what they want.
They want a feeling.
They want to buy something thatyou offer that product or
service, but they're actuallybuying a feeling.
This is kind of an aha momenthere.
Sit with this for a minute.
Whatever you're selling, what'sthe feeling that you're selling
?
If you're a landscaper, what'sthe feeling?
(20:17):
That I have a happy home, thatI can feel proud of my home,
that I can get excited to havepeople over because I'm not
embarrassed, right?
What is the feeling that peopleget when they listen to this
podcast?
Like what I said, they'rebuying into the feeling of I can
do this.
Like I can actually do this.
(20:37):
That's the feeling I can pursuegreater things.
I can.
I have more to give.
Like I'm excited.
Let's go Right.
When I sold monogrammed gifts,what's the feeling?
They were so excited to givethe gifts to their friends
because it was actually apersonal gift.
It had their initials on it,had their name on it.
(20:58):
They were proud.
They helped them.
Just feel good about giving.
What is the feeling?
I think, if you can get down tothe feeling, y'all, this is a
huge lesson.
Provide them what they want,right, but give them the feeling
with it.
Provide them what they want.
They do need something, they'renot going to pay unless it's
(21:20):
something they need, right,whether it's just cute jewelry
or whatever, it can be somethingvery you know fun, or it can be
life coaching or divorcecoaching.
I mean it can be something verylife-changing, right.
It doesn't matter where you areon that spectrum of what you're
selling, right, but you have toprovide what they want with a
(21:44):
feeling.
What they want with a feeling.
And when the logo changed, itremoved the feelers, it removed
all the feels, it removed it andthey were like wait, what am I
buying?
This is boring.
This is not what I wanted tofeel when I looked at your logo
(22:07):
or your store, because nowyou've revamped it all to
minimalist and I loved that.
It was like kind of I don'teven want to say junkie, not
junkie, but there was just a.
There's a lot of stuff in thatstore Like you can spend a long
time and I'm sure it's by designand it's awesome because it
keeps you in there while you'rewaiting on your table and you're
like shopping around thiscountry store Y'all.
There are so many lessons to belearned from this.
(22:27):
Let's review again.
Number one talk to yourcustomers Open communication,
okay.
Number two don't be afraid toshare who you are.
Be who you are.
That's what people are buyinginto, is the story.
And number three sell what theywant with the feeling that they
want.
Sell what they want with thefeeling Because if you're not
doing this, then are you reallya brand?
(22:50):
What are you?
You're just a drive-throughbusiness where they just buy and
go and they don't care.
You're more than that.
You're a brand, and this isproof of that.
This whole debacle is proof ofthat.
That there is so muchimportance in the way that you
build your brand and what you doand the decisions you make for
the people that you are meant toserve.
(23:12):
Okay, remember that.
I am so glad you're here.
This was so much fun.
I like doing this.
Current events I need to startdoing more current events.
This was like firing me up thismorning.
It's 830 in the morning.
I literally never do this andI'm fired up.
I'm ready to go.
I'm gonna go play somepickleball and have a great day.
So I hope you're going to havea great day ahead.
So happy for you, so proud ofyou.
(23:32):
Keep moving, start pursuingyour dream even more than you
were before, because you can doit.
Life is short people.
Okay, have a great day.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Bye now.
Now this episode may be over,but our relationship does not
have to end here.
Our relationship does not haveto end here.
Head on over toKimberlyBrockcom and, yes, you
can get more valuableinformation for your journey and
you know what.
You don't need to go throughthis alone.
I would love to help you.
(24:03):
Thank you so much and have agreat day.
Bye.
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