By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press
Cracker Barrel shareholders voted Thursday to keep company CEO Julie Felss Masino in place despite a debacle over the company’s logo that continues to hurt its sales.
But one of the company’s directors, Gilbert Davila, resigned from Cracker Barrel’s board Thursday after preliminary results indicated that shareholders rejected his reelection.
Davila, who joined Cracker Barrel’s board in 2020, is the president and CEO of DMI Consulting, a multicultural marketing firm. He reviewed Cracker Barrel’s advertising as part of his role on the board. Two influential shareholder advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, had recommended against Davila’s reelection ahead of the vote.
Sardar Biglari, a longtime Cracker Barrel shareholder and activist investor, was among those pressing for the ouster of Masino and Davila. Biglari is the chairman and CEO of Biglari Holdings Inc., a San Antonio, Texas-based company that owns Steak ‘n Shake. He also owns 3% of Cracker Barrel’s shares.
“Our campaign is about saving Cracker Barrel from a board and management team that are out of touch with Cracker Barrel’s customer base,” Biglari said in a letter sent earlier this month to Cracker Barrel investors.
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In its own statement, Cracker Barrel thanked its shareholders and said it was committed to returning the company to sales growth.
“We are more focused than ever on delivering high-quality food and experiences to our guests while staying true to the heritage that makes Cracker Barrel so special, ensuring we are here to welcome families around our table for generations to come,” the company said.
Cracker Barrel’s shares fell nearly 5.5% Thursday to close at $25.97 per share. They are down 52% from the start of this year.
Cracker Barrel hired Masino, a longtime Taco Bell and Starbucks executive, in July 2023. She was chosen for her record as an innovator, with the hope that she would attract new customers to Cracker Barrel, which operates 660 restaurants in 43 states.
Masino introduced updated menu items, like Hashbrown Casserole Shepherd’s Pie, to increase Cracker Barrel’s dinnertime traffic. She also started remodeling the company’s dark, antique-filled restaurants, lightening the walls and installing more comfortable seating.
But her decision in August to simplify the chain’s logo had disastrous consequences. Fans didn’t like that the new logo didn’t include Cracker Barrel’s longtime mascot, an overall-clad man leaning on a barrel, or the words “Old Country Store.” They also rebelled against the store redesigns.
Cracker Barrel reversed course a week later, saying it would keep its old logo. In early September, the company also suspended the remodeling of its restaurants.
The moves could hurt Cracker Barrel’s sales well into next year. Cracker Barrel said in September that store traffic would likely be down between 7% and 8% in its fiscal first quarter and could decline 4% to 7% for the full 2026 fiscal year, which began Aug. 2.
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