Cracker Barrel founder, 93, gives damning verdict on $7M-a-year CEO as she breaks cover after rebrand fiasco
Cracker Barrel’s co-founder has delivered a scathing critique of the restaurant chain’s CEO after a botched rebranding.
Tommy Lowe, 93, accused Julie Felss Masino of failing to grasp what Cracker Barrel stands for, pointing to her previous stint at Taco Bell.
‘They’re trying to modernize to be like the competition. Cracker Barrel doesn’t have any competition,’ Low, who co-founded Cracker Barrel with the late Dan Evins in Lebanon, Tennessee in 1969, told WTVF.
‘I heard she was at Taco Bell. What’s Taco Bell know about Cracker Barrel and country food? They need to work on the food and service and leave the barrel, the logo, alone.’
The criticism comes after Cracker Barrel scrapped its controversial new logo Tuesday following a flood of outrage. The redesign removed the iconic ‘Old Timer’ figure — an old man leaning against a barrel — leaving only the chain’s name in a modern font.
Lowe weighed into the saga as Masino, who earns $6.68 million a year in salary and bonuses, was spotted Thursday leaving her home in an affluent Nashville neighborhood.
When approached by Fox News Digital, Masino — who took the helm of the 650-location Southern comfort food chain in 2023 — refused to answer questions
She quickly got into her Mercedes-Benz, flanked by security in another vehicle, and drove to a nearby Starbucks for coffee.
Cracker Barrel’s co-founder Tommy Lowe, 93, slammed the chain’s now-axed logo rebrand
Masino broke cover and was spotted leaving her home in an affluent Nashville neighborhood on Thursday
It marks the first time the CEO has been seen publicly since the logo rebrand, which also eliminated the pinto bean shape behind the name – a nod to one of the original side dishes offered when Cracker Barrel first opened.
Lowe called the rebrand ‘land and pitiful’ and said ‘spending $700 million dollars doing that is throwing money out the window’.
‘If they don’t get back to keeping it country, then it ain’t gonna work,’ he added.
Critics said the changes stripped away the brand’s character and charm, and the backlash cost the company nearly $100 million in market value last week.
Even President Donald Trump weighed in on the short-lived change, telling Cracker Barrel bosses to scrap the new logo.
Shortly after Trump’s comments, the company scrapped the new logo and returned to its original.
‘We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel. We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘old timer’ will remain,’ the company said.
CNN reported that after the rebrand U-turn, Cracker Barrel also deleted its ‘Pride page’ from its website and scrubbed references to Diversity and Inclusion efforts.
Cracker Barrel was forced to axe the new logo (pictured) on Tuesday following a huge backlash
The now-axed new logo got rid of the image of the old man leaning on a barrel and the pinto bean shape behind the name
Trump later congratulated the brand for listening to consumers.
Writing on Truth Social, he said: ‘Congratulations ‘Cracker Barrel’ on changing your logo back to what it was.
‘All of your fans very much appreciate it. Good luck into the future. Make lots of money and, most importantly, make your customers happy again!’
The controversy over the new logo came as the company also overhauled its 650 US restaurants, swapping rustic southern-style interiors for a modern look.
That shift, too, has sparked backlash, with customers complaining the chain is ‘just turning into any other restaurant’.
The chain’s name itself comes from barrels once used to deliver crackers to country stores, which later doubled as makeshift tables for community gatherings.
