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Cracker Barrel Fail and What We Can Learn

By now, you have to have heard of the Cracker Barrel rebrand failure. Here's the good news, though. As Christians, in any controversy, there's always a lesson to be learned.

Gramster Rant: The Cracker Barrel Identity Crisis

The Cracker Barrel rebrand is the high-profile fail of 2025. They really messed up this iconic slice of Americana. Looking at the logos, you can't really even say it's a rebrand because a brand really wants to evoke something, a feeling or a message. They didn't rebrand. They just erased what they had. That's kind of like saying, "Hey, take out the garbage." "No, I'm redecorating." All they did was erase what was there.

What happened here is really a prime example of two things. Number one, know your audience. And number two, little things do mean a lot. Cracker Barrel has been around since the 70s. That means they've been around for like 50 years. Not all businesses can say they not only have withstood the test of time, but adhered to the original intent and purpose of when they first started.

The cool thing about Cracker Barrel was their unique interiors. Anytime a new Cracker Barrel store opened up, they actually had a team of people that would go out and curate items to hang in the store. Even though you went from Cracker Barrel to Cracker Barrel and it all had the very same feel to it and you knew exactly where you were, everywhere you went, it was really different.

It really had a sense of nostalgia. Hence the name Cracker Barrel. They shipped crackers in barrels because the barrels were hard on the outside, kept them from breaking and dry, and kept them in the right climate inside so they didn't go stale. These big barrels would show up at the general stores, and there's always a general store attached to the Cracker Barrel. They'd never let anything go to waste, so they would reuse these barrels, and a trend developed where they would take these cracker barrels and set them out on the porch of the general store. That became a place where people would gather and have conversations and talk to their neighbors.

The down-home folksy feel was enhanced because many of the tops of those barrels were then made into checkerboards. People gathered around them to drink lemonade or play checkers. It became a moniker. You could describe things as "Cracker Barrel" if somebody gave a speech that was really folksy down home. There was a message behind it, a feeling behind it, an intent behind it. And people loved it. They were drawn to it. And it withstood the test of time.

The people hired to do this rebrand, many of them come out of woke education. They're already skewed, and then they look at metrics, and metrics drive everything. They can't make critical decisions. When Cracker Barrel looked at this, they weren't looking at what they could do to enhance their brand. That general store they have attached to most Cracker Barrels is one of the funnest shopping experiences you can have. We bought a lot of Christmas presents at Cracker Barrel.

Then Cracker Barrel hires these young woke executives on both the CEO and the marketing side, and they decide they have to sterilize it to please their constituency, which isn't even the main target audience. I think it boils down to me, myself, and I. The CEO heading up this rebrand was really trying to accomplish what she wanted Cracker Barrel to be and totally discounted the people that have been going there for years and make up their very large clientele.

Cracker Barrel has lost millions of dollars – 400 million as of this broadcast – from the time they revealed the rebrand till now. The CEO tried to ride that pony of "everybody loves this, this is great, everybody really likes it, and you'll like it too." Eventually, investors came and said "we're turning this around," so thank you investors, they know what they're talking about.

Here's the thing – what they did in Cracker Barrel, there's a lot of lesson there for us, not just as Christians but everybody really. You take something that's tried and true, withstands the test of time, and holds on to its integrity, and someone comes in and wants to change just for the sake of changing. They think what's going to happen is that they're going to appeal to more people, and all those people that don't want to come to Cracker Barrel will start coming.

We do that with the gospel, and it doesn't work. Everybody who never set foot in Cracker Barrel before still ain't going to step foot in Cracker Barrel. It's not their meal. It's not what they want. When we try to do that with the church, when we try to do that with the gospel – let's clean it up a little bit, let's make it not so messy, let's make it so more people will like it and more people will become Christian – no, no.

What happens when you think you're just going to freshen it up and give it a facelift? What you're really doing is watering it down. You're watering it down to the point that even the people who had been there the whole time, who loved and embraced what Cracker Barrel was, who loved and embraced what the church and the gospel is, they'll walk away feeling like something's missing now. It's less satisfying. It's less filling.

This is the ways of men. People in general love to look at something and think, "But I want it different for me, and if I can just get my fingers in it and change it and twist it to what I really want it to be, it'll be so much better." Not. It doesn't work. We've seen churches nearly split over the color of the newly installed carpeting because everybody wants to put their imprint on what God's got going on.

Salvaged by God Deep Dive: Biblical Perspective

Sometimes the unchanged is really needed. We look at the character of God. He is unchanging. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. That gives us things like a sense of security, a sense of belonging. Thank goodness God never changes. We can hang our hat on who he is and the way he is. That gives us an immense amount of security.

In Matthew 5:18, Jesus says: "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of the letter shall pass from the law until all is accomplished."

Revelation 22:18-19 warns us: "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book."

Little things matter. Know your audience. Little things do really mean a lot. So take care and be careful. Galatians chapter 1 even talks about those who would pervert the gospel for selfish gain and deliberately twist it just to fit their own desire and their own tastes. That's exactly what we saw with Cracker Barrel, because unfortunately, that is the ways of men.

Right On or Way Off?: Gavin Newsom's Political Store

There is another store. The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has been in the news a lot because he likes to troll Donald Trump and his supporters. The newest way he's doing this is by really mimicking Donald Trump. He's been sending out tweets that are very much like what Donald Trump sends out in his social media. Gavin Newsom has also opened an online store to fund his political campaign.

Just to give you a little taste of what he's doing here - that MAGA hat, the bright red with white lettering - he is mimicking that and putting sayings out there that are very Trumpesque, like "Newsom was right about everything." He has turned the MAGA (Make America Great Again) to Make America Gavin Again. That just reeks of self-absorption.

For $100, you can supposedly get a signed copy of the Holy Bible off of Gavin Newsom's website. I use the word "supposedly" because it's fishy for different reasons. It's the only item on his website labeled "sold out." Nothing else is sold out, just that one thing. I don't think Gavin Newsom's supporters are really gangbusters about getting a Bible and reading the Bible. Does Gavin Newsom really want the word of God to go out? When you look at the ad, there's no description. It doesn't tell you what version it is or anything.

When you look at the picture of the Bible, it looks like an old Bible. It's a little bit tattered. The gold leaf on the edges looks worn and chipped and scratched, and the cover is creased and bent. That's not a newly printed Bible. I don't think he's selling Bibles at all. I think this is just a fake facade.

WAY OFF! What this store really reflects is the ways of Satan. Let's think about it:

Number one, Newsom cannot create anything new on his own. All he's doing is taking what's already been created and twisting it, corrupting it. That's exactly what Satan does. He has no creative power of his own. All he can do is take what God has made and twist it and pervert it.

Number two, he's not helping to or hoping to help people, encourage people, bring people together, take care of people. No, he's hoping to irritate people, hoping to divide people. Isn't that what Satan is all about?

How does he have time to do this stuff while his state still lies in ashes? The government of California has a ticker site showing exactly how many applications to rebuild after the fires have been received, how many they're reviewing, and how many have been issued. It's been nine months since those fires swept through California. In Los Angeles County, there have been more than 1,500 applications to get a permit to rebuild property that's been destroyed, but nine months later, only 250 permits have been issued. In any other state, if your house burns down, you'd have a permit to rebuild within 30 days.

Look at Malibu - the city has had 112 applications received to rebuild property over the last nine months. One permit has been issued. ONE permit nine months later. This is abhorrent.

This is how Satan works. On the outside, he tries to make things look fun and entertaining. All the while, the people behind him are suffering and losing everything. This is what Satan does.

John 10:10 tells us: "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they would have life and have it more abundantly."

That's the only thing Satan can do. He can't create stuff. He can't make things happen. All he can do is copy and pretend. He cannot create or help or do anything like that.

1 Peter 5:8 gives us more insight: "Be sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

Not offering any solution. Not helping people, not building people up, but destroying, devouring. That's what he's all about. And we're seeing a lot of that in California. Just the sheer numbers of homelessness is shocking.

2 Corinthians 11:14 says: "No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

Pretending to be someone he is not. He can't even be Gavin Newsom. He has to be a pseudo Trump.

So Cracker Barrel is really a look into the way that human beings act. This online store is really a look into the way that Satan works. When you get as worked up as we might about these things, what that should do is drive us to go deeper in God's word and be willing to more aggressively proclaim the gospel. We're not here to debate. We're here to proclaim. There's only one solution - real authentic discipleship.

Global News Christian Views: Pastor Ron Bowell on Worship Music

Pastor Ron Bowell has been a pastor for over 40 years. He's also a bishop in the Brethren in Christ denomination and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Kansas style. After Jesus got ahold of his life, he's been involved in worship music for decades.

When asked about his view on Christian music, Pastor Bowell explains: "Everything evolves over time. When I cut my teeth early on after I came out of secular rock music, I tuned in with like Keith Green and Second Chapter of Acts and the Res Band. They were changing music at that point in time, church music. Took a long time for people to get around to liking it."

"Music is a neutral carrier. It doesn't care. Music is of God. God created music. But some people plant within it seeds that aren't biblical or good."

"The music itself is neutral. It's how you use it, what you produce with it that makes a difference. Are you glorifying God? Are you glorifying man? Or are you glorifying Satan in some cases?"

One of the ways Pastor Bowell judges a new song is by counting how many times the word "I" or "me" is used in the worship song. It shouldn't be very many. Worship should all go up, not be about how I feel about it or who I am.

Pastor Bowell also notes that almost all Christian music labels are now owned by secular companies, which puts artists in the same rut as secular musicians. "Your record company's demanding some hits. You're under contract. And so you end up selling junk. I call it pop crap. It's worthless."

What about theology in secular music? Pastor Bowell shares about his radio show: "Everything has God in it. There are God moments in every song. I wanted to reach the world with the gospel, so when I came to Salina, Kansas, I started a radio show called the Crossroads Radio Show because we're all at a crossroads in life. I use secular music to introduce God talk."

He gives examples: "I might start a show with 'Dust in the Wind' by Kansas and go, 'Hey, you know what? The Bible says we're just dust. And what happens with dust in the wind? It blows away. But we've got an anchor.' Then I'm into the next song. With Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven,' they've got this great line where they say, 'Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there's still time to change the road you're on.' So I would snatch that line out and echo it between songs to say, 'Look, today Jesus is offering you a way.'"

These songs become what Pastor Bowell calls "pre-evangelism work." He explains: "Think about 'Running on Empty,' 'Running Against the Wind,' 'Another Brick in the Wall,' 'Gimme Shelter' by the Rolling Stones - it's about addiction. People know they need help with addiction. 'Urgent' by Foreigner - 'I got to have it and I got to have it right now.' That's contrary to the gospel. You use those as a place to bounce, but what you want them to bounce into is Jesus and the music of the church."

When asked about the practice of calling only the music portion of church "worship" and the band the "worship band," Pastor Bowell believes the whole service should be about worship. "One of the things I just preached throughout the Midwest Conference recently is that the essence of worship is sacrifice. If you look throughout scripture, when anybody worshipped, they sacrificed something."

"If you're attentively listening to the message and open to the spirit of God, you are worshiping. It has nothing to do with music."

"The band is what I call softening up the beaches, opening the heart for people to hear the true gospel. And if the band sucks, they're not going to come back. I got news for you. I've heard a lot of poor music in church. It's amazing how many people think they're musicians when they're not."

Final Thoughts

Pastor Bowell concludes: "I think we have to be discerning. If you're a worship leader or a pastor, check out the lyrics to those songs and make sure they honor God and they're not just the latest Taylor Swift version of Christianity that everybody has to do because it's cool. It should lift up the glory of God and the holiness of God and the righteousness of God."

The lessons from both Cracker Barrel's failed rebrand and the concerning political merchandise of Gavin Newsom point us back to the importance of authenticity, true purpose, and staying grounded in unchanging truth. Whether in business, politics, or church worship, abandoning core values for the sake of change or popularity leads to disappointment and division.

As Christians, we're called to stand firm on God's unchanging word while showing grace to others. We're not called to water down the message but to proclaim it boldly, remembering that true transformation comes not from clever marketing or political posturing, but from the life-changing power of the gospel. Our brand is "come as you are, but leave changed." How are you going to change the gospel and then have people have changed hearts?

Don't forget to tell your friends, tell your family, tell your loved ones about No Apology with Emilee and Chris. And we'll meet you back here again next week.