Who Actually Owns Cracker Barrel?

Cracker Barrel has always represented itself as an authentic slice of rural America, with its rustic menu and old-fashioned decor. This made it all the more surprising when the restaurant chain decided to change its classic logo in 2025 in a misguided attempt to modernize the brand. And while you'd expect to see a handful of diehard Cracker Barrel fans expressing their displeasure on Facebook, the fallout was far greater than it had any right to be. It does make you wonder — who actually signed off on the decision?

Cracker Barrel is officially called Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., and it's listed on the Nasdaq as a publicly traded company. It's worth mentioning that the company is solely in the restaurant business, and while some grocery items share its name, they're completely unrelated. The first Cracker Barrel location opened in 1969 on a highway outside of Lebanon, Tennessee. Founder Dan Evins originally started the company as a way to boost gasoline sales for Shell, but the chain continued to grow, taking on a life of its own.

Seeking investment to continue its meteoric growth, Cracker Barrel went public in 1981. Early investors who bet on the business were laughing all the way to the bank — 11 years later, the company was valued at $1 billion. Today, around 60% of its shares are owned by institutional investors, including BlackRock, Inc., The Vanguard Group, and GMT Capital Corp. The company's operations are overseen by a board of directors, currently led by President and CEO Julie Felss Masino.

While anybody can own a piece of Cracker Barrel, current shareholders may be wishing they didn't. Despite decades of impressive growth, the company's value has steadily dropped in recent years. Cracker Barrel is struggling for a number of reasons, but it's clear its problems started around the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like most restaurant businesses, Cracker Barrel's value plummeted in the early days of the pandemic. Impressively, the company bounced back in a little over a year, but success was short-lived. Cracker Barrel's core customers were older diners, but the demographic stopped eating out as frequently post-pandemic. Julie Felss Masino was appointed CEO in 2023 and charged with halting the brand's slide into irrelevance, but the chain has failed to find appeal among younger diners. And as the recent logo fiasco showed us, attempts to modernize are met with outrage by folks who care enough to rant on social media, but apparently not enough to actually eat at Cracker Barrel. It also doesn't help that many people simply don't have the money to dine out these days.

It would seem that Cracker Barrel is stuck between a rock and a hard place, as it fails to attract new customers but is criticized for changing what people loved about the chain. That's not to say the company isn't still trying to stay afloat. Cracker Barrel is introducing more changes in 2026, which include introducing new seasonal menu items and bringing back old favorites. It's also planning to make the most of America's 250th birthday, with various events and promotions planned throughout the year. It's unlikely these changes will be anywhere near as controversial as last year's, but whether they'll turn Cracker Barrel's fortunes around remains to be seen.