Cracker Barrel takes down pride page on website – Business News
Cracker Barrel has quietly eliminated the Pride page from its website after going through client backlash over its rebranding efforts.
The website hyperlink for Cracker Barrel’s Pride page, which used to boast that the company was “bringing the porch to Pride,” now redirects to its “Culture and Belonging” page.
“At Cracker Barrel, welcoming people has always been at the heart of who we are. When we take care of one another, we are able to take even better care of the people who walk through our doors,” the page says.
The company has been underneath intense scrutiny by conservative activists, together with Robby Starbuck and Chris Rufo, over its previous assist of LGBT causes.
Cracker Barrel beforehand sponsored the Nashville Pride Parade in 2024 and unveiled a line of rainbow-colored rocking chairs for Pride month.
The company additionally has an LGBTQ worker useful resource group known as the “LGBTQ+ Alliance,” together with teams for veterans and different communities.
Cracker Barrel rocking chairs in several colours to signify the rainbow for an LGBT Alliance occasion with the Equal Alliance Summit. Cracker Barrel/Facebook
A rainbow rocker is set up outdoors a Cracker Barrel for Pride Month. Cracker Barrel/Facebook
The founder of Cracker Barrel’s LGBTQ group later served on the Human Rights Campaign’s Business Advisory Council.
The HRC is understood for its Corporate Equality Index, which charges corporations on LGBT office insurance policies.
Critics argue the HRC makes use of the index to strain firms into adopting progressive insurance policies.
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Cracker Barrel beforehand instructed Fox News Digital it “has not participated in the Human Rights Campaign Index or had any affiliation with HRC in several years.” The company didn’t instantly reply to Fox News Digital’s request for remark about eradicating its Pride page.
Cracker Barrel obtained a rating of zero on the inaugural index in 2002. The chain was criticized within the Nineteen Nineties for discrimination towards homosexual staff.
In 1991, the company adopted a company coverage stating that any employee who didn’t exhibit “normal heterosexual values” can be fired.
An indication for Cracker Barrel in Florida City, Florida on Aug. 27, 2025. Getty Images
Eleven staff had been terminated underneath the rule, resulting in boycotts and protests nationwide.
Over time, Cracker Barrel’s HRC rating improved, reaching 80 in 2021 after the company took a number of public pro-LGBTQ stances.
In 2014, it pulled “Duck Dynasty” merchandise from its cabinets after star Phil Robertson made remarks that many deemed to be homophobic.
The new Cracker Barrel brand is printed on a menu inside a Pembroke Pines, Florida restaurant earlier than the chain reversed course on the design. Getty Images
In 2019, the restaurant chain barred a pastor from internet hosting an occasion at one of its 660 areas after he preached that homosexuals had been “freaks” and “animals” who’re “worthy of death” in a sermon.
Cracker Barrel has been the subject of mass client outrage over efforts to rebrand and redesign its eating places.
The new interiors dropped the kitschy Americana aesthetic Cracker Barrel was identified for in favor of a scaled-down modernist theme.
The new, simplified brand dropped the image of an previous man leaning over a barrel and as a substitute simply included the company’s title over a yellow barrel form.
However, it introduced this week that it will return to its former brand with “Uncle Herschel” in response to the backlash.
“We thank your guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel,” the restaurant chain mentioned in a assertion to FOX Business. “We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain. At Cracker Barrel, it’s always been — and always will be — about serving up delicious food, warm welcomes, and the kind of country hospitality that feels like family.”
