Cracker Barrel Stock Sinks on Earnings Miss. Investors Haven’t Forgotten the Logo Backlash.

The short-lived new Cracker Barrel logo is seen on a menu inside the restaurant on Aug. 21, 2025, in Pembroke Pines, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store fell in aftermarket trading after the restaurant chain reported mixed fourth quarter results and projected that sales in their current fiscal year would decline.

Revenue came in at $868 million with earnings of 74 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting revenue of $854.8 million on earnings of 77 cents a share.

While revenue exceeded expectations, it was still nearly 3% lower than it was in the same period last year. Efforts to increase sales, such as a restaurant and logo redesign have fallen flat with visitors, causing the chain to hit the brakes on them.

In its guidance for the next fiscal year, which began on Aug. 2, Cracker Barrel expects revenue to hit a midpoint of $3.40 billion, below 2025’s $3.48 billion. It also expects comparable store traffic to fall between 4% and 7%.

The stock dropped 10% to $44.64 in after market trading after falling more than 3% in regular trading Wednesday.

CEO Julie Masino pointed to the chain’s successes while acknowledging its missteps. “Many elements of our plan are working well and delivering results, as evidenced by five consecutive quarters of comparable store restaurant sales increases and 9% adjusted Ebitda growth in fiscal 2025.”

Comparable sales at restaurants rose 5.4%, well above expectations that they would increase by just 3.6%. The company also met its own guidance from the previous quarter on fiscal year revenue at $3.48 billion.

This summer’s ill-fated image makeover for the chain was part of a broader effort to boost sales and attract new customers. Before the changes were made, Masino had said that the new look was part of a broader initiative. “Our goal is to take what people love about Cracker Barrel and open the aperture a little bit so that more people love Cracker Barrel,” she said last summer.

The company backtracked a few days later after President Donald Trump called the new logo a mistake. Since then, the restaurant chain has put the brakes on a planned makeover of its more than 600 stores in a modern farmhouse look.

Cracker Barrel’s stock hasn’t done much in 2025 either, falling 5% year to date. Its most dramatic, one-day swing came Aug. 21, when shares fell as much as 15% in intraday trading as the logo backlash came to a head.

Write to Anita Hamilton at anita.hamilton@barrons.com