Conservative activist and filmmaker Robby Starbuck has released a blistering 15-minute video taking aim at Cracker Barrel, accusing the Tennessee-based restaurant chain of abandoning its roots to chase left-wing approval.
Starbuck, who has successfully pressured companies like Target, John Deere, and Harley-Davidson to walk back woke policies, described Cracker Barrel’s new logo as the final stage of a years-long internal campaign to transform the chain into a progressive propaganda outlet.
“This isn’t just about a logo,” Starbuck said. “It’s about a country, a heritage, and a culture. Cracker Barrel is telling its customers that their values are backwards, embarrassing, or bigoted.”
Cracker Barrel has been one of the most loved brands in America for decades… That changed this week with a logo redesign that infuriated the public but… the problem goes MUCH deeper than a logo.@CrackerBarrel has gone fully woke and now it’s time to expose everything.
Here’s… pic.twitter.com/lgkFd0wc2V
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 23, 2025
From Nostalgia to “Cold, Lifeless Modernity”
The new Cracker Barrel logo removes the iconic image of a man seated beside a barrel, which had stood for nearly half a century. Starbuck slammed the change as moving from “old American nostalgia” to something “cold, dead, lifeless and modern.”
He argued the logo shift symbolizes a cultural takeover inside the company — where executives are more concerned with “safe spaces, pronouns and virtue signaling” than serving the families who built the brand.
Pride Rocking Chairs and Left-Wing Partnerships
Starbuck highlighted Cracker Barrel’s support for LGBTQ+ events like Nashville Pride and River City Pride, and noted that the company once installed rainbow-colored rocking chairs — a symbol long associated with the chain — outside its Tennessee headquarters.
He also pointed to Cracker Barrel’s involvement with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the Out and Equal Workplace Summit, where the company even manufactured rainbow rocking chairs for the event and won an award for its LGBTQ+ employee group in 2018.
Although Cracker Barrel told Fox News Digital that it “has not participated in the Human Rights Campaign Index or had any affiliation with HRC in several years,” Starbuck said the cultural damage had already been done.
The Activists Behind the Shift
Two employees were singled out in Starbuck’s video as key drivers of the company’s woke pivot:
Steve Smotherman, Cracker Barrel’s former head of management training, who now serves on HRC’s Business Advisory Council.
Rachel CampBell, a manager of training and development, who publicly celebrated the rainbow rocking chairs.
“These activist employees play a critical role in moving companies away from their customers and toward wokeness,” Starbuck said.
He also called out Gilbert Dávila, a Cracker Barrel board member and longtime marketing executive with stints at Disney, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble. Dávila is the co-CEO of a consulting firm that specializes in “cultural relevance,” which Starbuck argued is code for the kind of DEI-driven advertising that alienates conservative consumers.
A Call for Boycott
Starbuck closed by urging conservatives and Christians to stop giving their money to Cracker Barrel.
“A conservative can’t give their money to Cracker Barrel. A Christian cannot give their money to Cracker Barrel, and so we won’t,” he said.
Starbuck framed the backlash as a win-win for conservatives: either the company doubles down and continues to hemorrhage customers, or it reverses course and restores its traditional identity.
Shares of Cracker Barrel’s stock have already taken a hit since the rebrand, with reports estimating a $100 million market loss amid customer backlash.
