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Cracker Barrel employees are calling out their their embattled CEO following the restaurant chain’s logo crisis — and dishing on everything from downsized hours and pay to the “frozen” food that’s passed off as homestyle cooking.
“Wanna know how your meatloaf is cooked whenever you come to Cracker Barrel,” according to a 12-second video posted on X that purported to be taken inside one of the chain’s kitchens.
“We throw it in a microwave and then we serve it to you,” according to the video, which panned to stacked trays allegedly filled with pre-packaged meatloaf. “And sometimes it’s still cold.”
Elsewhere, weight loss influencer Kari Felkamp read a purported letter from a Cracker Barrel employee that blamed CEO Julie Felss Masino for ruining Cracker Barrel by slashing kitchen jobs and serving “frozen food.”
“I was told today we have a gag order and are not supposed to be speaking about how the food is being made,” the alleged employee claimed in the letter, adding that Masino fired cooks and prep cooks when she came to the company in 2023.
Felkamp, who is based in the Chicago area, read the note in a Tuesday video without identifying the employee. She has since heard from other Cracker Barrel staffers, she told The Post.
The fired kitchen workers “cooked our country homemade food,” and “now our food is like fast food,” the letter added. “It’s all frozen in a bag off of a truck. We are basically turning into a fast food restaurant.”
The employee also griped about restaurant staff being cut back to part-time workers who can’t work more than 32 hours a week so “they don’t have to offer us health insurance.”
Servers who don’t sell enough take-out or “shareable” menu items have their hours cut even more, according to the employee, who said she worked for a store in a “small town.”
“We have families to feed and bills to pay,” the employee said. Masino “has not only laid off many of her long term employees but now expects the least paid employees to do more.”
Cracker Barrel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The 55-year-old company landed on the hot seat after it unveiled a logo last week that got rid of the barrel along with the chain’s folksy mascot “Uncle Herschel”.
After initially doubling down, Cracker Barrel announced late Tuesday that it would bring back the “Old Timer” image shortly after President Trump weighed in on the matter.
“Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before. They got a Billion Dollars worth of free publicity if they play their cards right. Very tricky to do, but a great opportunity,” the president posted on Truth Social.
Cracker Barrel executives reportedly had a call with the White House shortly before they announced their about-face.
“We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. “We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘old timer’ will remain.”
But a bigger factor may have been what was happening in the business in recent days, according to restaurant analyst Mark Kalinowski.
“When you see any company react this quickly, it says the uproar was worth reacting to,” Kalinowski told The Post. “The likely explanation is that their guests stopped coming.”
