President Donald Trump posted a meme of the Cracker Barrel logo, which showed him posing as Uncle Herschel, who was the uncle of Cracker Barrel’s founder, Dan Evins.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump posted a meme showing him sitting in a chair while leaning next to a black barrel with the words, “oil barrel” on it. The logo contains the words, “America First” written in brown on a yellow background, and underneath are the words, “America is back.”
Uncle Herschel is described as having “helped shape not only” the restaurant’s image, but its values, according to Cracker Barrel’s website.
“Uncle Herschel was a wealth of knowledge about what rural America’s old country stores were really like,” the website explains. “He was a salesman for Martha White Flour Company for 32 years, traveling the rural South calling on many towns’ general stores. Like many Cracker Barrels today, the community general stores were more than just a place to purchase goods. They were a gathering place for folks to take a timeout from the chore-filled day to visit with a neighbor or two, exchange pleasantries or just talk about the weather.”
Trump’s Cracker Barrel meme comes after the Tennessee-based restaurant chain announced that its new logo, which has sparked backlash, was “going away” and that the restaurant chain would continue to use its old logo.
“We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel,” the restaurant chain wrote in a post on X. “We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain.”
Trump also congratulated Cracker Barrel on changing its logo “back to what it was,” hours after he had stated that the restaurant “should go back to the old logo” and “admit a mistake based on customer response.”
“All of your fans very much appreciate it,” Trump wrote in another post on Truth Social. “Good luck into the future. Make lots of money and, most importantly, make your customers happy again!”
Social media users had expressed that the iconic restaurant’s new logo — which featured “Cracker Barrel” in brown on a yellow background without Uncle Herschel — was “soulless branding.”
