By Jordan Valinsky, CNN
New York — Cracker Barrel’s modern makeover doesn’t stop with redoing its restaurants. It’s dropping the barrel and the man from its logo, too.
On Tuesday, the Southern-inspired casual dining chain unveiled a new logo “rooted even more closely to the iconic barrel shape,” but without the barrel itself — a central part of the brand’s identity since 1977. (As for the the barrel itself, it was “essentially the water coolers of the day,” Cracker Barrel explained in a blog post.)
The identity refresh also includes new TV commercials, a redesigned menu and several new fall-themed foods, part of a larger $700 million transformation plan to shake off its stodgy image and lure in new diners.
“The way we communicate, the things on the menu, the way the stores look a