Former Cracker Barrel employee Steve Smotherman led an LGBT resource group and worked with the Human Rights Campaign to change the restaurant chain's workplace culture.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, the Southern-style restaurant chain known for its nostalgic Americana charm, has stumbled into a public relations and

Hillsdale College in Michigan joined the MAGA pile-on over the restaurant chain's rebrand and critics had thoughts.

Social media users slam Cracker Barrel's logo redesign as "horrible" and "generic" while the company defends its rebranding efforts, which include logo and menu changes.

Restaurant chain accused of going ‘woke’ and ‘scrapping a beloved American aesthetic’ by simplifying branding to remove folksy southern character from its signage

At the heart of the changes was the removal of a man leaning against a barrel and the phrase "old country store" from the restaurant's logo, CNBC's Ali McCadden reports. Right-wing social media voices railed against the update, with one prominent conservative activist saying that the company would "learn that wokeness really doesn't pay."

Cracker Barrel hosted a pop-up event in Manhattan that included line dancing and live country music as it faces criticism for its new simplified logo design.