‘The Cracker Barrel Story Is Not About a Logo, They Thought We Were Stupid’: Robby Starbuck [WATCH]

Conservative activist Robby Starbuck released a lengthy video this week criticizing Cracker Barrel after the company unveiled a new logo design. In a 15-minute breakdown posted to his followers, Starbuck argued that the restaurant chain’s shift represents a departure from “old American nostalgia” to what he described as “cold, dead, lifeless and modern.”

Starbuck’s video examined both the company’s logo change and its broader corporate direction.

He claimed that Cracker Barrel, traditionally associated with Americana, has embraced what he called “wokeness” through its recent business and cultural decisions.

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According to Starbuck, the company is now “infested with left-wing activists who are more interested in safe spaces, pronouns, and virtue signaling than they are in their customers.”

Starbuck highlighted Cracker Barrel’s previous support for LGBTQ+ organizations and events, including Nashville Pride, River City Pride, and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

He pointed to the company’s rainbow-colored rocking chairs — a signature item tied to the chain’s porch-lined restaurants nationwide — and noted that one was even placed inside its Tennessee corporate headquarters.

“The fact that it’s located there is important to this story because what’s happened here is a microcosm of the parasitic operating procedure of left-wing activists,” Starbuck said in the video.

“They don’t just wanna force their soulless, godless, hedonistic vision of the future onto blue hellscapes that their party controls. No, it’s much more important to them that they shove it down into your towns, into your kids’ schools, and into your way of life. So, sticking a pro-trans rocking chair into their headquarters in a predominantly conservative town is exactly the type of thing they revel in doing.”

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Starbuck also pointed to the company’s participation in the Out and Equal Workplace Summit, where it created rainbow rocking chairs to represent the LGBTQ+ flag.

Out and Equal later recognized Cracker Barrel with an award for having 2018’s top LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group.

The chain also took part in the HRC Corporate Equality Index, which rates companies on policies and benefits for LGBTQ+ employees.

In response to the renewed attention, Cracker Barrel told Fox News Digital on Friday that it “has not participated in the Human Rights Campaign Index or had any affiliation with HRC in several years.”

In his video, Starbuck singled out two company employees.

He showed a LinkedIn screenshot of Steve Smotherman, who worked as head of management training and development at Cracker Barrel for 15 years before joining Out and Equal.

Smotherman currently serves on HRC’s Business Advisory Council. Starbuck labeled him “the archetype activist employee that fueled the rise of DEI in corporate America.”

He also criticized Rachel CampBell, a Cracker Barrel manager of training and development, for celebrating the rainbow rocking chairs online.

“And it’s important to note all of this because these types of employees play a critical role in turning companies away from the values of their customers and moving the companies toward wokeness,” Starbuck said.

Starbuck additionally mentioned Gilbert Dávila, a member of Cracker Barrel’s board since 2020.

Dávila has held executive roles at Disney, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble, and is co-CEO of DMI Consulting, a firm that promotes “cultural relevance and creativity.”

Starbuck argued that Dávila and similar executives drive the “woke advertising push” seen across major corporations.

Starbuck stressed that the controversy extends beyond branding.

“It’s very, very important to understand that the Cracker Barrel story is not about a logo. It’s not at all about a logo, it is about a country, it is our heritage, and it is a culture. It’s about a power structure built to tell us that we are somehow backwards, embarrassing or bigoted,” he said.

He concluded by urging conservatives and Christians to withhold their business.

“A conservative can’t give their money to Cracker Barrel. A Christian cannot give their money to Cracker Barrel, and so we won’t,” Starbuck said.

According to Starbuck, the company now faces a choice between continuing its current course and losing customers or reverting to its 1977 logo to maintain its traditional base.

WATCH:

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