Beware of going woke because it may break you. It didn't take long for the marketing geniuses at Cracker Barrel to reverse their decision and bring back the logo. I feel sorry for the poor telephone operator who had to take all those protest phone calls. Here is the story:

Cracker Barrel said it’s scrapping a redesign of the folksy restaurant chain’s logo following a backlash over a “woke” rebranding campaign that was even joined by President Trump.

“We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel,” the company said in a statement. “We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘old timer’ will remain.”

The about-face followed days of protests on social media against Cracker Barrel’s rebranding efforts -- capped on Tuesday with Trump weighing in and advising the company to go back to the original logo design.

“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,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.

Manage the company better than ever before? Good idea, especially coming from a man who has a pretty good track record of managing companies.

The moral of the story here is that customers matter. They come in and spend their money. Treat them with respect and consideration even if you don't like who they voted for.

My parents loved these restaurants. They travelled and stopped to eat breakfast even when the hotel had complimentary breakfast. I can't tell you the number of times that they'd tell us about the one in Tennessee that was a required stop whenever they drove east.

So taking away the logo hit me hard. I was reminded of my parents laughing and sharing their experiences. It was like losing something important.

So thanks for putting the old man back in the logo. It means a lot to some of us who are reminded of our late parents who loved the breakfast special.

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Image: Mike Mozart