No one should have been surprised when Cracker Barrel removed the rocking chair portion from its corporate logo. Almost immediately after hiring Julie Masino as its CEO in 2023, the company began removing actual rocking chairs from many locations, replacing them with Adirondacks. Faced with customer backlash, the company quickly stopped replacing the chairs, but the message was clear: Cracker Barrel was launching a modernization effort – a corporate buzz phrase that usually means “not what we were doing before.”

Cracker Barrel executives should have expected the public reaction.

Prior to Cracker Barrel, Julie Masino had worked at Starbucks, Fisher-Price, and Taco Bell. I doubt the Cracker Barrel board hired her because of the way Taco Bell embraced culinary and cultural authenticity under her leadership.

For the record, I like Cracker Barrel meatloaf and get it a few times a year to eat at home. But I wasn’t offended that the company changed its logo. I’m more shocked that the logo change is part of an announced $700 million rebranding and modernization effort. If a company thinks things are so bad that it needs to spend almost three-quarters of a billion dollars to fix customer perception, it is already well on its way to failing – either because the business is broken or because its leadership is. These are not mutually exclusive.

Based on the track records of companies attempting similar major rebranding, neither Cracker Barrel customers nor its shareholders should have much reason for optimism.

When Circuit City rebranded itself as simply “The City” in 2008, it did nothing to halt the company’s decline. It filed for bankruptcy a year later, closing all 567 of the company’s stores.

Radio Shack rebranded itself as “The Shack” around the same time. I wonder if they used the same consultants and there is a pitch deck somewhere that says “Add ‘The;’ problem solved.”   Regardless of who had the idea, the outcome was the same. The Shack filed for bankruptcy twice before finally closing almost all its stores.

Borders Books and Blockbuster Video tried simpler tweaks. Rather than become The Borders or The Blockbuster, each company simply truncated its name, without adding “The” to the beginning. It didn’t work.

Restaurant rebrands seem to fare worse than other retailers. Concepts such as Chi-Chi’s, Bennigan’s and Boston Market all failed at upscale modernization rebranding. In 2008, Ruby Tuesday shifted its emphasis away from burgers, ribs, and the salad bar. Servers donned all-black ensembles and were trained to offer wine suggestions. (What wine pairs best with chicken tenders?) While the chain still exists, it has since been through bankruptcy and multiple majority owners.

I just hope Cracker Barrel survives. I really like the meatloaf.

David Moon is president of Moon Capital Management. A version of this piece originally appeared in the USA TODAY NETWORK.