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Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is cooking up a new playbook to lure customers back to its restaurants this fall after a tumultuous summer.
Months after the Southern dining chain faced fierce backlash over a controversial logo rebrand blasted by critics, Cracker Barrel is giving away free pancakes to NFL fans in a bid to win back diners.
The brand rolled out a $5 all-you-can-eat pancake special last month for National Pancake Day, but a new promotion incorporating the popular breakfast food is available in October.
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As part of its “Bloctober” campaign, a promotion inspired by the pancake block – the football move where a defender gets flattened like a flapjack – Cracker Barrel teamed up with Indianapolis Colts offensive lineman Quenton Nelson to give any fans wearing an NFL team jersey or showing a game ticket a free side of pancakes with any entrée.
Cracker Barrel has also refreshed its menu with the return of some fan-favorite seasonal dishes.
Cracker Barrel is giving away a side of free pancakes to customers wearing an NFL team jersey or with a game ticket. (Cracker Barrel Old Country Store)
Uncle Herschel’s Favorite breakfast is back, now with the option to upgrade to a New York strip steak. Other fall menu offerings include the Butter Pecan French Toast Bake and the Hashbrown Casserole Shepherd’s Pie.
Rachel Love, a self-proclaimed Cracker Barrel enthusiast from Tennessee, told Fox News Digital the changes feel like a return to the chain’s roots.
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“This is exactly what they need,” Love said.
She had been critical of Cracker Barrel’s remodel in a social media post that went viral earlier this year.
“Forget painted walls and bleak décor – snaz up the menu while still offering the old favorites,” she said. “The food, along with the nostalgic ambiance, is what made the experience warm and inviting and kept us coming back. One without the other and you are just another restaurant chain.”
Cracker Barrel is hoping to bring in more customers with its “Bloctober” pancake promotion. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Cracker Barrel)
Love said she’s had the Uncle Herschel’s Favorite many times, sometimes splitting it with her grandmother or “powering through it on my own.”
She recalled that her grandmother used to say, “It is a breakfast of everything but the kitchen sink.”
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Love also said the Hashbrown Casserole Shepherd’s Pie “did not disappoint.”
The push comes as the Tennessee-based chain tries to recover from its branding fiasco.
Cracker Barrel returned to its old logo after making the controversial change. (Zak Bennett for Fox News Digital)
The redesign, aimed at modernizing Cracker Barrel’s image, was widely criticized online, sparking boycotts and forcing the company to reverse course.
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With traffic down 8% since the August rollout of its now-scrapped text-only logo, as FOX Business previously reported, Cracker Barrel appears to be trying to appeal to its base with comfort food, football and freebies as the recipe for redemption.
Cracker Barrel declined to comment.
