{"id":3262,"date":"2025-08-26T08:10:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T12:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/?p=3262"},"modified":"2025-08-26T08:10:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T12:10:34","slug":"cracker-barrels-boardroom-is-now-in-the-crosshairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/cracker-barrels-boardroom-is-now-in-the-crosshairs\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Just the Logo: Cracker Barrel\u2019s Boardroom Is Now in the Crosshairs \u2014 The DEI Backstory Everyone\u2019s Talking About"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, Cracker Barrel was in the news and the talk of the town due to its change in logo. Many people were unhappy that the company decided to change the logo after being in operation for decades. Now, the old country store is in the news again. This time, it is about a board member of the American chain restaurant that has a record of DEI.<\/p>\n

About the boardroom member<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One of the American chain’s restaurant board members is the talk of the town, after his Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) background was revealed. There has been a heated reaction from the public due to his DEI-heavy background. This was after negative reactions to the company’s new logo and redesigned interior, as well as the embrace of the company’s far-left values.<\/p>\n

This board member is Gilbert Davila, 61, who joined the chain restaurant’s board in July 2020. He is also among the company’s top individual shareholders. A conservative activist Robby Starbuck called out Davila in a video criticizing the Cracker Barrel’s<\/a> leadership. He implied that the recent change of the restaurant is the culmination of a years-long campaign to cater to the far Left and to leave behind the values of its middle-America consumer base.<\/p>\n

According to Starbuck, the question remains what qualifies Davila to be a member of the board. He stated that Davila owned a DEI consulting and strategy firm for several years, 15 to be specific. The main purpose of the company was to encourage DEI and DEI advertising. He further stated that,\u00a0“People like him are behind the woke advertising push that we\u2019ve seen in recent years…and he was also one of the people responsible for DEI at Disney.”\u00a0<\/em>This refers to the changes that occurred at Disney, especially the movies being remade.<\/p>\n

Cracker Barrel’s backlash<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As stated by the conservative activist, Robby Starbuck, the cosmetic changes are just another way to lurch people away from the American values. In a 15-minute video he made he stated that the company has been active when it comes to LGBTQ pride events. Also, it has been focused on employing diversity, equity, and inclusion policies when it comes to hiring processes.<\/p>\n

According to Starbuck, Davila’s LinkedIn page indicates that he is recognised by many, specifically for his multicultural market knowledge. Also, the fact that he has a proven track record on how to best include a multicultural perspective into a company’s entire operation, is another reason why many find him intriguing.<\/p>\n

Starbuck spoke about the DMI Consulting, a company where Davila has served as president and CEO since the year 2010. On his biography page on Cracker Barrel\u2019s website describes the company as “a leading multicultural marketing, diversity & inclusion and strategy firm in the United States.”\u00a0<\/em>Now, many are scared that Cracker Barrel, will be the next company that will move away from what the company, citizens, and country stand for. All this, to be focused on a more inclusive strategy in everything it does.<\/p>\n

The public’s opinion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Consumers have criticized the restaurant Cracker Barrel, after it unveiled a new logo after many years. This new logo replaced the image of a man that was leaning on a barrel, with just the restaurant\u2019s name written in black text over a yellow barrel-shaped backdrop. Also, the chain redesigned the interior of its restaurants, getting rid of the kitschy American aesthetic and replacing it with a slick modernist motif.<\/p>\n

According to Starbuck, the removal of the man leaning against a barrel from Cracker Barrel’s logo<\/a>, is much more than that. She said that the American citizens are tired of the removal of their values and what they stand for. It feels like their culture and heritage are being stripped away from them he said last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, Cracker Barrel was in the news and the talk of the town due to its change in logo. Many people were unhappy that the company decided to change the logo after being in operation for decades. Now, the old country store is in the news again. This time, it is about a board member […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"hide","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"custom","post_date_format_custom":"m\/d\/Y H:i","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"no-crop","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-715"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3262"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3281,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262\/revisions\/3281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}