Steak ‘n Shake owner’s fight to remove Cracker Barrel CEO just intensified

The owner of Steak ‘n Shake is trying to pressure Cracker Barrel’s board into overhauling its leadership, which they claim destroyed shareholder value. 

Sardar Biglari, founder of Biglari Capital Corporation, which owns 2.9% of all the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store’s common stock, is leading a proxy battle at Cracker Barrel, urging shareholders to vote against the re-election of CEO Julie Masino and director and Compensation Committee Chair Gilbert Dávila, according to a securities filing on Thursday.

Biglari is also the CEO of Biglari Holdings Inc, which is the parent company that owns restaurant chains such as Steak ’n Shake and Western Sizzlin.

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“We are seeking shareholder support to vote against these directors not only due to the severe destruction of shareholder value but also a deeper failure to understand the brand, its customers, and its heritage, and a failure to fulfill the Board’s most important job, selecting the right CEO,” Biglari Capital wrote in the proxy filing. 

Biglari Capital said the board and management both “betrayed the company’s heritage, alienated loyal customers and undermined investor confidence,” through their strategies. 

These strategies only worsened existing challenges instead of solving them, which they claim eventually led to a brand refresh that they claim was one of the “century’s worst brand blunders alongside Bud Light and Jaguar.”  

Steak ’n Shake escalated the fight against Cracker Barrel’s CEO, posting on X that it had paid for a billboard emblazoned with the words “Fire the CEO” styled in Cracker Barrel’s now-ditched logo redesign. 

It’s not the first time the company slammed Cracker Barrel on social media for its marketing mishap. 

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“Sometimes, people want to change things just to put their own personality on things,” Steak ‘n Shake posted on X in August, along with an image of part of the old Cracker Barrel logo. “At [Cracker Barrel], their goal is to just delete the personality altogether. Hence, the elimination of the ‘old-timer’ from the signage.

FOX Business reached out to Cracker Barrel for comment. 

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Following the unveiling of the logo changes and restaurant remodeling plans as part of a broader effort to modernize the brand, the company faced swift backlash that sent its stock lower and forced it to reverse course.

Less than ten days after its original announcement, Cracker Barrel announced it would retain its original logo, halt any redesign efforts and issued an apology to customers.

“We thank your guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel,” the restaurant chain said in a statement to FOX Business. “We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain. At Cracker Barrel, it’s always been – and always will be – about serving up delicious food, warm welcomes, and the kind of country hospitality that feels like family.”