I haven’t heard anyone say it, but I think they’re trying to be more like Golden Corral.
For that, make a buffet.
I hate when companies blow a bunch of money on things only execs care about. They would get better results and media coverage by giving the money to the working staff (cooks and waiters).
I'm reminded of Richard Nixon's comeback as a smiling, not-as-smarmy-as-before candidate for president, branded as "The New Nixon." At around the same time, Standard Oil re-branded their Esso gas stations with the name "Exxon." This inspired cartoons, bumper stickers, etc., with the line "Nixxon - new name, but the same old gas."
“It’s that when we chase fads, we run away from who we really are.” It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. This is precisely “who we really are”: shallow fad chasers and exhibitionists. The more difficult question is: how to raise the average? No one wants to think about this. It’s too much work.
Isn’t the issue with the Cracker Barrel change that people who like/love Cracker Barrel like that is predictable and never changes? It’s the consistency they appreciate. Cracker Barrel can’t chase something because of that. Which is part of the authenticity the author is speaking of.
Many years ago, I taught a magazine piece contrasting the customers who patronized an eclectic individual restaurant and a chain restaurant in the same West Virginia town they grew up in. The chain restaurant patrons went there for the consistency. The eclectic restaurant patrons went there because they didn’t know how it would go. Unfortunately I can’t remember the author to credit them.
Nice I like you're thought here, just Talking, excellent! ''The MAGA brand is visually and tonally abrasive, and it perfectly matches the substance of what the American right is pushing for. Trying to put that wrapping on a liberal political party is like trying to… well, make a Cracker Barrel look chic.''
I haven’t heard anyone say it, but I think they’re trying to be more like Golden Corral.
For that, make a buffet.
I hate when companies blow a bunch of money on things only execs care about. They would get better results and media coverage by giving the money to the working staff (cooks and waiters).
Just for the record, Cracker Barrel isn't a southern American food restaurant. It's a simulacrum of what someone thought southern white people food is. No one who has any experience whatsoever with soul food, barbecue, steamed or boiled crabs, boiled shrimp or peanuts, okra, collard greens, chicken and waffles, crawdads, chicory coffee and beignets, or any other manner of "southern food" that actually tastes good would call Cracker Barrel "southern food."
This should be concerning to all of us, WE the People DOGE lackies in the Social Security Administration(SSA) were told not to dump into the public internet space, but they did it anyway, releasing 100’s of millions of personal data including names, addresses, Social Security numbers into the internet spaces
Now that this personal data is now in the public space, Cheeto and his Nazi allies particularly Peter Thiel with his Palantir software platform, now have public permission to use this data go after registered voters in order to disqualify these legitimate voters across the country through the Vigilante assault like they experienced in 2024 According to Greg Palast the investigative reporter who exposed this Nazi scheme According to Palast just by eliminating this influence would have given Harris the win
Again what is not being covered by Substack authors about this threat WE the People have to be prepared for this voter assault and let friends, relatives, family, and neighbors know about this to protect their right to vote
I make my own hamburgers and like my french fries baked (x out McDonalds & clones). Tex-Mex has too much cheese by far - try real Mexican food with proper seasoning and lots of vegetables. I had relatives who liked Cracker Barrel but I couldn't relate to their menu; meals with too much food next to a candy store. My favorite places were (once upon a time) Cuban places in south Florida: shops with pastries (meat or cheese), the little restaurants with ham sandwiches (the best), and the great Versailles Restaurant on the Tamiami trail (carne asada !!!). Then there are the Vietnamese restaurants with their shrimp summer rolls. So, the good stuff may come with our immigrants.
I remember when Americana was cool. There was a New South, a New Texas. They remembered their symbols, but reimagined. The dismal triplets of poverty for most (but not always hunger), involuntary servitude and a century of Jim Crow were cast off (at least in the imagination). There was a second American reconstruction taking place.
In those respects the ‘70s were a fine decade. Even a rising tide of inflation tended to raise most boats — though not the very largest.
Grandparents had survived the Depression and World Wars; they were often “pre-modern” in that nostalgic way.
By 1980, though, a tightening phase had begun and it sucked all the “New” out. And that process continued.
So now, so many years later, it’s a nostalgia for a nostalgia. The aforementioned grandparents are long since dead. Most of their children are gone or going.
And the voices who disparage even the attempt to be better than the realities of older times (and can shout about how the old order “wasn’t all that bad”) get louder and louder.
I haven’t heard anyone say it, but I think they’re trying to be more like Golden Corral.
For that, make a buffet.
I hate when companies blow a bunch of money on things only execs care about. They would get better results and media coverage by giving the money to the working staff (cooks and waiters).
Speaking of politics and changing brands ...
I'm reminded of Richard Nixon's comeback as a smiling, not-as-smarmy-as-before candidate for president, branded as "The New Nixon." At around the same time, Standard Oil re-branded their Esso gas stations with the name "Exxon." This inspired cartoons, bumper stickers, etc., with the line "Nixxon - new name, but the same old gas."
“It’s that when we chase fads, we run away from who we really are.” It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. This is precisely “who we really are”: shallow fad chasers and exhibitionists. The more difficult question is: how to raise the average? No one wants to think about this. It’s too much work.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/helenleebouygues/2022/08/17/critical-skills-not-emphasized-by-most-middle-school-teachers/
Isn’t the issue with the Cracker Barrel change that people who like/love Cracker Barrel like that is predictable and never changes? It’s the consistency they appreciate. Cracker Barrel can’t chase something because of that. Which is part of the authenticity the author is speaking of.
Many years ago, I taught a magazine piece contrasting the customers who patronized an eclectic individual restaurant and a chain restaurant in the same West Virginia town they grew up in. The chain restaurant patrons went there for the consistency. The eclectic restaurant patrons went there because they didn’t know how it would go. Unfortunately I can’t remember the author to credit them.
Nice I like you're thought here, just Talking, excellent! ''The MAGA brand is visually and tonally abrasive, and it perfectly matches the substance of what the American right is pushing for. Trying to put that wrapping on a liberal political party is like trying to… well, make a Cracker Barrel look chic.''
I haven’t heard anyone say it, but I think they’re trying to be more like Golden Corral.
For that, make a buffet.
I hate when companies blow a bunch of money on things only execs care about. They would get better results and media coverage by giving the money to the working staff (cooks and waiters).
I see it more as a restaurant with a gift store, but I tend to be food focused. 🙂
Just for the record, Cracker Barrel isn't a southern American food restaurant. It's a simulacrum of what someone thought southern white people food is. No one who has any experience whatsoever with soul food, barbecue, steamed or boiled crabs, boiled shrimp or peanuts, okra, collard greens, chicken and waffles, crawdads, chicory coffee and beignets, or any other manner of "southern food" that actually tastes good would call Cracker Barrel "southern food."
Cheeto and Social Security Data Breach
This should be concerning to all of us, WE the People DOGE lackies in the Social Security Administration(SSA) were told not to dump into the public internet space, but they did it anyway, releasing 100’s of millions of personal data including names, addresses, Social Security numbers into the internet spaces
Now that this personal data is now in the public space, Cheeto and his Nazi allies particularly Peter Thiel with his Palantir software platform, now have public permission to use this data go after registered voters in order to disqualify these legitimate voters across the country through the Vigilante assault like they experienced in 2024 According to Greg Palast the investigative reporter who exposed this Nazi scheme According to Palast just by eliminating this influence would have given Harris the win
Again what is not being covered by Substack authors about this threat WE the People have to be prepared for this voter assault and let friends, relatives, family, and neighbors know about this to protect their right to vote
I make my own hamburgers and like my french fries baked (x out McDonalds & clones). Tex-Mex has too much cheese by far - try real Mexican food with proper seasoning and lots of vegetables. I had relatives who liked Cracker Barrel but I couldn't relate to their menu; meals with too much food next to a candy store. My favorite places were (once upon a time) Cuban places in south Florida: shops with pastries (meat or cheese), the little restaurants with ham sandwiches (the best), and the great Versailles Restaurant on the Tamiami trail (carne asada !!!). Then there are the Vietnamese restaurants with their shrimp summer rolls. So, the good stuff may come with our immigrants.
I remember when Americana was cool. There was a New South, a New Texas. They remembered their symbols, but reimagined. The dismal triplets of poverty for most (but not always hunger), involuntary servitude and a century of Jim Crow were cast off (at least in the imagination). There was a second American reconstruction taking place.
In those respects the ‘70s were a fine decade. Even a rising tide of inflation tended to raise most boats — though not the very largest.
Grandparents had survived the Depression and World Wars; they were often “pre-modern” in that nostalgic way.
By 1980, though, a tightening phase had begun and it sucked all the “New” out. And that process continued.
So now, so many years later, it’s a nostalgia for a nostalgia. The aforementioned grandparents are long since dead. Most of their children are gone or going.
And the voices who disparage even the attempt to be better than the realities of older times (and can shout about how the old order “wasn’t all that bad”) get louder and louder.
Damn.