Longtime Cracker Barrel critic Sardar Biglari is at it once again.
The owner of Steak n Shake, who also owns 2.9% of Cracker Barrel’s shares, filed a statement Thursday asking shareholders to oust CEO Julie Masino and Compensation Committee Chair Gilbert Dávila when their positions come up for a vote Nov. 20.
He argued that Masino has made multiple missteps since becoming CEO in 2023, including the recent blowup over the chain’s new logo and remodel plan, which has sunk Cracker Barrel’s stock price and led to traffic declines.
Biglari also blamed Dávila, “the Board’s purported marketing expert,” for helping to shape those decisions and for approving outsized pay packages for executives.
Biglari, a prolific businessman and activist investor, has tried eight times over the years to make changes at Cracker Barrel and has failed each time, most recently last November. He has been critical of the brand’s efforts to court a younger audience and its policies around diversity, equity and inclusion.
Biglari began to pipe up about Cracker Barrel again last month amid backlash to the chain’s new logo. He used Steak n Shake’s X account to attack the chain and call for Masino to be fired.
Cracker Barrel had not responded to a request for comment on Biglari’s filing as of publication time.
The chain on Wednesday published its first earnings report since the logo fallout began Aug. 19. It said traffic declined 8% following the logo reveal, and is expecting customer counts to be down 4% to 7% for the fiscal year, which ends next August.
Its stock has declined 23% over the past month.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.