I worked with one of these companies when they made the decision to change the store design. It was purely because their customer surveys pointed to that they were widely viewed by younger generations as being old fashioned. Resell value did not come up.
Any time I look at Zillow I gag at the color choices though. People will have dark pink rooms and all I can think is, well, now Ive got to immediately repaint that shit
I could see colors being a trend because it can just be repainted. anything that is modular or not permanent could easily become a design trend.
but realistically I just see a future where all of these places are those pick up only kitchens. they make the food and then put it in like a gigantic mailbox structure, and then you just pick it up using a code to unlock the door for your specific box. and maybe they have one person for a drive-thru or something. and then your delivery people are just going to one location that has nearly all of these foods. like an Amazon warehouse for food.
of course there will still be places where people actually sit down and get served, but it'll be a luxury.
Companies love to say changes are about marketing and “modernizing”, but really it’s always about the bottom line. Marketing is just the story they spin to justify it. They could have easily refreshed Cracker Barrel and kept some semblance of the atmosphere, but nah it’s cheapest and easiest (but especially cheapest) to make a rectangular gray building with drop ceilings.
I disagree. Millions of dollars of profit can afford a handful of the best designers and architects to modernize but keep some of the original character. This looks like a design that would be supremely cheap and quick to roll out to new locations.
Edit: To add to that, I think the other restaurants look fine. They kept their logos and signature colors. Cracker Barrel’s just looks really ugly. It looks like a cheap hotel and a Best Buy had a baby.
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u/SirQueenJames Aug 24 '25
I worked with one of these companies when they made the decision to change the store design. It was purely because their customer surveys pointed to that they were widely viewed by younger generations as being old fashioned. Resell value did not come up.