Steak ‘N Shake demands Cracker Barrel CEO be fired, unveils MAGA-style hats

They’re serving up beef — and not the kind that comes on a plate.

One of Cracker Barrel’s largest investors has gone nuclear in his campaign to oust Cracker Barrel chief Julie Felss Masino after her disastrous rebranding rollout tanked the stock and infuriated loyal customers — forcing the restaurant chain to reverse course on Tuesday after President Trump weighed in on the controversy.

Steak ’n Shake CEO Sardar Biglari — who owns nearly 10% of Cracker Barrel’s outstanding shares — mocked Cracker Barrel this week by posting images of red MAGA-style hats on X.

One read “Fire Cracker Barrel CEO.” Another declared: “Biglari was right about everything.”

The trolling came after Cracker Barrel scrapped its new modernized logo — which ditched the chain’s signature “Old Timer” character — following a fierce customer backlash and a $143 million hit to its market value.

“The woke CB management has even less competence than your predecessor. The CEO needs to hear ‘You’re Fired’ from her board,” Steak ’n Shake blasted in another post, even invoking Trump’s famous “Apprentice” catchphrase.

Biglari has been publicly hammering Cracker Barrel for months, slamming its $700 million store remodel as “bland, soulless, and an unnecessary waste of money.”

In a 2024 letter to shareholders, he warned that swapping Americana knickknacks for sleek booths and banquettes would do nothing to solve “declining traffic.”

“We do not believe changing the furniture and altering the décor are going to change the Company’s trajectory,” he wrote, accusing the board of being “poorly constituted” and unfit to protect the brand’s heritage.

Steak ’n Shake doubled down after Cracker Barrel’s retreat, crowing that the logo reversal was “a symptom of a bigger problem.”

“Instead, use this money to keep prices down to support American families. And while you’re at it, go back to making fresh biscuits every day. Fire the CEO!” the rival chain posted.

Cracker Barrel, which initially dismissed critics as a “vocal minority,” has since promised to restore the “Old Timer” logo. But the uproar has left investors rattled — and Biglari more emboldened than ever.

Masino, who took over in 2023, now faces the toughest stretch of her tenure as both Wall Street and Main Street question her vision for the country-themed chain.

Cracker Barrel did not respond to requests for comment.