Cracker Barrel shareholders last week voted to keep company CEO Julie Felss Masino in place despite a debacle over the company’s logo that continues to slow its sales.

One of the company’s directors, Gilbert Davila, however, resigned from Cracker Barrel’s board last week after preliminary results indicated that shareholders rejected his re-election.

Davila, who joined Cracker Barrel’s board in 2020, is the president and CEO of DMI Consulting, a multicultural marketing firm. He reviewed Cracker Barrel’s advertising as part of his role on the board.

Two influential shareholder advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, had recommended against Davila’s re-election ahead of the vote.

Sardar Biglari, a longtime Cracker Barrel shareholder and activist investor, was among those pressing for the ouster of Masino and Davila. Biglari is the chairman and CEO of Biglari Holdings Inc., a San Antonio, Texas-based company that owns Steak ’n Shake.

“Our campaign is about saving Cracker Barrel from a board and management team that are out of touch with Cracker Barrel’s customer base,” Biglari said in a letter sent to investors.

In its own statement, Cracker Barrel thanked its shareholders and said it was committed to returning the company to sales growth.

Cracker Barrel’s shares are down 52 percent from the start of this year.

Cracker Barrel hired Masino, a longtime Taco Bell and Starbucks executive, in 2023. She was chosen for her record as an innovator, with the hope that she would attract new customers to Cracker Barrel, which operates 660 restaurants in 43 states.

Masino introduced updated menu items, such as Hashbrown Casserole Shepherd’s Pie, to increase Cracker Barrel’s dinnertime traffic. She also started remodeling the company’s restaurants.

Her decision in August to simplify the chain’s logo, however, had disastrous consequences.

Fans didn’t like that the new logo didn’t include Cracker Barrel’s longtime mascot, an overall-clad man leaning on a barrel, or the words “Old Country Store.” They also rebelled against the store redesigns.

Cracker Barrel reversed course a week later, saying it would keep its old logo. In early September, the company also suspended the remodeling of its restaurants.