Steak 'n Shake Operations, Inc., doing business as Steak 'n Shake, is an American fast food chain concentrated primarily in the Midwestern United States along with locations in the rest of the country plus locations in Western Europe. The company is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Biglari Holdings.
The menu features primarily burgers and hand-dipped milkshakes; other entrees, side items, and drinks are also available. The corporation's slogan, "Famous for Steakburgers," refers to its most prominent food item, the Steakburger. The "steak" in the restaurant name comes from the menu item. Most restaurant locations have a drive-through, in addition to indoor dining.
In 2018, there were 628 Steak 'n Shake restaurants. Of those, 414 were corporate-owned, and 214 franchised. The company has since attempted to convert to a fully franchised model.
In 2021, the company had 536 locations, but the number dropped to 493 by March 31, 2023, according to Biglari Holdings; not all of those were in operation at that time. The company has shifted away from full-service restaurants toward a drive-thru model and kiosk service.
By the end of 2024, the company had 426 company-operated and franchise locations in 26 states plus the District of Columbia. The company had also retreated from many of the states that it had expanded into during the first two decades of the 21st century.
History A. H. "Gus" Belt (born in Jerseyville, Illinois) founded Steak 'n Shake in Normal, Illinois, in February 1934, after serving four years in the United States Marine Corps. He converted the combination gas station and chicken restaurant that he owned (Shell's Chicken) into a hamburger stand.
Steak 'n Shake's slogan, "In Sight, It Must Be Right," originally referred to Belt's practice of wheeling a barrel of T-bone, sirloin, and round steaks into the public area of his restaurant, then grinding them into burgers in front of his customers — it was intended to reassure customers of the product's wholesomeness as at the time, ground beef was still viewed with skepticism by the general public, based on the likelihood of it having impurities deliberately added to it.
It also assured Belt's customers of the veracity of his "Steakburger" claim. Later patrons were assured that Steakburgers were still made from these ingredients "at our own commissary" for shipment to the restaurants, where the open grill line remained "in sight" to customers.
After having success, Belt purchased a chain of Goal Post restaurants throughout central Illinois, converting them to Steak 'n Shakes and added curb service.
The original building at the intersection of Main Street and West Virginia Avenue was damaged by a fire in the early 1960s but was repaired and its dining room expanded. In the late 1990s, Steak 'n Shake sold the building to the Monical's Pizza company.
After Gus Belt Steak 'n Shake continued to expand throughout Illinois following Belt's death on August 20, 1954. Ownership passed through many hands, including Gus's wife Edith, who ran the chain until 1969; Longchamps, Inc., an East Coast steakhouse company that owned the chain from 1969 to 1971; and Indianapolis-based Franklin Corporation, led by Robert Cronin, author of Selling Steakburgers: The Growth of a Corporate Culture. After the acquisition, Franklin moved Steak 'n Shake's headquarters from Normal, Illinois to Indianapolis.
In 1981, Steak 'n Shake and its parent company Franklin were acquired by E. W. Kelley and Associates; the chairman E. W. "Ed" Kelley led the restaurant chain until he died on July 4, 2003.
Under Sardar Biglari Entrepreneur Sardar Biglari took control of Steak 'n Shake in August 2008 after three years of declining same-store sales and losses of $100,000 per day. He led a turnaround which resulted in 24 straight quarters of increases in same-store sales and profits of $100,000 per day. He focused the brand on burgers, fries and milkshakes, reducing the menu from eight pages to a bi-fold. However the chain ran into more problems in 2016 and onward, with revenue declining sharply. Reasons included under-investment in the restaurants after the deep price cuts of 2008; competition from "fast casual" restaurants like Chipotle which aimed for a more high-class experience; and two expensive lawsuits from former managers who accused the chain of misclassifying them as salaried employees and refusing to pay earned overtime.
In 2018, Steak 'n Shake changed its business model to a franchise partner system, with Biglari attempting to turn all of the 400+ company-owned restaurants into franchise operations. Entrepreneurial single-unit operators could take control of an existing Steak 'n Shake for $10,000, an unusually low price, but were required to give the company 50% of the restaurant's profits. Even though it offered the new franchise inducement, the firm remained heavily indebted. As of April 2020, its debt was rated as a low C/D "speculative" grade (colloquially known as junk bonds) by bond rating agencies. The Washington Post considered the chain to be extremely likely to default with a low likelihood of recovering, with the restaurant closings due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States being an unrecoverable blow to the firm.
In 2021, Steak N' Shake made a strategic decision to transition away from casual dining and become a fast food restaurant. Steak 'n Shake replaced lunch counters with self-serve kiosks in 2021 to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The chain estimated that remodeling and adding kiosks to each restaurant would cost between $100,000 and $200,000. Changing the service model allowed a significant reduction of store staff. According to management, the old casual dining model faced the challenge of long food preparation time and a cost structure that required paying wait staff. Long-term strategy is to empower customers to place and pick up their own orders.
In February 2025, Steak N' Shake announced it would start making fries with 100% beef tallow by March 1. This announcement was later praised publicly by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who used it as an example of his "Make America Healthy Again" agenda, although it was criticized by health experts and scientists. In March, Steak N' Shake announced that by April 2, they would switch to 100% Grade A Wisconsin butter to replace their "buttery blend," which contained seed oils.
In May 2025, Steak N' Shake announced it would begin accepting Bitcoin as payment at all U.S. locations, which will eventually include "all international units" at a later date. On May 16, 2025, it began accepting Bitcoin payments at all U.S. locations using the Lightning network.
Locations
The first Steak 'n Shake in the state of Indiana was opened as a drive-in restaurant in Indianapolis in November 1954. As typical for the era it had offered curb (carhop) service in addition to table service and takeout. At the time, Steak 'n Shake had locations in five states.
The Route 66 Steak 'n Shake in Springfield, Missouri (built 1962), was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. (includes 10 photographs from 2011)
The company entered North Carolina opening a franchised location in Greensboro in December 1996.
Steak 'n Shake's first Wisconsin locations were in Racine, Janesville, and Madison in the late 1990s, but all locations closed by 2004. Another franchiser opened locations in Waukesha and Wauwatosa in 2007, but both closed by 2010. The chain has not returned to the state.
After briefly operating a few restaurants in South Texas during the 1970s, Steak 'n Shake returned to Texas by opening locations in the Dallas–Fort Worth area in 2001, in the Houston area in 2012, and in the San Antonio area beginning in 2013. Steak 'n Shake entered South Carolina Carolina opening a location in Greenville in February 2001.
The company entered Oklahoma for the first time by opening a franchise location in Edmond in 2004.
Steak 'n Shake entered West Virginia for the first time by opening a franchise location in Barboursville in August 2007.
Steak 'n Shake opened its first location in Nevada inside the South Point Casino in Las Vegas in July 2010 and a second location in Reno in July 2013. In January 2017, a second Las Vegas location began, the third in Nevada, in the Student Union building on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas followed by a second Reno location, the fourth in Nevada in July 2017. Steak 'n Shake entered Louisiana for the first time by opening a location near Baton Rouge in Covington in 2011. The company first entered Colorado via a franchise in Denver in November 2011 before the parent company took over the Colorado locations after a lengthy lawsuit between the franchisee and the parent company. In January 2012, they opened their first and only location in the state of New York in Manhattan, adjacent to the Ed Sullivan Theater then home to the Late Show with David Letterman. Indiana native David Letterman, an avid Steak 'n Shake fan frequented the location and often talked about it on his show. The location closed in October 2017, ending the chain's five year presence in the state. The first location in New Jersey was opened by a franchise holder in September 2012 in Paramus. At the beginning of 2016, a second and third location in New Jersey were opened by the same franchisee in West Windsor Township and Hamilton Township; both of those locations quietly disappeared within a year. In September 2017, the original Paramus location, the last location in New Jersey, also closed after a five-year struggle to remain in business.
The first Steak 'n Shake location in the state of Arizona was opened in Tempe in October 2013. A second Arizona location was open on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson in July 2017.
The first and only location in the state of Montana and in the upper plain states, was opened in Billings in December 2013. The restaurant was forced to close after two and a half years in July 2016 due to poor sales that were blamed on "harsh reviews on social media".
Steak 'n Shake expanded to California in July 2014 by opening a location in Victorville. A Los Angeles County location was opened in Santa Monica in late October and another in Burbank in December of the same year. After a lack of activity for over a year in the highly competitive California marketplace, the company announced in April 2016 it expected to open its first Orange County location, the fourth in California, in Aliso Viejo in mid-May. After a short delay, a fifth California location was opened behind schedule in Riverside in August 2016. In March 2017, a 6th location opened in Yucca Valley. After 3.5 years of operation, the Victorville location closed abruptly in February 2018 after receiving an eviction notice for failure to pay rent.
In 2015, the company planned a restaurant in Northern California in Campbell, California, but local residents raised issues and the project was postponed. Because of the delay, the first location in Northern California opened instead in Daly City in November 2016. The first Central California location began operating in Fresno in March 2017. A second San Francisco Bay Area restaurant was opened on the campus of San Jose State University in July 2017. After a two-year delay, the company opened their Campbell location in September 2017. After four months of operation, the Daly City location closed as well as the Campbell location in January 2018. This left the San Jose location on the campus of SJSU as the only store in the Bay Area. After 10 months of operation, the lone Central California location in Fresno also closed in January 2018.