Steak ‘n Shake has been a restaurant that I have frequently visited many times in my adult life. The restaurant chain, which came into existence in 1934 in Normal, Illinois, eventually expanded throughout large portions of the Midwest, and even into the Deep South… where my first experience with the chain occurred as a kid in the early 1980s just outside of Atlanta. The chain mostly disappeared from sight for a while in Atlanta, so it wasn’t until college that I came across the chain again… This time in northern Indiana. My first real adult memory of Steak ‘n Shake occurred as I was visiting my sister Sheri at her home, just east of Mishawaka, Indiana. I remembered getting a steak burger with fries and vegetable beef soup. It was like comfort food to me.
Over the years when I would visit my parents down in Georgia, I would occasionally visit the Steak ‘n Shake that had opened in my hometown around the turn of the century. My favorite sandwich was the triple steak burger. There would also be multiple Steak ‘n Shakes in route from Baltimore to Atlanta and back. As a result, there were several opportunities to enjoy the restaurant… Even though there were not any Steak ‘n Shakes within about 350 miles of Baltimore at the time.
As I got married and had a family of my own, we would occasionally drive to Georgia and I would introduce them to the restaurant. By all accounts, they loved the place. Soon work trips to North Carolina would give me additional chances to go visit Steak ‘n Shake. I also learned that the restaurant was getting closer to Baltimore as they opened up a place between Richmond and Washington DC. Then I heard the news that I was waiting for: Steak ‘n Shake was finally coming to Maryland and coming to a place near where I lived.
When Steak ‘n Shake finally opened in Maryland in 2015, the drive-thru was swamped with customers like myself who wanted to reexperience what a steak burger was like. In time the crowds died down, and that gave us an opportunity to finally eat in the restaurant. I was so happy that they were there.
But behind the growth and expansion of Steak ‘n Shake, they lurked dark problems. For one thing, their financial situation had been bad for many years. Despite growth in profits from 2008 to 2016, the restaurant had failed to keep up with the changing demands of the public. Starting in 2016, those changing demands finally hit home. Competition from places like Chipotle and Culver’s started eating away at Steak ‘n Shake’s demand. Steak ‘n Shake would make a fateful decision in 2018 making all of their restaurants franchise owned. Around that time, the owner of Maryland’s only Steak ‘n Shake ran into serious financial problems, and the restaurant was closed for about a year. Then came the pandemic… Which really hurt Steak ‘n Shake. It appeared that the restaurant would be a major casualty of the pandemic. Then Steak ‘n Shake made a number of additional fateful decisions. In 2021, they decided to go away from the fast casual restaurant model… And become a fast food restaurant. Also, Steak ‘n Shake got rid of the cashiers for dining in and went to all touchscreen kiosks for customers to place their orders. Steak ‘n Shake would also simplify their menu and got rid of several things that made the place unique. The results would further damage the restaurant chain.
I had noticed for many years going into Steak ‘n Shake that very few of them were crowded. I wondered if the restaurant could stay in business if they weren’t drawing more people to it. The answer to that thought came in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. Steak ‘n Shake franchisees began shutting down across the east coast of the United States. States like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware… and yes, even my current state of Maryland, closed up all Steak ‘n Shakes. In fact, the first Steak ‘n Shake I would run into while driving to Atlanta would be in the Charlotte Metro area… Over 450 miles away from Baltimore.
Today, Steak ‘n Shake is now only available in 22 states. And while there are still numerous locations across states like Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Georgia, and Florida, the restaurant has declined. New burger restaurants have begun to expand. Culver’s has been a continuing thorn in the side of Steak ‘n Shake. But it is another chain of steak burger restaurants called Freddy’s, that has really been a thorn in Steak ‘n Shake’s side. Freddy’s is in a lot more locations and is now going into Steak ‘n Shake’s turf.
It is clear that Steak ‘n Shake needs to do something to shake up interest in their restaurants. What they have decided to do is take a huge gamble based on the politics of the day.
With the return of Donald Trump to the White House, Robert F Kennedy Jr… a man who does not believe in the conventional ways of keeping people healthy… has become the health and human services secretary. Among the things that RFK2 opposes is using seed oil for fast food fryers. He has claimed that beef tallow is actually healthier. He has no proof of this, but that hasn’t stopped him from projecting this theory onto the American landscape. And Steak ‘n Shake has noticed. On March 1, Steak ‘n Shake became the first American chain in several years to reintroduce beef tallow grease for fryer usage across all their restaurants. In addition, Steak ‘n Shake just announced that they were switching to pure butter instead of a buttery blend for their sandwiches (which included seed oils) and intend to have that at all their restaurants by April 2. In a recent interview on Fox, RFK2 went to a Steak ‘n Shake to promote the restaurants efforts with beef tallow in what amounted to an infomercial for the chain. As a result, many allies of President Donald Trump have gone on social media to sing the praises of Steak ‘n Shake’s change.
What does this mean for the future of Steak ‘n Shake? It could possibly mean a short-term boost in sales as allies of the president could convince his voting base in the 22 states that do have Steak ‘n Shake restaurants to go and visit. However, the long-term effects are likely unstable at best. If customers do not think the latest change makes their fries or onion rings, or chicken tenders taste better, it could be the last gasps of a dying restaurant chain that will eventually join the likes of Sambo‘s, Howard Johnson’s, Burger Chef, and many other chains. Only time will tell if Steak ‘n Shake’s latest gamble will work.
The next time that my family will have an opportunity to visit a Steak ‘n Shake will be in late June, when my family will go on a road trip to SW Ohio. Will we seek out the chance to visit Steak ‘n Shake with all these changes? We shall see.