Steak ‘n Shake’s footprint continues to slim as the company transforms across multiple fronts. The brand closed 11 franchised stores and two company-run (it also transitioned three corporate units to franchise-partner models) as it exited the first quarter of 2023 with 493 restaurants. Steak ‘n Shake had 626 locations at the end of 2018.
Company operated:
- December 31, 2021: 199
- March 31, 2022: 184
- December 31, 2022: 177
- March 31, 2023: 172
Franchise partner
- December 31, 2021: 159
- March 31, 2022: 171
- December 31, 2022: 175
- March 31, 2023: 178
Traditional franchise
- December 31, 2021: 178
- March 31, 2022: 179
- December 31, 2022: 154
- March 31, 2023: 143
Yearly total:
- Current: 493
- 2022: 506
- 2021: 536
- 2020: 556
- 2019: 610
- 2018: 626
- 2017: 615
- 2016: 590
- 2015: 561
- 2014: 540
- 2013: 519
- 2012: 497
- 2011: 489
- 2010: 483
- 2009: 485
- 2008: 498
Parent company Biglari Holdings also noted, as of March 31, 36 of its 172 company-operated stores were closed. Steak ‘n Shake has contracted to sell seven of the 36. An additional 17 are listed with brokers for lease or sale, and Steak ‘n Shake plans to refranchise the remaining closed company-operated units.
In Q1, the brand reopened two stores and sold one property. All were closed as of December 31, 2022.
READ MORE: Inside Steak ‘n Shake’s Winding Road Back
The “franchise partner” transition is part of the company’s 2018-launched plan to sell corporate units to single-unit operators for $10,000 upfront. Steak ‘n Shake constructs the site, pays for equipment, and assesses a fee of up to 15 percent of sales as well as 50 percent of profits. The overarching goal, the company said previously, being “to harness the power of entrepreneurs and to create a company of owners.” Or, as Steak ‘n Shake explained, “achieve operational uniformity by marshaling the efforts and strengths of entrepreneurs.”
The brand also flipped over to a kiosk-driven counter-service model coming out of the pandemic. It took about $50 million in capital outlay to do so, everything from interior remodels to a new point-of-sale to self-order kiosks.
Q1 net sales for Biglari Holdings’ restaurant division, which includes 36-unit Western Sizzlin, were $36,894, a decrease of $1,322 or 3.5 percent compared to 2022. The decrease in revenue of company-owned restaurants was primarily due to the shift of company units to franchise partner units.
