Steak n’ Shake Goes Full MAHA, and Customers Are Eating It Up [WATCH]

Steak n’ Shake has embraced President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement, overhauling ingredients, eliminating microwaves and incorporating patriotic branding as the burger chain reports stronger sales.

The changes include fries cooked in 100% beef tallow, cane sugar Coca-Cola, Grade A Wisconsin butter, and A2 whole milk.

The company has also moved away from seed oils in several products and introduced 100% grass-fed, grass-finished beef burgers nationwide in June.

The changes have accompanied improved financial results for the chain.

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Biglari Holdings, Steak n’ Shake’s parent company, reported that same-store sales for company-operated and franchise partner restaurants combined increased 10.2% in 2025.

Company-operated locations recorded a 10.5% increase.

Chairman and CEO Sardar Biglari said in his annual shareholder letter that 2025 marked a major improvement in the quality of Steak n’ Shake’s products, with the company’s messaging about food quality resonating with customers.

The company generated $22.6 million in pre-tax operating earnings during the year.

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Steak n’ Shake took another step in April by creating the position of Chief MAHA Officer and appointing Michael Boes, who previously served as a senior adviser within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.

The company said the position focuses on nutritional integrity, ingredient transparency and customer health.

“Customers should never have to choose between taste and health, when restaurants commit to both, they serve better food and they build lasting trust,” Boes said.

The company’s changes extend beyond its ingredients. Steak n’ Shake has also removed microwaves from its restaurants as part of a return to more traditional cooking methods.

“Quality restaurants don’t need microwaves. It is part of our journey to improve food quality and use traditional methods of cooking only. Eat Real Food,” the company wrote in a Facebook statement.

Steak n’ Shake has also attracted support from prominent figures associated with Trump and the MAHA movement.

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Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly celebrated Kennedy’s MAHA agenda before her falling out with Trump and posted about eating at the chain.

“I just had a cheeseburger and fries cooked in beef tallow today for lunch! Delicious,” Greene wrote in a post that included a picture of Kennedy visiting a Steak n’ Shake location in Florida.

Elon Musk and Lara Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, have also publicly supported the restaurant chain.

An exchange between Musk and Steak n’ Shake on X was followed by a partnership with Tesla to install Supercharger stations at more than 100 Steak n’ Shake locations across the United States.

Biglari Holdings also referenced the Tesla Supercharger partnership in its annual report.

“The only burger chain in America to switch to 100% Beef Tallow. No chemicals, no preservatives. Just pure quality! That’s called leadership,” Steak n’ Shake wrote on social media.

“And the fries taste way better!” Musk replied.

Lara Trump visited a Steak n’ Shake location during an interview segment in August and spoke with Boes about changes to the menu and federal nutrition guidance.

“We live and exist in a time right now where you finally have transparency in a space where I think for so long people were just kind of blind,” Trump said.

Boes later discussed the interview in a LinkedIn post.

“The media’s embrace of our MAHA changes has been remarkable. I truly enjoyed my conversation with Lara Trump, who is a genuine MAHA mom,” Boes wrote.

The company has paired its menu overhaul with patriotic promotions.

For America’s 250th anniversary, Steak n’ Shake offered milkshakes for $2.50 throughout January.

Another promotion offered the first 10 Tesla guests a free jar of beef tallow and a red hat carrying the slogan “make frying oil tallow again.”

Steak n’ Shake’s broader ingredient changes include eliminating vegetable oil previously used to par-fry its fries and tots before they arrived at restaurants.

The company says its fries and tots are now seed-oil-free and that its beef tallow contains no additives, preservatives or chemicals. It has also replaced a buttery blend containing seed oils on select products with Grade A Wisconsin butter.

The chain’s MAHA approach has generated questions from nutrition experts about whether replacing ingredients such as seed oils substantially changes the health profile of fast food.

“Regardless of how you fry your french fries, they are still fried,” Alison Steiber, chief impact officer for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told The Wall Street Journal.

Despite that debate, Steak n’ Shake has continued expanding the changes.

Its 2025 same-store sales performance was its strongest since 1992, while double-digit same-store sales growth continued into the first quarter of 2026.

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