Stars and stripes so towering they’re barely legal, Bitcoin burgers, and MAHA-approved fries — Steak ‘n Shakes’ red, white, and blue blitz is part of its mission to Make Americana Great Again.
The patriotic push is also an extension of the Iranian-born CEO’s own scruples, he tells The Post in an exclusive interview.
“American values and traditions? Of course we are proud of that. Who wouldn’t be?” Sardar Biglari, the elusive Steak ‘n Shake boss, told The Post.
“[My] family came [here] with nothing. I started with nothing but an idea. America is the best country on the planet. You can make dreams become reality so long as you put the effort in.
“Business just happens to be what I love doing,” the CEO said.
His company is currently getting plenty of attention for its trolling of competitor Cracker Barrel — and it’s not exactly a lighthearted slinging of mashed potatoes between them.
Biglari has repeatedly slammed the rustic food chain’s $700 million glow-up this summer where it ditched mascot Uncle Herschel for a sterile, text-only logo and modernist restaurant interiors — quickly igniting a public firestorm which tanked the stock and forced a hasty retreat back to its rustic roots.
“Management knew the customer base wouldn’t care for the changes, but it did them anyway. They sought to destroy the soul of the core brand and replace it with something very different in a long-shot gamble to gain a new demographic,” Biglari said of the fiasco.
The redesign gamble coincided with the company pumping resources into several new, trendier ventures including an urban-centric craft cocktail startup called Punch Bowl Social, which ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2020, and an artisanal muffin shop.
Biglari saw it coming, sounding the alarm a year prior by calling the rebrand “obvious folly.”
“What the Company has been doing with its remodel program is embarking on a strategy to undifferentiate itself — and at a high cost,” he wrote.
The reason Biglari cares so much about a company he sees as his competition is because he has a stake (no shake) in it.
His company, Biglari Holdings, owns 3% of Cracker Barrel — and he’s waged seven proxy battles since 2011 to land a seat on the board, each time unsuccessful. Members have derided him as an “activist investor” and “self-interested.”
He’s got Steak ‘n Shake involved too, selling red, MAGA-style hats that read, “Make Frying Oil Tallow Again,” “Fire Cracker Barrel CEO,” and “Biglari Was Right About Everything,”
He’s also using billboard space to troll Cracker Barrel, with one reading “Fire the CEO” imposed on the failed new logo.
The CEO in question, Julie Felss Masino, isn’t amused.
On Tuesday, at an investing conference in New York, Masino fired back telling attendees she had lunch with her investor at a Cracker Barrel in 2023 and “Mr. Biglari’s playbook…is making many misinformed statements.”
However, Biglari, 48, has a track record of success.
He acquired Steak ‘n Shake in 2008 when it was under severe financial distress—losing $30 million annually.
The following year the burger joint did a one-eighty, generating a daily profit of $100,000. Later it hit financial trouble in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. To bounce back, the restaurant produced a leaner, franchise-heavy model.
“When you are turning around a business, you are a sculptor. When Michelangelo sculpted, he said he saw the angel in the marble and carved until he set him free,” Biglari said.
“It is a simple philosophy. And our customers want authenticity, quality products, great service, and reasonable prices. Nothing complicated,” he added.
“Sophistication lies in doing the simple things very well.”
One of those things is celebrating the US. Steak ‘n Shake —founded in 1934 along Route 66 in Illinois — announced it will install the tallest and largest American flag legally allowed by local ordinance outside each of its 400 stores.
In some locations, those colossal flags lumbering in the breeze will measure between 30×60 feet and 40×80 feet, and placed on 130-foot-tall poles.
“Every Steak n Shake is getting the tallest and biggest American flag that local governments will allow! Steak n Shake proudly supports American values and traditions,” the burger joint posted on X on Oct. 4.
The average US flag people usually fly outside of their home is 3×5 feet on a 20 ft pole while flags flown over the Capitol are 8×12 feet.
In May, Steak ‘n Shake also began accepting Bitcoin at its US locations and this month launched a limited edition Bitcoin burger to celebrate.
Biglari is also in the unique position of being a fast food tycoon in good graces with health and human services secretary RFK Jr., who swung by a Texas Steak ‘n Shake in March to celebrate the company ditching seed oils for beef tallow frying.
“We’re big fans of MAHA and making America healthy again. We want MAHA supporters and parents everywhere to feel good about taking their kids to Steak ‘n Shake,” Biglari told The Post.
The burger boss started his first company at age 18, an internet service provider called INTX.net which he sold for an undisclosed amount in 1999.
He used the proceeds to invest in Friendly’s Ice Cream and dining chain Western Sizzlin Corp., becoming CEO of Western Sizzlin in 2006.
Today Biglari calls his San Antonio-based Biglari Holdings a “museum of businesses.” He also owns oil companies and millions of shares in fast food chain Jack in the Box and luxury car brand Ferrari.
He only knew two words in English when he came to the US as a child: “hi” and “bye,” he tod The Post.
Born in Tehran two years before the Islamic Revolution, his father, Ken Biglari, was a brigadier general in the Imperial Iranian Army under the Shah. The elder Biglari was imprisoned by the new government, but his wife successfully negotiated with the prison guards for his release.
At age seven, while under house arrest, Biglari escaped with his family under the cover of the night and fled to the US, he told The Post.
They settled in San Antonio in 1984 and started a business importing Persian rugs. In contrast to his father, who always maintained a low profile, the restaurateur now installs his signature, “By Biglari,” on Steak ‘n Shake signage and the nameplate of his men’s magazine, Maxim, which he acquired in 2016.
Biglari told The Post he hopes his company’s new franchise model will give people from humble beginnings, like himself, an opportunity to flourish by running his restaurants.
“I am a believer in meritocracy. That is the system we implemented at Steak ‘n Shake, with great success,” he said.
“We are building a business around the principle of equal opportunity. At Steak ‘n Shake, we are building a franchise system that is designed for those long on ability but short on capital. Our system of meritocracy is about placing the right people into positions of power and ownership.”
