Steak 'n Shake Operations, Inc., doing business as Steak 'n Shake, is an American casual restaurant chain concentrated primarily in the Midwestern United States with locations also in the South, Mid-Atlantic, Western United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

The menu features primarily burgers and hand-dipped milkshakes; other entrees, side items, and drinks are also available.

[2] 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[2]—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 its having impurities deliberately added to it.

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[when?]

[2] 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.

[1] Ownership passing 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[8] to 1971;[9] and Indianapolis-based Franklin Corporation, led by Robert Cronin, author of Selling Steakburgers: The Growth of a Corporate Culture.

[2] 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.

[13] 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.

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.

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.

The Route 66 Steak 'n Shake in Springfield, Missouri (built 1962), was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

[29] Steak 'n Shake entered West Virginia for the first time by opening a franchise location in Barboursville in August 2007.

In January 2012, they opened their first and only location in the state of New York on Manhattan,[39] 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.

[47] 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".

[49][50] A Los Angeles County location was opened in Santa Monica in late October[51][52] and another in Burbank in December of the same year.

[53] After a lack of activity for over a year in the highly competitive Californian 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.

[citation needed] After 3.5 years of operation, the Victorville location closed abruptly in February 2018 after receiving an eviction notice for failure to pay rent.

[69] The location finally closed in January 2018 after the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County seized the restaurant for non-payment on loans and taxes.

[79] In December 2013, Steak 'n Shake opened a corporate office in Monte Carlo, Monaco, to support its expansion in West Asia and Europe.

[80] In October 2012, Steak 'n Shake announced its first international expansion agreement with plans to open forty locations in the United Arab Emirates.

[111] Steak 'n Shake filed suit against Denver franchisees Larry and Christopher Baerns in July 2013 over the same issues, with a counterclaim soon after.

[114] 286 managers in the St. Louis area filed and won a lawsuit against Steak 'n Shake on grounds that they were misclassified as exempt employees unable to earn overtime.