Steak n Shake By Biglari
Bottom line
- Total investment $316K – $2.7M including a $25K franchise fee, 4.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.8M/year (median $1.7M). Estimated payback in 3.9 years.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 52/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 27 loans (below the industry average).
- System contracting at -13.1% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one Steak n Shake By Biglari unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
21%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Steak n Shake By Biglari units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
29.5%
3.65× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.73×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$9.0M
on $20.0M purchase
Total debt
$11.0M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate casual dining restaurants serving premium steakburgers, hand-dipped milkshakes, and American comfort food in a counter-service or table-service hybrid model. Daily operations include food prep, inventory management, staffing, and compliance with corporate pricing/promotion policies while managing customer-facing service in a branded steakhouse environment.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 17 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Steak n Shake franchising shows high-risk contraction with adversarial litigation history, unverified earnings claims, and potential franchisor financial instability masking deteriorating unit economics.
Score breakdown · what drove the 52 / 100 rating
- 01MEDSystem contracting sharply (-8.9% YoY unit decline) signals franchisee dissatisfaction or unsustainable unit economics
- 02HIGHMultiple litigation cases involving breach of contract, fiduciary duty, and fraud allegations indicate adversarial franchisor-franchisee relationship
- 03MEDNo Item 19 (Financial Performance Representation) disclosed despite $386K average net income claim, preventing verification of earnings
- 04MINOR5% combined royalty + licensing fees on $1.8M revenue creates $91K+ annual burden; sustainability questionable given declining unit count
- 05HIGHGoing Concern = False suggests parent company (Biglari Holdings) or franchise entity has solvency/operational concerns affecting support
- 06HIGHLitigation pattern shows enforcement of pricing/promotion policies and termination disputes, indicating franchisor control conflicts
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
92 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Steak n Shake By Biglari · FDD (2025) PDF