In recent years, the fast-food burger chain Steak n Shake has increasingly embraced the MAGA movement.
The company has gone full MAHA, or Make America Healthy Again, by starting to cook its fries in beef tallow, to avoid seed oils, while having recently appointed a “chief MAHA officer.” It is now serving buns made with butter and Coca-Cola with cane sugar. It has hosted U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy.
It has a popular and active account on the social media site X, where it uses AI-generated art and a lot of American flags to push its MAHA and patriotic credentials. It started flying 100-foot flags outside its restaurants. It posts pictures of Tesla cars outside its restaurants and has started adding Tesla Superchargers to its locations.
Republican politicians, such as Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, post videos of themselves dining at one of the chain’s restaurants.
But the company this week took this one, big step further. Steak n Shake on Wednesday endorsed – their word, not ours – Ohio Republican Congressional candidate Derek Marrin, who posted a video of himself in front of one of the chain’s food trailers.
Steak n Shake is proud to formally endorse @DerekMerrin for Congress for Ohio's 9th Congressional District! 🇺🇸
— Steak 'n Shake (@SteaknShake) September 9, 2026
Derek Merrin supports the MAHA movement's efforts to clean up the American food supply. He is committed to fighting for lower food costs by cutting red tape for local… https://t.co/DtRTB0TB2M
And then Steak n Shake did it again, on Thursday endorsing Republican Ohio Senate candidate Jon Husted. Steak n Shake blasted the Democrat in the race, Sherrod Brown, for “supporting extreme federal spending that fueled the inflation crisis, driving up grocery prices for every Ohio family.”
Husted, like Marrin, posted a video of himself in front of the Steak n Shake trailer, where there is a large sign touting its beef tallow fries.
Steak n Shake is proud to announce its endorsement of Senator @JonHusted for U.S. Senate! 🇺🇸🍔
— Steak 'n Shake (@SteaknShake) September 10, 2026
We stand with Husted because he champions the #MAHA movement to clean up the American food supply chain and lower the cost for consumers.
Meanwhile, his opponent, Sherrod Brown, has a… https://t.co/E9dGl6VRwj
Now there is nothing illegal about a company endorsing candidates. Federal elections rules give companies the right to do such things.
Plenty of companies and their principals donate money to political candidates, either directly or through corporate political action committees. More than a few restaurant industry founders and CEOs have held lofty positions in state and federal government, such as Famous Dave’s founder Dave Anderson, former CKE Restaurants CEO Andy Puzder, or Tilman Fertitta, currently the ambassador to Italy.
But it’s rare for companies, especially publicly traded companies, to publicly endorse political candidates. Steak n Shake is part of Biglari Holdings, which is publicly traded.
Privately held companies are more likely to get into the endorsement game, such as outdoor gear company Patagonia and the ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s, which have both endorsed Democrats. Yet for the most part, companies work through associations and other entities to do their political bidding.
Biglari Holdings is controlled by Sardar Biglari, the company’s chairman. Biglari has donated to political committees aligned with President Trump. He has also donated $205,000 to Republican politicians in Texas, according to federal elections records.
Biglari has increasingly leveraged his holdings to support Trump and other Republicans. In 2024, his Maxim Magazine endorsed Trump in the presidential election.
This has certainly worked for Steak n Shake. Since embracing MAHA and bitcoin, the burger chain’s same-store sales have soared, including 11.9% in the second quarter.
The company does not provide regular earnings calls, rarely does interviews, and for years stopped reporting same-store sales altogether until those sales turned strongly positive. But the chain for a time had flirted with bankruptcy after a years-long push to keep prices low despite rising inflation.
Yet in focusing more on quality, and providing a marketing boost in the process, has helped lure in customers to its restaurants, even as traditional franchisees continue to close doors, including four closures last quarter.
Given its clear embrace of Republican politics, endorsing candidates seems like the next logical step, even if it is unprecedented.
Steak n Shake’s endorsement is hardly a game changer in any of these races, given its now-clear political leanings and the fact that it remains a largely regional chain, with 417 locations. Biglari is making a bet that his chain can keep getting bigger by attaching itself firmly to Republican politics.
That may work for a time. But there’s a reason companies themselves try and avoid politics: They presumably want to attract all kinds of people to their restaurants, not just those wearing red or blue on their shirtsleeves.
Our politicians change every couple of years while movements come and go. Hitching your trailer to one group or another may work for now. But it is not a wise long-term growth strategy.