Steak ‘n Shake’s Bitcoin bet posts double-digit sales growth

According to Steak ‘n Shake, the decision to accept Bitcoin payments has yielded significant results, with franchise partners seeing a 19% increase in sales this quarter alone.

The statement was released in its X post on September 8. While the story sounds great for the popularity of Bitcoin among retailers, it is still just a company announcement. In fact, there is no proof that Bitcoin played an important role in sales growth, as Biglari Holdings’ regulatory filings reported increasing sales without checking how Bitcoin contributed to it.

This distinction is important. In reality, Steak ‘n Shake is conducting a test to find out if old-fashioned retailers can use the advantages of Lightning, cheap processing fees, crypto-friendly customers, and Bitcoin reserves to develop a functioning model for other merchants to follow.

The numbers the company is putting forward

At the Bitcoin 2026 Conference, Michael Boes, Chief MAHA Officer of Steak n’ Shake, described the company’s improving performance since it began accepting Bitcoin with consistent figures of 11% and 15% growth for same-store sales in Q2 2025 and Q3 2025, respectively.

These figures were cited by him in the context of his argument that the chain had experienced a turnaround due to Bitcoin. However, the actual filings of Biglari Holdings provide even more exact, albeit differently categorized, figures.