Sep 11, 2026 · 21 min
Steak ’n Shake bets its comeback on MAHA politics
The MAHA Shake-Up at Steak ‘n Shake
The chain’s turnaround tests whether ingredient changes and partisan branding can lift sales enough to offset higher costs and political risk.
- 1Steak ’n Shake is recasting its brand around patriotic imagery, beef-tallow fries, and the Make America Healthy Again movement.
- 2Michael Bose gives the overhaul a direct policy connection, drawing on his work at HHS under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- 3Sales are improving, but supply-chain costs, limited profitability, and partisan exposure make Sardar Biglari’s strategy a risky bet.
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The episode reveals how Steak ’n Shake’s appointment of Michael Bose as Chief MAHA Officer turns a restaurant makeover into an explicit political project.
The brief
Steak ’n Shake is pursuing an unusual comeback: patriotic branding, beef-tallow fries, ingredient changes, and promotions aimed at consumers aligned with MAHA.
The strategy comes from owner Sardar Biglari, who is trying to reverse closures and declining sales by tying the chain to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health agenda.
Michael Bose, a former HHS employee recruited as Steak ’n Shake’s Chief MAHA Officer, makes the restaurant’s political and ingredient-focused overhaul unusually explicit.
The health case is unsettled: dietitians question whether animal fats are better, while replacing established vegetable-oil and ingredient supply chains raises costs and logistical hurdles.
Sales are improving, but profitability remains limited; franchisees may welcome the approach when it drives traffic, even as they inherit its branding and political risks.
Featuring
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Listen to the full episode and explore every guest, topic, and moment on PodLume.