Steak’ n Shake says US same-store sales jumped about 16% in July and wants Bitcoin to share the credit. However, one figure remains conspicuously absent: how many customers actually used it.
So, is the PR attached to Bitcoin now worth more than the chain itself?
In a July 10 post, the burger chain said its month-to-date increase came on top of about 16% growth in the comparable period a year earlier. It thanked loyal patrons and Bitcoiners, said Bitcoin payments save money compared with credit cards, and said those savings were being reinvested in healthier ingredients.
The 16% growth figure comes from Steak’ n Shake. Yet the company has not revealed how many customers paid with Bitcoin, how much they spent, or what share of orders used BTC.
Without those numbers, there is no way to separate Bitcoin’s effect from the pull of the campaign itself, price changes, promotions, menu updates, or shifts in the restaurant mix.
The company posted,
Anyone who doubts the power of Bitcoin is making a BIG mistake.
The company’s fee claim stops at the transaction level
Steak ’n Shake began accepting Bitcoin at U.S. locations in May 2025. It later said it was adding the Bitcoin it received to a strategic reserve. Those moves made Bitcoin part of the brand and a checkout option.
Bitcoin can draw customers through the door even when few pay with it, while every Bitcoin order may cost less to process. The missing number is the amount of business that actually moves through it.
As of July 16, Steak’ n Shake still has not revealed any Bitcoin info on order numbers, how much those orders were worth, or how much it actually saved on fees. It also offered no store-level data showing whether customers returned to pay with Bitcoin or how promotions shaped adoption. That gap prevents measurement of the size of any payment-driven effect.
At the Bitcoin 2026 conference, Steak’ n Shake executive Michael Boes said Bitcoin transactions cost the chain roughly 50% less to process than traditional card transactions. He also said the company would save about $6 million a year if every credit-card customer switched to Bitcoin.
Boes also said Steak’ n Shake’s total customer count had increased by roughly 2 million year over year after the Bitcoin rollout. The presentation did not identify those customers as Bitcoin payers or disclose a method for attributing their visits to the payment option.
The company’s Bitcoin payment terms do add useful detail. Menu prices remain denominated in U.S. dollars, checkout uses a third-party Bitcoin payment provider, and Steak’ n Shake says it adds no Bitcoin payment fee. Customers may still face wallet, network, conversion, or exchange-rate costs.
So, the evidence supports a potential merchant cost advantage for orders paid in Bitcoin, but does not indicate whether enough orders use the rail to produce material savings.
Sales were already rising amid a wider overhaul
Biglari Holdings, Steak’ n Shake’s parent company, reported growth before the July claim. Its first-quarter filing showed 10% domestic same-store sales growth and about 13% growth at franchise-partner restaurants for the period ended March 31.
Those earlier figures establish that the company’s sales recovery was already underway.
First-quarter restaurant marketing expense rose to $5.427 million from $3.232 million a year earlier, an increase of about 67.9%. Company-store food cost rose to 31.4% of net sales from 30.0%, primarily because of the switch to 100% beef tallow.
The restaurant base changed, too. On March 31, Steak’ n Shake had 128 company-operated units, down from 146 a year earlier. Franchise-partner units increased to 182 from 172, while traditional franchise units fell to 96 from 104.
Biglari’s 2025 shareholder letter reported 10.2% annual same-store sales growth and credited product quality, an earlier point-of-sale and kiosk overhaul, productivity improvements, and the owner-operator model. It did not mention Bitcoin.
Promotions surrounded the July reporting period. Steak’ n Shake advertised two Liberty Meals for $17.76 throughout July and free Tesla Tallow Tots. It announced free fries without purchase for July 10 only hours before publishing the sales claim, although the company did not specify the precise data cutoff behind that claim.
That uncertainty is why the Bitcoin claim needs guardrails. Marketing, value positioning, menu publicity, promotions, operating changes, and the franchise mix can interact with Bitcoin branding and payment acceptance.
During an r/Bitcoin discussion, a customer said that Bitcoin acceptance prompted their first visit. Commenters there and in a skeptical r/Buttcoin thread also pointed to affordability, menu appeal, store closures, consumer trade-down, and potentially low Bitcoin usage. The comments are anecdotes, but they illustrate how Bitcoin can attract a customer and strengthen a brand without showing how many purchases used Bitcoin.
The disclosure test for the next merchant
If Steak’ n Shake wants other Main Street merchants to treat its strategy as a growth model, the next disclosure needs to connect adoption to outcomes.
The essential figures are Bitcoin order count and share, Bitcoin sales value, and actual aggregate fee savings. Store and cohort comparisons would show whether locations with more Bitcoin activity performed differently. Repeat behavior would distinguish one-time curiosity from durable use. Promotion and discount data would help separate payment adoption from incentives.
The numbers should reveal whether Bitcoin is bringing customers through the door, cutting payment costs, or doing both. Comparing them with marketing spend, prices, traffic, margins, menu changes, and franchise performance would show how much of the growth Bitcoin can actually explain.
For now, Steak’ n Shake has reported strong same-store sales growth and described a per-transaction cost advantage for Bitcoin. If Bitcoin transactions materially helped July growth, then sharing those numbers would be the next logical step for the company, which is clearly bullish on Bitcoin.
