What Sardar Biglari needs to fix to save Steak n Shake
The hedge fund manager, who gained control of the Indianapolis-based chain a decade ago, is facing challenges on many fronts—from declining customer traffic to a looming loan maturity.
Sardar Biglari
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A hard-to-digest reality: Steak n Shake might not make it
The outlook is that bad for Steak n Shake, which in the first quarter racked up an $18.9 million operating loss. That’s on top of a $10.7 million loss for all of 2018.
Biglari says Steak n Shake turnaround to start with speedy service
What's wrong with Steak n Shake? Sardar Biglari says a key problem is a failure to upgrade kitchen equipment and design, leaving the chain with “high-cost, labor intensive, slow service.”
Shareholders of Steak n Shake’s parent wrapping up brutally bad year
The value of Biglari Holdings shares have slid since the company at Sardar Biglari's behest adopted a dual-class stock structure in May.
Biglari Holdings shares tumble after restructuring boosts CEO’s grip on company
The parent of Steak n Shake will create two classes of stock, allowing Sardar Biglari to make acquisitions without diluting his voting control.
Biglari says higher prices wouldn’t fix Steak n Shake, but not everyone agrees
A franchisee says Sardar Biglari's devotion to low prices is taking a toll on the customer experience at Steak n Shake.
Biglari works his critics into an uproar—again
Sardar Biglari might talk a good game about being a champion of shareholders, but his biggest critics view him as a hypocrite—thanks to a series of moves that furthered his control over the business, the latest of which has spurred one lawsuit and seems sure to spark others.
Has Steak n Shake’s value pricing become detriment?
Sardar Biglari racked up 29 quarters of consecutive same-store sales gains before the current cold streak hit.
Steak n Shake results lost some sizzle in 2016
Same-stores sales for the burger chain dropped for the first time since 2008. Profit and customer traffic also fell.
Biglari’s Maxim saga drenched with drama, red ink
A former employee alleges that Sardar Biglari insisted Maxim devote 50 pages of the December/January issue to Monaco, where he spends significant time, and include features on his favorite cigar shop and on David Letterman, part-owner of the race team Steak n Shake sponsors.
Biglari’s Buffett-style shareholder letters colorful, ‘odd’
"In a world filled with hyper-orthodoxy, Biglari Holdings represents an oasis of unconventionality," Sardar Biglari said in his latest letter to shareholders. "We follow our own individualistic ideas and ideals rather than find refuge in the superficial conventions and conformity.”
Steak n Shake ups ante in cheap-food strategy
The burger chain in November announced that it recorded a 3 percent increase in same-store sales in the third quarter. It was the 27th quarter in a row in which same-store sales rose compared with the same period a year earlier—a stunning run of success in the topsy-turvy world of restaurants.
Steak n Shake’s Biglari set to become editor of Maxim
Sardar Biglari, CEO of the investment company that owns Indianapolis-based Steak n Shake, is expected to become editor-in-chief of Maxim, according to a report by Politco, taking control after a high-profile effort to revamp the magazine proved unsuccessful.
How Biglari shielded himself from another proxy battle
Sardar Biglari was able to use shareholder money to boost his voting power to nearly 50 percent.
Irrepressible Biglari runs a meeting like no one else
Sardar Biglari fielded questions from shareholders until they ran out of things to ask. He talked about the smallest details of the company’s businesses, from the way Steak n Shake makes its milkshakes to the number of ad pages its men’s magazine, Maxim, sells.
Activists fell 270,000 votes short of snaring Biglari board seat
The parent of Steak n Shake has disclosed the vote tally from the April 9 annual meeting, where all six incumbents won re-election.
Biglari sticks it to critics after shareholder victory
Sardar Biglari conceded nothing after beating back a campaign to oust him and the five other directors of Biglari Holdings Inc., which owns Steak n Shake.
Shareholder coup of Steak n Shake parent firm fails
A Minnesota-based investment group that for months has been waging a campaign to oust Sardar Biglari from atop Steak n Shake’s parent company weathered a resounding defeat Thursday afternoon.
Advisory firm: Current Biglari board must go
Groveland Capital's push to oust Sardar Biglari from Steak n Shake's parent will come to a head Thursday. A prominent billionaire investor is poised to back the effort.
Steak n Shake parent wins court victory amid proxy challenge
Biglari Holdings Inc. has won a major legal victory as a separate fight with a dissident shareholder turns personal.