Food & Beverage · registry year 2024 · HQ IN
Steak 'n Shake Franchise
A Biglari Holdings brand operating in the food & beverage sector, franchising since 1939. According to the 2024 FDD filing for Steak 'n Shake, this is an editorial comparison record; it does not reproduce the brand's current FDD.
- $188K – $838K
- Initial investment · Mid-range entry cost
- 15.0%
- Royalty rate · Above-average royalty
- 460
- Total locations · Mid-size network
FDD outlay schedule
Registry steak-n-shake Steak 'n Shake
Steak 'n Shake needs $188K–$838K to open and charges a 15.0% royalty - an entry cost below the typical food & beverage franchise.
- LO $188K
- HI $838K
- FEE $10K
- ROY 15.0%
- UNT 460
- I19 Silent
- INV# #111/223
- UNT# #148/223
Same-sector Item 7 peers
Nearest Item 7 peer: Auntie Anne's ($191K)
Same-sector Item 7 neighbourhood for Steak 'n Shake (registry year 2024). Listed lows only - not a profit, cost-of-living, or suitability claim. Verify the current FDD before relying on these figures. How we place brands →
Franchise Opportunity Health Score
How healthy and transparent Steak 'n Shake's franchise system looks, from 2 of 2 tracked dimensions.
- Network momentum 0.0% net unit growth (YoY) 21/100 · F
- Financial disclosure Item 19 not disclosed 0/100 · F
Benchmarked against the 223-brand tracked corpus (p10-p90 range per dimension); a higher score means a growing unit count and a disclosed Item 19. See how we place brands.
Where Steak 'n Shake's investment ranks nationally
Steak 'n Shake's listed Item 7 low of $188K against every one of the 218 tracked franchise brands with a disclosed initial investment. Listed figures only, verify in the current FDD before relying on them.
Steak 'n Shake vs all tracked franchise brands by listed investment
Initial investment low (FDD Item 7), PlainFranchise brand corpus
$188,420 Lower than most lower than 50% of 218 franchise brands
Franchise brands, banded by listed Item 7 low
Each bar is a $0.001K-wide band; taller bars hold more franchise brands. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainFranchise editorial comparison registry · 2024-12-31
Investment Overview
- Franchise Fee
- $10K
Revenue Data (Item 19)
Item 19 Not Disclosed
This franchisor did not provide financial performance data in their FDD. This is common, disclosure is optional.
Network Size & Growth
Net Growth Rate
Year-over-year unit change
Quick Facts
- Sector
- Food & Beverage
- Subsector
- quick service restaurant
- Founded
- 1934
- Franchising Since
- 1939
- Headquarters
- IN
- FDD Year
- 2024
- Item 19
- Not Disclosed
Important Notice · Steak 'n Shake
This Steak 'n Shake page is a registry comparison record, not a verified FDD extract. It does not establish suitability, operating costs, profitability, or expected results for Steak 'n Shake.
What the Steak 'n Shake FDD reveals
Signature read: 460 locations · Item 7 low $188K
Steak 'n Shake, a Biglari Holdings franchise, has been franchising since 1939 - 5 years after the concept was founded in 1934 , currently with 460 total locations (140 franchised, 320 company-owned; 30% of the recorded total is franchised) in the food & beverage sector, headquartered in IN. This editorial registry lists a total initial investment from $188K to $838K, using the registry's listed low and high fields. The registry records a separate franchise-fee field of $10K and does not list every Item 7 component in this summary.
Royalty payments here are set at 15.0% of gross sales. Steak 'n Shake has no Item 19 financial-performance field in this registry; the FTC Franchise Rule does not require that disclosure.
The reported total is a net measure, not a complete account of individual unit changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a Steak 'n Shake franchise cost?
How many Steak 'n Shake locations are there?
What are the ongoing fees for a Steak 'n Shake franchise?
Related reading for Steak 'n Shake: How to Evaluate a Franchise , Steak 'n Shake has no Item 19 in this registry, diligence without a financial performance representation.
Snapshot uses the registry's listed Item 7 initial-investment low and Item 20 location-count fields. It is a descriptive comparison, not a ranking or investment recommendation.
How Steak 'n Shake's Item 7 and Item 19 fields are labeled (expand)
Nationwide brands with similar investment or network size
Two data-derived peer sets for Steak 'n Shake , both outside HQ state IN : nearest Item 7 lows and nearest total-location counts, not the same-sector roster below.
Similar listed investment
Nearest Item 7 lows ($188K here).
Similar network size
Nearest total location counts (460 here).
What to do with this
Steak 'n Shake at a glance, drawn from the same figures above.
- Steak 'n Shake scores 11/100 (F) on our composite opportunity read, combining net unit growth and Item 19 financial-disclosure transparency.
- Its $188K – $838K entry cost runs below the typical food & beverage franchise.
- Ranks #111 of 223 listed franchises by initial investment. See rankings
- Auntie Anne's sits at a comparable investment level ($191K) in the same sector. Compare
Editorial comparison registry, not a source-linked FDD record. Verify the current FDD before relying on any figure.
Read our methodology - what this registry can and cannot establish.
Source: PlainFranchise editorial registry Record-level FDD source link and retrieval date pending
| Publisher | PlainFranchise |
| Sources | Public state franchise disclosure registries and FDD filings |