American fast food chain Steak ‘n Shake is now accepting payments in Bitcoin

American fast-food chain Steak ‘n Shake has announced it will begin accepting Bitcoin payments at all of its US locations starting May 16. The Indianapolis-based food business will become one of the first nationwide fast-food franchises to fully adopt Bitcoin for daily retail transactions.

The announcement came via the company’s official social media channels earlier this week, confirming that all of its 393 restaurants across America will allow customers to purchase their signature steak burgers and milkshakes using the world’s largest crypto by market cap. 

The company has not yet revealed which payment provider or conversion mechanism it will use to process transactions.

In the official statement, Steak ‘n Shake wrote: “Steak n Shake is accepting Bitcoin payments at all locations, making the crypto available to our more than 100 million customers. The movement is just beginning.”

Crypto payment launch after months of teasers

The fast food chain company’s campaign to integrate Bitcoin payments began subtly in March 2025, when Steak ‘n Shake posted a question on social media asking followers: “Should Steak ‘n Shake accept Bitcoin?” The post caught the attention of several crypto supporters, including ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who responded to the query saying “Yes.”

yes

— jack (@jack) March 7, 2025

Since then, the brand has leaned heavily into crypto culture, sharing content with digital currency themes mixed with pop culture and science fiction. 

On March 13, Steak ‘n Shake shared an image of a Mars-bound cargo ship bearing the Bitcoin logo, seemingly referencing Elon Musk’s ambitions to “move to mars,” and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s public endorsement of beef tallow, an ingredient linked with its classic preparation methods.

Steak ‘n Shake operates 393 locations across the US, with approximately 20% of those, 79 stores, located in Florida, according to retail data aggregator ScrapeHero. 

According to the most recent annual report from Biglari Holdings, Steak ’n Shake’s parent company, which also owns Western Sizzlin, Maxim Magazine, and several other businesses in insurance, oil, and gas, its number of eateries dropped by more than 200 since 2018. At its peak that year, the chain operated 626 restaurants; by last year, that figure had fallen.

In its latest quarterly filing, Biglari Holdings revealed that Steak ’n Shake’s pretax earnings for the year came in just over $20 million, reportedly falling 20% short of internal targets. 

Fast food entities mull crypto adoption with crypto payment services

Steak ‘n Shake joins several other food chains that have experimented with crypto payments over the past decade, but have often limited the rollout or limited what items can be paid for using digital currencies.

In 2021, Starbucks allowed customers to reload their digital Starbucks cards using Bitcoin via the Bakkt app. The feature converted Bitcoin to US dollars before the funds reached the coffee giant, meaning the company itself did not hold or process Bitcoin directly.

Chipotle also integrated crypto payments in 2022 by partnering with Flexa, a digital payments platform, to accept more than 90 tokens across hundreds of its US locations. Like Starbucks, the system used automatic conversion into fiat currency.

Subway was one of the earliest mainstream food brands to embrace Bitcoin. As far back as 2013, select franchise locations began accepting the crypto in pilot programs.

In Venezuela, where hyperinflation has devalued the local bolívar, Burger King briefly partnered with Latin American crypto firm Cryptobuyer in 2020 to trial Bitcoin and other altcoin payments at some of its locations. The effort was short-lived, largely due to operational and regulatory bumps imposed by the local government. 

The US-based food company also piloted a service in Paris, France, through a partnership with Binance Pay and Alchemy Pay, back in March 2023. 

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