What Die-Hard Fans Don't Even Know About Steak 'N Shake

If you don't have a Steak 'n Shake near you, you're really missing out. In fact, you might even consider moving. The fast-ish food joint specializes in moth-watering hamburgers — they call them "steakburgers" — and is one of the fastest-growing restaurants in the United States, with over 550 locations in the U.S. They offer both table service and a drive-thru, and the burgers are really on the tip of the iceberg as far as what you can order (seriosuly, they have the best milkshakes on the planet). If you think this is just a new place that popped up out of nowhere, you're thinking of a different place with "shake" in their name. Steak 'n Shake has been around since the 1930s, though weren't as widely known until fairly recently. So what took them so long to make an impact nationally, and what else don't you know about this popular burger joint?

Another Steak 'n Shake slogan flashes in red at every location. It looks like a tricky tongue-twister: Takhomasak. So where did Belt come up with this? Rockybilt, a restaurant in Denver, Colorado, founded in the 1920s, used the slogan "TAK-HOMA-SAK." Say it out loud: Take home a sack, referring to taking a to-go order. This was common phrasing in those days, and many restaurants, including The White Spot, a competitor of Steak 'n Shake in the early days, suggested to "Buy 'em by the sack." Belt just took out the dashes and started using "Takhomasak" as their slogan.

So how long is the wait at Steak 'n Shake? If you're in a hurry, Steak 'n Shake probably isn't your best bet. When the steakburger finally hit New York, people eager to eat what the rest of the country eats found it takes too long. Turns out, the city that does things in a New York minute doesn't have time for a 25-minute wait at lunch. The same problem that caused the Texarkana Steak 'n Shake to try counter service befalls most locations. There are horror stories on the internet of two-hour visits and 25-minute drive-thru experiences. There are no published average wait times available, but according to most online reviews, you better plan on waiting for a while.

Belt expanded his business around the greater Illinois area and kept the company cooking for 20 years. He didn't live long enough to see it fully expand though — he died of a heart ailment at age 59, just outside of St. Louis. The company went to his wife Edith, and she kept things afloat for 15 more years before selling the 50 or so Steak 'n Shakes to a company called Longchamps in 1969. Two years later, Franklin Corporation gobbled up the chain. They expanded the company even further, and by 1975 Steak 'n Shake had 130 locations.

In 1981 E.W. Kelley and associates purchased Steak 'n Shake. They took a look at the history of the company and brought it back to its roots — more or less. The chain took on more of Belt's original concept; a sit-down diner with fresh-cooked meals. You can make the case that it was the constant franchise turnover that expanded the growth — everyone who bought the chain tried to make it bigger and there's no telling where Steak 'n Shake would have gone if it remained family-owned and just in the Midwest.

Some restaurants can't help but to give you enough food to stunt your growth. The shock value meal — something large enough that it drives TV hosts to try and eat it — exists in many popular restaurants. If you think the classic Steak 'n Shake is above that, they're not. The 7x7 is exactly what it sounds like: Seven patties, seven pieces of cheese. That's one full pound of burger! It's advertised as a 'Late night menu' item (read, when you're intoxicated), but any Steak 'n Shake will make it for you, anytime.

As you can guess, it's not exactly the same as eating a salad — 1330 calories are packed into that monster, which isn't that bad when you think about it. But the 98 grams of fat and almost 4500 mg of sodium will keep your cardiologist in business. If your thing is watching people stuff their head holes with food, there are plenty of videos of people eating a 7x7. Some take it on like a traditional burger, while others peal it away and eat it one layer at a time. There's no wrong way to eat it — providing you hit the elliptical for two hours when you're done.

The important thing to remember here is that despite being a chain that falls into the fast food category, Steak 'n Shake isn't fast. Full disclosure — the last time I ate at a Steak 'n Shake, it took an hour to get in and out of there. To expect super-speedy service is asking a lot, but you should at least get handed a menu.

In 2015, four African-American customers entered a Steak 'n Shake in Mount Juliet, Tennessee and sat down. And waited. And waited. No drink order, no menus... nothing. After 25 minutes the four walked out and didn't even get a "see ya'll later!" from the staff. When a local news station interviewed other African-American customers of the same restaurant, they didn't have any complaints. Still, this isn't the first time racism allegations were lobbed at Steak 'n Shake — a former employee accused a Cleveland store of racism, too.