In Sight, It Must Be Right

Before we completely leave the world of "regional fast food chains," I feel obliged to type a few words about good old Steak 'n Shake. Founded in 1934 in Normal, IL, S'nS now operates more than 400 restaurants in 20 states. They are concentrated in the Midwest and Southeast. For the fiscal year ended 9/28/05, they had over $600 million in sales.

Here's the location breakdown:

Alabama (5), Arkansas (1), Florida (79), Georgia (24), Illinois (65), Indiana (67), Iowa (4), Kansas (4), Kentucky (15), Michigan (21), Mississippi (1), Missouri (56), North Carolina (8), Oklahoma (4), Ohio (61), Pennsylvania (5), South Carolina (2), Tennessee (16), and Texas (18). [Their website claims Wisconsin as well. However, they have nothing from Wisconsin set up in their locator function.]

Now, Steak 'n Shake would certainly take issue with my classification of them as "fast food." After all, they have servers to seat you, take your order, and deliver it to your table on real (breakable) plates, with drinks in glasses (not paper cups). Heck, they even give you metal knives, forks and spoons. They would call themselves "casual dining." The thing is, there's that pesky drive-thru window. And, while they are approaching Chili's, Applebee's, etc. in their pricing, their main competition is still probably McDonald's, Wendy's, and the like.

Hey, I worked there for 4 years. No matter how much we tried to emphasize the "made-to-order" aspect, people were constantly bitching about the slow service. Well, it was slow compared to McD's. But, generally, it was pretty fast compared to Applebee's. So, that told me # 1: serving people food really sucks, and # 2: the general public's perception is "presence of a drive thru = fast food". Even when the bastards came inside, sat down, had their order taken, and drinks delivered in real glasses, they still seemed to have fast food expectations. But, enough of my bitching.

The food is pretty damned good. The burgers are made from ground steak, as opposed to typical low-grade ground beef, and they are tasty. The french fries are thin & crispy little guys that are outstanding when fresh and hot. But, they lose heat quickly, so don't wait to eat 'em. They also have great chili, and tremendous hand-dipped milkshakes. Their taco salads are killer, too.

But, holy shit, have they raised prices over the last decade! Wow! They are expensive as hell, and I only go there when I have coupons. Well, except for the occasional, early morning trip to the drive-thru for a burger fix. Most locations are open 24 hours. And although breakfast is available "during breakfast hours," you can get a burger ANY time of day. Mmmmm, sounds good!

UPDATE: I stopped by a local S'nS Drive Thru for a tasty, 5:30 AM bacon cheeseburger...YUMMY!!! (To paraphrase David Spade's character in Tommy Boy, "I can actually hear my arteries clogging..."]