14 Sizzling Facts About Steak ‘n Shake

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Jeff Wells and Mental_Floss present 14 Sizzling Facts About Steak ‘n Shake.  Here are three of my favorites…

1. It started as a gas station serving fried chicken and beer.

Founder Gus Belt and his wife, Edith, feeling squeezed by the Great Depression, began offering fried chicken, fries and coleslaw at their Normal, Illinois Shell station for $.45. Beer was just $.09. After the town council voted 2 to 1 to ban the sale of alcohol, the Belts decided to open a burger restaurant, and in 1934 Steak ‘n Shake was born.

4. Gus wasn’t afraid to get dirty.

According to Robert Cronin, former Steak ‘n Shake CEO and author of Selling Steakburgers, Belt used to go through the restaurant’s trash and returned plates to see what customers weren’t eating. He used his disgusting findings to further hone the menu.

8. Roger Ebert was a huge fan.

The longtime Chicago Sun-Times columnist had his first restaurant meal there as a kid (steakburger, fries and a Coke) and claimed unwavering devotion the rest of his life. He gushed about the chain in a 2009 blog post: “If I were to take President Obama and his family to dinner and the choice were up to me, it would be Steak ‘n Shake—and they would be delighted.”