Thomas: We have one more zeitgeist story, and it is an interesting contrast. This whole conversation has been very fourth-turning, destroyers, collapsing institutions, hard times that make strong men.
As we look ahead to a first turning, we do not know how far away it is. The current troubles could end quickly, or they could drag on. Either way, there is a fast-food company poised to do very well. In fact, it was the fastest-growing fast-food company in the country last year.
Many chains saw declines. Jack in the Box was down 7%. Wendy’s was down 4.7%. Papa John’s was down 2.7%. Even McDonald’s only climbed 2.4%.
One company grew 15% in same-store sales, the metric restaurants care about most. That company is Steak ’n Shake.
I have been following Steak ’n Shake all year. I finally took my family to one in Dallas because I want to see why it is doing so well.
It is a perfect encapsulation of first-turning optimism. It is a vision of the future that is optimistic. In the middle of all this darkness, Steak ’n Shake is a fascinating dichotomy. It embraces the future while reclaiming the past.
Beef Tallow Fries Overhaul
Thomas: Steak ’n Shake is known right now for beef tallow fries. They moved away from seed oils. There are two kinds of people in the world: people who know what seed oils are and people who do not. If you care, you really care.
If you want French fries that taste like they did when you were a kid, Steak ’n Shake is one of the only places you can still get that. It is true. The fries taste like McDonald’s fries from the late eighties and early nineties, before the switch to soggier oil-based fries. They are also more satisfying. You feel full afterward. They are not vegan. It is a satisfying meal.
Public Endorsement and Collaboration with RFK Jr.
Thomas: Steak ’n Shake is leaning into a lot of the MAHA initiatives. MAHA is “Make America Healthy Again.” It is adjacent to MAGA but not identical. RFK had his own coalition. A lot of yoga moms would follow RFK anywhere because they do not care about party politics. They care about their kids having healthy food, and they felt like everyone else was talking nonsense.
That RFK alliance helped Trump win the swing states. I have talked to people who were block-walking for Trump even though they did not like Trump because they supported RFK.
I have cut out seed oils and have lost forty pounds. I am doing other things too, but that change was a big part of it. I tried A2 milk, and it does not bother me the way regular milk does.
Jonathan: He is a seventy-year-old man doing twenty pull-ups. You should probably pay attention to what he is doing.
Thomas: Exactly. Look at Bill Gates, look at the health outcome, and then look at RFK. I know who I am listening to.
Most people do not know what seed oils are or what beef tallow is. They just know the fries taste better. They notice the milkshake tastes like real milk instead of fillers. It is a satisfying milkshake, and the milkshakes are excellent.
Monster American Flags at Every Outpost
The aesthetic is very 1950s diner. They fly the largest American flags allowed by law at every location.
Jonathan: And you have to remember what that era represented. It was the height of American victory. We had just won World War II. The diner became associated with safety and prosperity. You drive in with your girl, get a milkshake, share a straw, and head out. Steak ’n Shake’s design taps that American victory mindset, before Cold War fear took over.
Bitcoin Payments and Strategic Reserve
Thomas: And yet it also looks forward. They run promos for Tesla drivers. They have a Bitcoin burger. You can pay in Bitcoin.
When you order, you do not order from a cashier. You use kiosks. You tap the touchscreen, pay, and then someone brings your burger wearing the little white hat. It is a forward-and-back combination.
It is basically saying, “We can preserve the good things about what made us great while also embracing the good parts of the future, and rejecting the bad parts.”
Jonathan: It is the future the 1950s promised. We were supposed to have flying cars by now. We were supposed to be the Jetsons.
Thomas: Exactly. They are also switching to cane sugar Coke, moving away from high-fructose corn syrup. They are changing ketchup. Real sugar again. It is a reset.
This is something to watch. Visit a Steak ’n Shake if you can, just to see it. I suspect this is a roadmap for where culture is headed. Their version of the optimistic first turning may not be the one that wins, but they are early, loud, and it seems to be working.
While Chick-fil-A and Cracker Barrel are declining and losing the way, Steak ’n Shake is growing faster than anyone.
Jonathan: Steak ’n Shake is concentrated in the South, especially the Southeast, and it has spread into Texas. Someone mentioned Utah too. I have not seen them in California or Arizona. The South is food culture. You show love with meals. You bring cookies at Christmas. You have potlucks at church.
So when a chain switches to ingredients that taste better, and then aligns with a health movement, it hits hard. It undercuts the messaging that says you should stop enjoying food and eat an Impossible Burger that “almost” tastes like a real burger.
This matters for storytelling, too. Stop preaching at people. Make something they enjoy. Help them remember a time when things were better and show how to make things good again.
That is the other side of the destroyer story. The destroyer tears down the corrupt system. Then you need builders. You need a life worth living afterward.
There is room for that in romance. There is room for it in mysteries. You catch the bad guy, and the neighborhood breathes again. You need rebuilding, hope, and to see the sun rising at the end.
Destroyer stories are terrible at that. You usually need a side character who can build while the destroyer does what he does.
Thomas: It is the difference between a Moses story and a Joshua story. Moses tears people out of slavery. He confronts Pharaoh. He dismantles an evil system. He never gets to step into the Promised Land. Joshua is the one who goes in, takes ground, and builds.
And if you study the turnings, you can see those patterns in the biblical narrative. Sometimes the difference is stark. Are you telling early Moses, later Moses, or Joshua? Those are different kinds of stories.
Jonathan: Let me push back. Moses is a shepherd. A shepherd carries two tools, a crook and a club. The crook guides the sheep. The club kills predators.
The plagues are the club. The Red Sea is the crook. The staff does both. But when Moses struck the rock the second time, he misused the staff. He used it like a club on the people he was supposed to shepherd. That is not how a shepherd leads.
Joshua is a general. He learned under Moses during the wilderness years. He was one of the twelve spies.
Thomas: And this is the perfect contrast. Do you have the optimistic vision or the pessimistic vision? Joshua saw the same giants the others saw, but he believed they could overcome them.
Jonathan: That was Caleb.
Caleb is the destroyer. Caleb did not build a nation. He built for his family and that is it. He killed giants because he was wired for that. You need Calebs, but they should not be in charge.
Your destroyer cannot lead the nation afterward. Sometimes the best ending for a destroyer is for him to die destroying. He wins, then there is evil somewhere else, and everyone says, “Thanks,” and he says, “See you,” and walks into the next fire.
Thomas: Have you read Larry Correia’s Saga of the Forgotten Warrior books? It is the Son of the Black Sword series.
Jonathan: I read the first one. I did not get into it.
Thomas: They get better, and the ending sticks the landing. The dedication of the final book is to George R. R. Martin, and that is all I will say. Correia builds a Conan-like character and delivers a real ending.
These zeitgeist conversations are riskier than we normally do, but that is why we are here. We want to talk about culture, how it is changing, and how to stare the giants in the face and have difficult discussions.
