Steak ‘n Shake RFK’d its fries — and became a MAHA darling
Over a double cheeseburger and fries, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Fox News host Sean Hannity earlier this month of his plans to improve the country’s health by incentivizing companies to step away from processed foods.
From across the red high-top table of a Florida Steak ’n Shake, the Health and Human Services Secretary went on to praise the Indianapolis-based fast food chain as a shining example of change since it began cooking its shoestring fries in beef tallow instead of one of the many seed oils that have become targets of Kennedy’s health agenda.
“Steak ’n Shake has been great,” Kennedy said. “We’re very grateful to them for RFKing the french fries.”
The nationally televised praise marked the latest conservative endorsement for Steak ’n Shake, a 91-year-old company with 450 locations nationwide that has become one of the most high-profile businesses to support Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda — a move that has been boosted by Republican politicians and MAGA influencers including, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Charlie Kirk, Laura Loomer, Kari Lake, Tony Shaffer and Benny Johnson.
“I just had a cheeseburger and fries cooked in beef tallow today for lunch! Delicious!!” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., wrote on X.
At a time when many companies might be looking to avoid politics, Steak ’n Shake is opting to publicly align itself with Kennedy and other high-profile conservatives. On social media, the brand has transformed its feed from the usual steam of burgers and shakes into a near nonstop stream of Trump-adjacent iconography: Elon Musk, Teslas, Fox News clips and even a red hat emblazoned with the words “Make Frying Oil Tallow Again,” a version of which is available for purchase on Kennedy’s MAHA merchandise website.
The company has not publicly embraced Trump or any of his policies but has been full-throated in its embrace of Kennedy.
“We support MAHA,” Steak ’n Shake Chief Operations Officer Dan Edwards told NBC News last week. “Restaurant chains like ours would like to meet customer demand for better quality.”
Edwards said support for the company is “across the political spectrum” and that “there is nothing political about great-tasting fries.” He did not answer specifically whether the company had any fears about alienating customers that do not support Kennedy’s MAHA agenda or Trump.
“We are grateful to Secretary Kennedy for his leadership and for raising awareness about beef tallow,” he added.
It’s a bold move for a company that has weathered a rocky financial situation that forced the reported closure of 200 locations since 2018. While there is a wide array of relatively new and small brands that have sought to capitalize on the strength and passion of the MAGA movement, few, if any, established companies have shifted their public identity so quickly.
Politics aside, Steak ’n Shake’s choice to focus on seed oils comes with its own controversy.
The MAHA agenda, helmed by Kennedy, features several health-focused concerns of questionable veracity, including skepticism of the food and drug industry, fluoride in water and vaccines. Seed oils have also long been a target of unfounded theories about negative health impacts, some of which Kenney has touted, calling them “one of the most unhealthy ingredients we have in foods.”
Health experts have sought to counter those claims, noting that replacing seed oils with saturated fats offers little to no dietary benefit and can end up doing harm.
Maya Vadiveloo, an associate professor at the University of Rhode Island who specializes in nutrition, said it is “well established that saturated fats are linked to an increased risk of heart disease, while vegetable oils, including oils from seeds, protect heart health.”
Edwards said that while the burger brand supports Kennedy’s MAHA movement, Steak ’n Shake CEO Sardar Biglari, who acquired the company in 2008, has been trying to move to beef tallow for some time.
“My boss asked, ‘Why should Europeans have better fries than Americans?’” Edwards said. “My boss said one day that we need to RFK the fries. So, a verb was invented.”
As for the company’s sudden shift on social media, Edwards said the posts “sometimes are aspirational,” noting that “sometimes we refer to space or Mars.”
“NASA and Musk/SpaceX are the only two viable players in the area. We have referred to both,” Edwards said. “Regardless of politics, we admire Musk’s accomplishments.”
In February, Tesla wrote on X that it had signed a deal to build charging stations at several Steak ’n Shake locations after the fast food joint responded to Musk’s compliment on its fries. Edwards said discussions with Tesla and Steak ’n Shake started over 18 months ago.
Steak ’n Shake’s shift hasn’t been entirely smooth. The Bulwark reported that the chain’s move inspired some in the MAHA world to look deeper at the company’s food practices, finding that its fries were precooked in seed oils. The company later acknowledged on its website that some of its foods arrived at locations prefried, and that the initial frying had been in seed oils.
However, Edwards said, because Kennedy has advocated for the removal of seed oils “completely,” the company is making a commitment to do so. And while he did not provide details as to how Hannity’s interview with Kennedy came about, he did say that when the Fox News host “calls, we answer.”
“Sean Hannity is the best. He knows the restaurant business,” he said. “We are honored Sean Hannity and Secretary Kennedy visited Steak ’n Shake.”
