If you’re in need of a fix from Steak ‘n Shake in Benton Harbor, the wait might be a while. The Pipestone Road restaurant has been closed down…but apparently it is a temporary shutdown and the Benton Harbor site is not the lone ranger in this.
The Benton Harbor restaurant was still operating Sunday, but hungry patrons were greeted with a plastic page-protected note in each entry door indicating that the business was temporarily being closed. Here’s what the note reads:
“We have decided to close this Steak n’ Shake location, which is being designated for a Franchise Partner. We will be renovating by installing new equipment to improve our speed and customer service. This location will re-open under new Franchise ownership. In the meantime, we hope you will visit one of our other nearby locations. Thank you for your support and continued patronage.”
The nationwide chain has been battling falling sales, reduced store traffic and most importantly declining profits over the past several years and revealed the closing of more than 30 locations already as they undertake the search for franchisees to take over the reins of company stores.
Media reports show that at least ten Steak n’ Shake sites have been shuttered in the southwest Ohio region and another eight have been closed in and around St. Louis, Missouri. Those reports also quote the company’s CFO of Franchise Operations, Thomas Murray, as saying some of the units that have been closed have a franchisee in the process of taking over,” which might be the case in Benton Harbor.
Steak n’ Shake parent corporation, Biglari Holdings of San Antonio, Texas, owns roughly 400 of the 600 locations in America and wants to sell many of the units that they own and get them into the hands of franchisees.
Some of the other closed restaurants were shut down as early as January and some were closed in February. Benton Harbor’s location on Pipestone across from the Orchards Mall was closed for the first time today, Monday, April 1st, with the apparent promised that new equipment and a new owner are on the way. Stay tuned.
