Popular fast food chain leaves fans spitting in fury with 'tone deaf' ad
Customers slammed the small restaurant chain as 'so tone deaf' after it posted a photo of a hat that says 'Make Frying Oil Tallow Again.'
The red hat is similar to the 'Make America Great Again' baseball cap, a sign of support for President Donald Trump, while the reference to tallow aligns the company with Trump's top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Steak 'n Shake posted a photo of the hat to advertise ' Tesla Tallow Twofer Tuesday,' an event that took place this week at all of its restaurants.
Each location rewarded its first Tesla-owning customers with free grass-fed beef tallow to use at home, along with what some Reddit users called an 'ugly hat.'
'This is just gross and forces your political ideology onto your workers, comedic or not. Steak n' Shake should stay focused on being Steak n' Shake, not some political vehicle,' a post creator wrote on Reddit.
The promotion came after Steak 'n Shake backed up RFK Jr.'s plan to switch from vegetable oil to beef tallow in its fries.
'It's just a dying chain latching onto anything they can for relevance. The sad part is the fries don't even taste better in the tallow,' a social media user wrote.
Several social media users believe Steak 'n Shake chain began its fall from grace long before the latest promotion.
'They've been going downhill for a while and for the few that remain this just gives me another reason not to go there. Better options like Culvers, Freddy's, etc. exist,' a Reddit user wrote.
'They used to be one of the best places to go get a cheap greasy meal and still have a couple bucks left at the end of the night,' a customer responded.
'Around the time the pandemic started they just lost control. Especially being a restaurant that tried to have an emphasis on being a sit down restaurant with fast service.'
A few customers admitted to liking the promotion, and didn't understand why customers found the items controversial.
'Literally every other fast food company pushes left wing agendas in advertising and social media. But this one you have a problem with?,' a commenter responded.
The restaurant chain has grown to operate over 400 restaurants since it was founded more than 85 years ago.
However, one of its parent organizations, Biglari Holdings, has been struggling financially, and suffered over $40 million in revenue loss last year, according to San Antonio Express News.
RFK Jr. visited a Florida Steak 'n Shake after the company announced that it was officially switching from seed oil to beef tallow at all of their 400+ locations
The company managed to increase its first quarter revenue by 6.2 percent compared to last year's total. It's unclear how much money Steak 'n Shake contributed to its $95 million in revenue.
Steak 'n Shake is not the only restaurant chain on board with RFK Jr.'s initiative - although other companies adopted the alternative before Trump's second presidency.
Popeyes has been using beef tallow when cooking chicken and fries for many years.
While Outback Steakhouse, one of America's favorite restaurant chains, has been using beef tallow since 1988.
Other brands that include beef tallow in its food include Buffalo Wild Wings, Sweetgreen, and Smashburger.
McDonald's, however, has not changed its vegetable oil-using ways.
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