Company officials told the Journal-News those closures are temporary and the restaurants will re-open under new franchise ownership, but no specific date is available at this time.
MORE: Longtime Middletown fast-food restaurant latest in a series of Butler County closures
“The timing is based on when we have a franchise partner to run the unit,” Judy Kadylak, senior vice president for marketing at Steak ‘n Shake, told this news outlet.
The 621-unit Steak ‘n Shake chain operates 12 restaurants in the southwest Ohio counties of Butler, Warren, Hamilton and Clermont counties.
Ten of them are temporarily closed. The Middletown and Eastgate locations remain open.
The Indianapolis-based chain also operates nine restaurants in the Dayton-Springfield area.
Last August 2018, Steak ‘n Shake announced it is offering potential franchise partners who pay $10,000 and commit to a six-month training program the chance to own what is now a corporate-operated Steak ‘n Shake restaurant.
MORE: Chicken wings, doughnuts featured in 2 coming Butler County restaurants
According to Nation's Restaurant News, an industry publication and web site, Steak 'n Shake's franchise partner offer came after a challenging 2017, when the full-service Steak 'n Shake concept faced revenue and traffic hurdles. The CEO of Steak 'n Shake's parent company said Steak 'n Shake revenue fell to $792.8 million in 2017 from $804.4 million in the prior year, and earnings fell to $431,000 from $34.7 million in the prior year, while customer counts were down 1.8 percent, Nation's Restaurant News said.
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