U.S. restaurant chain Steak 'n Shake said sales growth has continued after it introduced bitcoin payments. It said same-store sales at its franchise partner outlets were up 19 percent year on year so far in the third quarter.

Cryptopolitan reported on Sept. 9 that the company disclosed the figure a day earlier on X. The third quarter is not over and the figure is not performance confirmed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing by parent Biglari Holdings, so it needs to be viewed as a preliminary company announcement.

Official results also show rising sales. Biglari Holdings said U.S. same-store sales in the first quarter rose 10 percent, while franchise partners increased about 13 percent. In the second quarter, same-store sales at company-owned stores rose 11.9 percent and franchise partners increased 14.5 percent, with combined U.S. same-store sales up 13.8 percent.

The company is linking the increase to the impact of adopting bitcoin. Steak 'n Shake began accepting bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network at U.S. stores in May last year. Payments company Speed applied the system at 393 U.S. stores, and the company said bitcoin payment processing costs fell by up to 50 percent compared with credit cards.

The company has not disclosed how much bitcoin drove the sales increase. The parent company also cited improved food quality and marketing effects as reasons behind improved results in 2025. The number of bitcoin orders and the contribution to sales were also not disclosed, making it difficult to confirm a direct causal relationship between adopting bitcoin and sales growth.

The company is adding bitcoin received from customers to its strategic reserves and also using it for part-time employee bonuses. In the wider crypto payments market, however, stablecoins are taking a larger share. In CoinGate data, USDC accounted for 22.1 percent of payments in the first half of this year, surpassing bitcoin at 21 percent for the first time.