One Company’s Strategy Looks Very Different

Nike retail store entrance with window display and mannequins — Photo: TY Lim / Shutterstock

A $2.50 milkshake topped with a chocolate Statue of Liberty is turning into the unlikely centerpiece of a bigger argument about what sells in America right now.

Quick Take

Steak ‘n Shake rolled out a Patriot Milkshake and $17.76 “Liberty Meals” tied to America’s 250th anniversary.
Parent company Biglari Holdings reported positive Q2 2026 net earnings of $39,926,000, even as profits fell year over year.
Nike posted a Q4 2026 earnings beat, but a near $986 million tariff refund and a 12% Greater China sales drop complicate the picture.
No public filing from either company proves patriotic branding or “woke” messaging directly caused profits or losses.

A Patriotic Menu Built Around America’s 250th Birthday

Steak ‘n Shake leaned hard into national pride ahead of America’s semiquincentennial. The chain launched its Patriot Milkshake at $2.50, later adding a dark-chocolate Statue of Liberty topper that went viral in March 2026. USA Today covered the launch back in January, calling it a nod to the country’s 250th birthday.

The chain didn’t stop there. In July, it pushed “Liberty Meals” priced at $17.76 for two, pairing a double grass-fed Steakburger and beef tallow fries with the Patriot shake, keeping the theme running through the whole month. The pricing gimmick echoed the founding year, a detail built for social media shares and cable news segments alike.

The Numbers Behind the Steakburger Empire

Biglari Holdings, the parent company, reported Q2 2026 net earnings of $39,926,000 on total revenues of $108,524,000. That’s real profit, not a marketing fantasy. But those earnings fell from the prior year, meaning the company made money while shrinking, not while booming.

Here’s the catch skeptics should flag. Biglari Holdings’ filings cover the whole corporate portfolio, not Steak ‘n Shake alone. Nobody has produced same-store sales data isolating the Patriot Milkshake’s actual sales lift. Profit is real. Proof that patriotism caused it is not sitting in the public record yet.

Nike’s Very Different Story

Nike’s headline numbers looked stronger than expected too, but the fine print tells a rougher tale. Reuters reported executives warned that tariffs could add roughly $1 billion in costs, with China supplying about 16% of shoes Nike imports into the United States.

CNBC reported Nike’s gross margin jump came largely from an expected $986 million tariff refund, while sales in Greater China fell 12%. Strip out that one-time refund, and the underlying business still looks strained. A 2024 academic review also argued Nike’s racial-consciousness marketing was “not transformative” and amounted to performing wokeness rather than real change.

Strategy, the largest corporate bitcoin holder, sold out of its $250 custom-branded Nike Air Jordans and Dunks — but customers couldn't pay with BTC. The online store checkout accepts only credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, prompting criticism on X. One account wrote,… pic.twitter.com/pIZCELxQ8r

— Leviathan News (@leviathan_news) September 9, 2026

That academic criticism matters to conservative-minded readers who’ve long suspected corporate activism is more branding exercise than conviction. But fairness requires saying the plainest driver of Nike’s pain is China and tariffs, not a boycott proven by hard sales data.

What the Financial Fine Print Actually Shows

Neither story is as clean as a headline wants it to be. Steak ‘n Shake’s patriotic pivot coincided with profit, but a shrinking profit, inside a filing that mixes several businesses together. Nike’s beat leaned on a tariff refund, layered over a real China slowdown that predates any culture-war framing entirely.

Consumer research backs a simpler truth than either side’s talking points. Surveys show patriotic branding pushes nearly half of shoppers toward a brand and only about 16% away from it, while politically charged brand activism tends to trigger more boycotts than buycotts. Brands that pick a lane, in other words, take a calculated risk either direction.

The Real Lesson for Brands and Consumers

Common sense conservatives will notice the pattern even without a perfect spreadsheet. A cheap, fun, flag-waving milkshake costs little and invites customers in. A years-long activist branding campaign carries real reputational risk when the underlying business already struggles with tariffs and a shaky Chinese market.

Correlation isn’t causation, and nobody should pretend Biglari Holdings’ modest quarter proves a patriotic milkshake saved a company. But the broader instinct behind Steak ‘n Shake’s bet, that Americans respond warmly to unapologetic national pride, lines up with what the survey data and common sense both suggest.