{"id":50032,"date":"2026-01-21T12:03:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T17:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/?p=50032"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:03:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T17:03:38","slug":"steak-n-shake-to-pay-workers-bitcoin-bonus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/news\/steak-n-shake-to-pay-workers-bitcoin-bonus","title":{"rendered":"Fast-Food Chain Steak \u2018n Shake to Pay Hourly Workers a Bitcoin Bonus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fast-food chain Steak \u2018n Shake is rolling out<\/a> a bitcoin bonus program for hourly workers, deepening its embrace of bitcoin just days after disclosing a $10 million bitcoin purchase for its corporate treasury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting March 1, hourly employees at company-operated Steak \u2019n Shake locations will earn a bitcoin bonus worth $0.21 for every hour worked. The rewards will vest after two years, meaning workers must remain employed for that period before they can access the accumulated bitcoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bonus is roughly equivalent to about 1% of the U.S. federal minimum wage and will be administered in partnership with Fold, a bitcoin rewards application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employees will continue to receive their regular wages in dollars, with the bitcoin component treated as an additional incentive rather than a replacement for cash pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move builds on Steak \u2018n Shake\u2019s broader crypto strategy<\/a>, which began in 2025 when the burger chain started accepting bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network at all U.S. locations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, company executives said the integration reduced card processing fees by roughly half and helped attract younger customers. Same-store sales rose more than 10% in the second quarter of 2025, according to company comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steak \u2018n Shake loves bitcoin\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Steak \u2018n Shake disclosed that it had added<\/a> $10 million worth of bitcoin to its balance sheet, marking one of the more significant treasury allocations to the asset by a consumer-facing restaurant brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has also leaned into bitcoin-themed marketing, including the launch<\/a> of a limited-time \u201cBitcoin Meal\u201d in October that includes a small donation to open-source bitcoin development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hourly bonus rate references bitcoin\u2019s fixed supply cap of 21 million coins, a symbolic nod frequently used in crypto culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At current prices, a worker putting in 30 hours a week would earn roughly $327 worth of bitcoin per year under the program, assuming a stable bitcoin price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, a company executive said that Bitcoin transactions were already outperforming expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe day we launched Bitcoin, 1 out of every 500 bitcoin transactions in the world happened at Steak \u2018n Shake,\u201d Executive Dan Edwards said<\/a> at the Bitcoin Conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBitcoin is faster than credit cards, and when customers choose to pay in Bitcoin, we\u2019re saving 50% in processing fees,\u201d said Edwards. \u201cThat makes Bitcoin a win for the customer, a win for us, and a win for the Bitcoin community.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steak \u2018n Shake is launching a bitcoin bonus program for hourly workers, giving $0.21 per hour worked that vests after two years, following its $10 million corporate bitcoin purchase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3817,"featured_media":49978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4378],"tags":[76,636,6296,5607],"class_list":["post-50032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-bitcoin","tag-bitcoin-treasuries","tag-bonus","tag-steak-n-shake"],"author_data":{"id":3817,"name":"Micah Zimmerman","nicename":"micahzimmerman","avatar_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Micah_Zimmerman_Author_Image.jpg"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Steak-n-Shake-Adds-10-Million-in-Bitcoin-to-Corporate-Treasury.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}