Steak 'n Shake Prices Two Liberty Meals at $17.76, Takes Direct Shot at Five Guys in Viral July Promotion
Steak 'n Shake launched a month-long "Liberty Meal" deal priced at $17.76 for two — a number tied to America's founding year — and used the announcement to take a direct swipe at rival Five Guys on X. The post, which…
Steak 'n Shake launched a month-long "Liberty Meal" deal priced at $17.76 for two — a number tied to America's founding year — and used the announcement to take a direct swipe at rival Five Guys on X. The post, which taunted "Can't touch this, Mr. Five Guys," pulled 1.5 million views and nearly 1,000 comments, turning a promotional burger deal into a proxy war over quick-service restaurant pricing.
The Deal: What $17.76 Buys
Each Liberty Meal bundles a double grass-fed Steakburger, beef tallow fries, and a Patriot Milkshake — available throughout July in honor of the country's 250th birthday. At $17.76 for two, the bundle positions Steak 'n Shake squarely against the premium fast-casual tier, where Five Guys has long operated. The chain's earlier patriotic play — a $2.50 Patriot Shake, topped with patriotic sprinkles and a dark-chocolate Statue of Liberty — had already gone viral earlier in the year, signaling that the company has been deliberately using pricing as a marketing instrument.
Social Media Scoreboard
The X post ignited the kind of organic consumer debate most marketing teams spend heavily to manufacture. Commenters rallied around the Five Guys comparison, with several noting that a comparable order at Five Guys could run $40 or more — one reply quipped that the competitor required "a home-equity loan." Five Guys has not publicly responded to the taunt; the chain is currently promoting a limited-time blackberry milkshake. Not all reactions were favorable to Steak 'n Shake: some users questioned whether $17.76 for two meals — approximately $8.88 each — represented genuine value, with one commenter calling out the price as still steep for what amounted to a burger and fries.
Consumer Appetite and Footprint Problem
Enthusiasm for the deal ran into a structural constraint: availability. Multiple commenters flagged the absence of nearby Steak 'n Shake locations, a legacy of the chain closing roughly 200 restaurants between 2018 and 2025. That contraction is now the backdrop for a broader company turnaround, as reported by QSR Magazine. One X user explicitly noted a new location opening in Royal Oak, Michigan, suggesting the expansion signal matters as much to customers as the deal itself.
What the Noise Signals
The Liberty Meal campaign reflects a calculated read on where consumer pressure sits right now. Burger prices have become a cultural shorthand for inflation fatigue, and Steak 'n Shake's decision to anchor its promotion to a patriotic price point — and to name a competitor by name — suggests the chain is betting that value messaging, when aggressive enough, doubles as earned media. Whether the unit economics hold up across a full July of discounted meals is a question the company has not addressed publicly. Fox News Digital contacted both Steak 'n Shake and Five Guys for comment.
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