Sardar Biglari ( fa, سردار بیگلری; born August 30, 1977) is an American
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
and is the founder,
chairman and
CEO of
Biglari Holdings
Biglari Holdings Inc. is an American holding company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, founded by entrepreneur Sardar Biglari. Its major subsidiaries include Steak 'n Shake, ''Maxim'' magazine, First Guard Insurance, and Western Sizzlin'.
St ...
,
[Profile](_blank)
on Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
a holding company that trades on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
under the symbol BH. Biglari controls the
Steak 'n Shake Company, First Guard Insurance, ''
Maxim
Maxim or Maksim may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine
** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition
** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition
*Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...
'', Southern Oil of Louisiana, Southern Pioneer Insurance and the
Western Sizzlin' corporation, which are subsidiaries of Biglari Holdings. Biglari is also founder, chairman and CEO of Biglari Capital, the general partner to
The Lion Fund.
Early history
Biglari was born in Iran in 1977, two years before the
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...
. His father, Brigadier General Biglari, served in the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces. Following the revolution, the family escaped Iran as refugees, and in 1984, settled in
San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, mapsize = 220px
, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, subdivision_t ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
.
Business career
At the age of 18, he founded INTX.net, an
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...
, by raising $15,000. In 1999 with concerns about the tech bubble, he sold the company to
Internet America.
With the proceeds of the sale, Biglari started an investment partnership at the age of 22. The fund bought shares in restaurant companies including
Friendly Ice Cream
Friendly's is a restaurant chain on the East Coast of the United States. Friendly's was founded in 1935 in Springfield, Massachusetts, by the brothers S. Prestley Blake and Curtis Blake. It has 10,000 employees; George Michel is the CEO. It off ...
and Western Sizzlin Corp., which he became chairman and CEO of in 2006. Friendly Ice Cream founder,
S. Prestley Blake, found an ally in Biglari and he cashed out and profited when Friendly's was bought out by a private-equity firm. The case was covered by Harvard Business School Professors Fabrizio Ferri, V.G. Narayanan and James Weber.
Biglari operates
Biglari Holdings
Biglari Holdings Inc. is an American holding company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, founded by entrepreneur Sardar Biglari. Its major subsidiaries include Steak 'n Shake, ''Maxim'' magazine, First Guard Insurance, and Western Sizzlin'.
St ...
in San Antonio with a corporate staff of 4. The holding company has over 21,000 employees in total.
Steak 'n Shake
In August 2008, Biglari took over Steak 'n Shake, which had been losing more than $100,000 a day. Biglari turned the company around from near
insolvency
In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet ...
to one making more than $100,000 a day. By 2015, the company had attained 24 consecutive quarters of same-store sales increases under Biglari. However, since that time Steak 'n Shake has run into serious headwinds. In 2018, the number of customers hit their lowest levels in 8 years dropping to 103 million while same store sales fell 5.1%. Biglari has largely attributed the challenges to slow service speed due to a lack of investment in kitchen equipment.
In 2019, Steak ‘n Shake began franchising company owned restaurants to select candidates for $10,000 and 50% of the profits. So far, 51 Steak n Shake franchise partners have come on board. Biglari hopes to hit 100 by year-end. There are franchise owners in the program who are on their way to earning over $200,000 in their first year.
Cracker Barrel
Biglari bought 4.7 million shares of
Cracker Barrel
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., doing business as simply Cracker Barrel, is an American chain of restaurant and gift stores with a Southern country theme. The company was founded by Dan Evins in 1969. Its first store was in Lebanon, ...
in 2011.
In 2014,
Harvard Business School professors
Suraj Srinivasan and Tim Gray wrote a case study on Biglari and Cracker Barrel.
On March 14, 2019, it was reported that Biglari wants Cracker Barrel to close its Start up company Holler & Dash.
The original $241 million investment in Cracker Barrel made in 2011 and 2012 turned into just under $1 billion in value by the end of 2019.
Maxim
On February 27, 2014,
Maxim Magazine
''Maxim'' is an international men's magazine, devised and launched in the UK in 1995, but based in New York City since 1997, and prominent for its photography of actors, singers, and female models whose careers are at a current peak. ''Maxim'' ...
was bought by Biglari who commented, "We plan to build the business on multiple dimensions, thereby energizing our readership and viewership.". In January 2016, Biglari officially took over as
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of ''Maxim'', though a Maxim staffer said that the new masthead title just formalizes what has always been clear: Biglari exercises full editorial control over ''Maxim''. At one point in 2015, the staffer said, he decided to throw out a nearly complete version of the December issue in order to completely redesign the magazine. On January 13, 2016
Gilles Bensimon
Gilles Francis Charles Bensimon (; born 29 February 1944) is a French fashion photographer and the former International Creative Director of ''Elle'' magazine. He has also been the photographer on the reality television series ''America's Next To ...
joined Biglari as a special creative director. "What drew me to Maxim was Sardar's vision for the brand," said Bensimon.
First Guard Insurance
On March 19, 2014, Biglari purchased First Guard Insurance Company. First Guard Founder and CEO Ed Campbell said: "I couldn't imagine a better, more fitting owner of First Guard."
Southern Pioneer Property and Casualty Insurance
In 2020, Biglari acquired Southern Pioneer Property & Casualty Insurance Co. from the Hyneman family who will continue to operate the company. Since 1981, Southern Pioneer has grown from $500,000 in capital and surplus and zero premium to over $18,000,000 capital and surplus with written premium in excess of $24,000,000 in 2015.
Southern Oil of Louisiana
In September 2019, Biglari acquired Southern Oil of Louisiana Inc. for $51.5 million.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biglari, Sardar
1977 births
Living people
American investors
American money managers
20th-century American businesspeople
Businesspeople from Tehran
Iranian emigrants to the United States
Trinity University (Texas) alumni
21st-century American businesspeople
Businesspeople from San Antonio