Steak ‘n Shake continues its spree of closing restaurants as Biglari Holdings Inc. (BH), the parent company of the burger chain, reported that 51 locations were permanently closed in the first quarter of 2020.

The closures were a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also caused the company to shut down all of its dining rooms by the end of March as stay-at-home orders forced restaurants to close in-dining services to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The company reported a $137.9 million loss for Q1 amid its investment in Cracker Barrel restaurants and a $7.9 million loss for Steak ‘n Shake and Western Sizzlin’. This was a decrease in losses compared to a year earlier when the brands had combined losses of $13.3 million.

For Steak ‘n Shake, food sales for the brand were down 41% from the same time last year. Biglari is converting Steak ‘n Shake restaurants to franchisees, a shift away from its company-owned model. In Q1, the company converted 11 locations to franchisee-owned restaurants, according to the earnings report.

In Q1 2019, 44 Steak ‘n Shake restaurants were reportedly closed, and by the second quarter of the same year, 106 underperforming locations were shut down.

Shares of Biglari were down 5.98% as of 2:16 p.m. EDT on Monday.

Steak n Shake
Steak n Shake closed 106 stores in the second quarter of 2019. Steak 'n Shake chain restaurant in Middletown, DE, on July 26, 2019. Getty Images/JIM WATSON
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