SAN ANTONIO (WISH) — The financial situation at Steak n Shake restaurants in three years has “gone from bad to worse,” Biglari Holdings said in its 2019 annual report, but changes are ahead.

The restaurant, with its corporate headquarters in Indianapolis, earned $300 million for Biglari from 2009 to 2019, but lost earnings totaling $10 million in 2018 and $18.5 million in 2019. Competition in the food service business is brutal, the report notes.

Steak n Shake has 610 restaurants; 213 are operated by franchisees.

Sardar Biglari, chairman of the board of Biglari Holdings, said it took “decisive steps” to address problems for Steak and Shake in 2019, including closing 107 restaurants that “could not deliver excellent customer service.” Biglari said most of the temporarily closed units will reopen, offering only counter service rather than table service.

Also, he said, the franchise partnership program is being changed to build “a culture of ownership” to accent “service excellence” and “putting the interests of our people first.”

Steak n Shake has 610 restaurants; 213 are operated by franchisees. The first franchise unit opened in 1939.

The restaurant chain was founded in 1934 in Normal, Illinois. Biglari took over Steak n Shake in 2008.