WASHINGTON, D.C. — As soon as Steak ’n Shake announced it had hired a “Chief MAHA Officer,” I knew I had to speak to him. Michael Boes is the first American in the history of fast food to score that title—and he told me he’s sure he won’t be the last.
The burger and shake joint announced Tuesday, on X, that Boes will be in charge of “nutritional integrity, ingredient transparency, and the healthiness of our products.” The job description sounds like a contradiction in terms. The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement is, famously, not keen on fast-food restaurants. Its high priest, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said Wednesday that he would support banning TV ads for fast food—which he once described as “poison.”
But Boes, 37, sees no tension in his new job. The toxic nature of junk food is, according to him, a recent development. “We’re going back to what fast food used to be in America,” he says, “when every fast-food chain used tallow for its french fries and actual bread for a bun.”
In other words, they’re Making Fast Food Healthy Again.
