• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, January 8, 2016

The editorial convulsions at Maxim magazine have taken a new and unexpected direction this week, as owner and publisher Sardar Biglari assumes the role of editor-in-chief.

Biglari, who also owns the Steak 'n' Shake restaurant chain, fills the spot left empty by former EIC Kate Lanphear, previously the style director for T: The New York Times’ Style Magazine. She was hired by Biglari to lead an makeover of Maxim as an upscale men’s lifestyle magazine in February 2015, but left in October after readers rejected the new look.

Among other things, Lanphear had tried to introduce more artistic photography of female models in place of the familiar cheesecake shots. The magazine’s highbrow reincarnation was well received by critics, but newsstand sales plunged, indicating that Maxim readers still like their cheesecake the old-fashioned away.

While steering back toward more nubile flesh, Biglari retained some of the artsy cachet by bringing on famed fashion photographer Gilles Bensimon, the creative force behind the magazine’s December cover. It featured Victoria’s Secret supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio in a state of total undress, save for an artfully positioned newspaper.

The December issue, which also had a larger trim size and more luxurious stock, proved the most popular in years, selling 100,000 copies at newsstands.

As both publisher and editor-in-chief of the magazine, Biglari also feels entitled to put his name on the cover: his signature is now visible beneath the first “M” in Maxim. It’s not quite clear what this is supposed to mean to readers, since Biglari is not exactly a household name.

That Biglari announcement marks yet another phase in the ongoing reinvention of the men’s magazine as a sort of different men’s magazine. The news was first reported by Politico.