I was a manager at Steak N Shake while in college, I have looked here for the correct "at home" recipe for the chili but have not tried any to date. The real deal with the Chili is that in the resturant only two ingredients go into the pot, besides a couple quarts of plain water 1)Frozen seasoned beef (in sauce) there is no tomato of any kind, in each batch there are 5(five) * 2.5lbs(two and a half pound) bags of meat. If you know your chili then you know that SNS chili is meaty (like shredded beef not crumbled meat) and not "tomato'ee", it's more like gravy. Now this alone is what goes on the spagette for 3-ways and 5-ways, just the meat sauce similar to other cincinnati chili's. Another thing is the sauce's seasoning is a secret but other Cincy Chili's do use cocoa so that would not suprise me.
To complete the real chili you add only beans to the pot (3 industrial size cans of kidney beans NOT DRAINED. The mixture (Beef, beans and Water) are brought to a boil then simmered for at least one hour, but by the time most people have ordered it at a resturant it has been simmering for several hours, so adjust to taste, and consistency. Also despite what was listed on this site no one has ever put cola or anyother soft drink in a batch of SNS chili. Good luck let me know how it turns out!