Similar to the Butler County Donut Trail, the society is part of visitor’s bureau’s efforts to find creative ways to highlight the county’s local businesses, she said, It’s also trendy right now for food and beverage establishments to have secret menu items.
It’s free, and residents can sign up at www.thesecretshakesociety.com. Then, insiders will receive emails detailing the featured milkshake every other week. The official Secret Shake Society milkshakes are available for two weeks.
For example, Candy Stash Sweets & Treats in Liberty Center recently introduced “It’s Sweet at the Beach,” which is complete with water, waves, and an umbrella. Other shakes that have been featured this year include Sweden Crème’s “Black Forest Cordial” and The Cone’s “Strawberry Shortcake.” Prices of the shakes are set by the featured businesses.
“These are businesses that each get to come up with their own custom shake flavor. Then, they offer it for a limited, two-week time period, and the only way that you find out about the current shake flavor is to be on the Secret Shake Society email list. It’s open to everyone and anyone can sign up for it,” Kocher said.
The program was introduced by the Butler County Visitor’s Bureau last June and is expected to run each summer. Flip Side’s Liberty location offered the first shake, which was a “Key Lime Pie Milkshake.” Another popular shake in 2019 was Karma in the Kitchen’s “Road Construction Shake.” On Thursday, the latest shake, the “Strawberry Shortcake Shake” from The Cone in West Chester, was announced.
“Businesses take the creativity of it very seriously, and that’s fun to see,” Kocher said.
Emails announcing the featured shakes are sent out every two weeks on Thursdays. Shakes are not publicly announced, so you have to be on the email list or a member of the Secret Shake Society to find out what the next shake is. Six new shakes are already lined up for this year, and businesses will continue to be added in the months ahead.
“Every two weeks there’s a new shake. Last year, we featured nine different businesses over the course of the summer and the fall,” Kocher said, “These are complex, interesting shakes. Each one is a new flavor that’s not on the regular menu.”
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