The Milk Shake Factory

The Milk Shake Factory story begins in 1914 as a small soda fountain and chocolate shop in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood.

At the time, a milkshake was a true treat for the whole family. Home refrigeration was a luxury few could afford, so to savor the taste of ice cream, let alone the thick chill of a handmade milkshake, was cause for an excursion to a soda fountain.

In 1978, the South Side location opened at 1705 East Carson Street. The building was renovated in 2003, and received an award from the City of Pittsburgh’s Historic Review Commission. During this time, there was another transformation as well, in which a college project shifted the chocolate shop with an ice cream menu to offer shakes featuring the family’s recipes for flavored syrups.

More than a century from its soda fountain days, The Milk Shake Factory was coined, when with great foresight and intuition, the fourth generation took over the business and established a menu that blended high quality ingredients and imagination, which boasted more than 55 flavors of shakes.

Today, The Milk Shake Factory is still a family business led by siblings Mark, Dana, and Chris Edwards.