Shakeaway Franchise: 180+ Flavours, Millions of Combinations

180+ Flavours, Millions of Combinations

The milkshake and smoothie market has experienced consistent growth, driven by consumer demand for indulgent, customisable treats and healthier alternatives like smoothies and frozen yoghurt. In a food and beverage landscape dominated by coffee chains and fast food, Shakeaway has carved out a genuinely unique position as the go-to brand for milkshake lovers. No other company comes close to matching the range, the theatre, or the customer experience that a Shakeaway store delivers.

Every Shakeaway milkshake is made to order, blending real ingredients from a choice of over 180 flavours. Customers pick their favourite chocolates, sweets, ice cream, or fresh fruit and watch as their creation is hand-blended right in front of them. The result is a product that feels personal, indulgent, and completely different every time. As the brand puts it: you can live forever and never have the same milkshake twice. That level of customisation creates excitement, repeat visits, and a social media buzz that drives footfall organically.

What Does a Shakeaway Franchisee Do?

As a Shakeaway franchise owner, you run your own milkshake bar in a high street, shopping centre, or leisure destination. Store sizes range from 350 to 2,000 square feet, making the concept adaptable to a wide variety of locations. Your team of trained servers (known as Shakettes) deliver the full Shakeaway experience, using top-secret production techniques on an ever-changing menu that keeps the product fresh and exciting.

The product range extends well beyond milkshakes. Shakeaway stores also serve real fruit smoothies, 100% fat-free frozen yoghurt desserts, reinvented shaved ice at less than 160 calories per serving, and low-fat crispy fries. The menu can be adapted to suit local tastes, and the brand caters for most allergies including gluten-free and dairy-free options, broadening the customer base significantly.

A Brand Experience Like No Other

What truly sets the Shakeaway franchise apart is the in-store experience. Every store features Shakeaway TV, the brand's own television station broadcasting promotions and customer content, plus Shakeaway DJ Radio, a 10-hour interactive DJ show tailored to local requirements. Combined with the colourful, high-energy store design and the famous CupMan costume used for on-street tastings and events, the brand delivers a level of theatre that most food franchises simply cannot match. According to Defra's Food Statistics Pocketbook, the eating-out market continues to grow as consumers seek experiences as much as products, and Shakeaway is perfectly positioned to benefit from this trend.

Shakeaway: where every visit is a different combination

Training and Support

Shakeaway provides full support from initial enquiry through to opening day and beyond. The franchise team works with you at every stage, from finding the right location to designing and fitting out your store.

• ✓ Property selection and lease negotiation assistance
• ✓ Full store design and fit-out coordination (75% of shop fit can be financed for approved applicants)
• ✓ Staff recruitment guidance and full training for you and your Shakettes
• ✓ Comprehensive marketing and administration support
• ✓ Ongoing support from dedicated brand managers
• ✓ Payroll services, monthly profit and loss accounts, and VAT returns all included within the royalty rate
• ✓ Access to Shakeaway's extensive social media programme with daily local content for every store
• ✓ Third-party brand partnerships (past partners include Sony, Nestle, Warner Brothers, and Paramount)

Investment and Opportunity

The Shakeaway franchise requires a minimum investment of £50,000. The total investment will depend on the size and location of your store, with up to 75% of the shop fit available for financing through approved lenders. High street bank lending and asset lending options are also available. Compared to many food franchises, the Shakeaway model benefits from a relatively small footprint, a focused product range, and strong profit margins on freshly made-to-order products.

Whether you want to open a single store or build your own Shakeaway empire, the process is designed to be simple and thorough. The brand is actively expanding both domestically and internationally, and ranked 32nd in the Top 50 Food Franchises as reported by Food Franchise Magazine, climbing eight places from the previous year.

Why Choose Shakeaway?

Shakeaway is a brand with genuine cult status. Over 25 years of trading have created a loyal customer base that is passionate about the product and actively promotes it on social media. The combination of an unmatched product range, a theatrical in-store experience, strong franchisee support (including back-office admin within the royalty rate), and an internationally recognised brand makes the Shakeaway franchise a standout opportunity in the food and beverage sector. With stores operating successfully across 14 countries and continued demand for new locations across the country, this is a brand with serious momentum.

Is Shakeaway Right for You?

The ideal Shakeaway franchisee is motivated, energetic, and excited about following a successful formula. You do not need food industry experience, but you do need the enthusiasm to deliver the full Shakeaway experience and the drive to build a profitable business in your local area. With franchise units available throughout the country, now is the time to find out more about joining the world's largest milkshake bar company.

Brand Heritage

The original Shakeaway opened in Bournemouth in 1999 after the founders had a simple idea: there had to be more to a milkshake than vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. Blending a packet of Rolos with milk and ice cream proved the point. The business began franchising in 2007 and grew rapidly under CEO Peter Dickson, who scaled the concept internationally from a single south coast unit to a brand operating across multiple continents. The original Bournemouth store is still trading more than two decades later.

A Day in the Life of a Shakeaway Owner

A typical trading day starts with stock checks on milk, ice cream, fresh fruit, sweets, and toppings, plus equipment calibration on the blenders and shake machines. Through the day your Shakettes blend customer orders to specification, work the till, run social-content tastings, and keep the in-store theatre running. Afternoons skew to school and shopping-centre footfall; evenings to leisure traffic. Owner tasks lean on people management, local marketing, and reviewing the monthly profit and loss pack that the central back-office team produces for every franchisee.

Marketing and Lead Generation

The brand runs a national social and PR programme alongside daily local content for every store, and the in-store experience is itself a marketing engine: customers regularly photograph and share their bespoke creations, the CupMan costume drives on-street tastings, and Shakeaway TV plus DJ Radio give every location consistent theatre. Past third-party tie-ins with Sony, Nestle, Warner Brothers, and Paramount give franchisees national-scale campaigns most independent operators could not access on their own.

Industry Context

The UK milkshake and smoothies category remains a meaningful slice of the wider soft drinks market, with consumer demand for premium, indulgent, and customisable drinks tracked in detail by Mintel's UK Juice, Juice Drinks and Smoothies Market Report. Within that backdrop Shakeaway operates in a niche with very few direct multi-site competitors at its scale, giving incoming franchisees a relatively uncontested position on the high street and in shopping centres.

Interested in exploring more opportunities in this sector? Take a look at other food franchise opportunities available on Franchise Hunt.