The new MilkShake Factory near Westgate seems like a straightforward store for sweets: shakes, sundaes, and sheets of chocolate, seven days a week.

But there’s a lot going on behind the scenes, because the franchise owner also happens to be the fast-growing company’s president.

Dan Reese, a marketing executive educated at MSU and Duke, left a partnership position with Kraft Heinz for a growth journey with a family business that for most of its century-long history was a single-shop chocolatier in Pittsburgh.

“The numbers were way smaller than my fancy Fortune 150, $2 billion portfolio,” he says. “But the stakes feel way higher. The money is finite—it can run out, and you have to meet payroll, and nothing is figured out, right? So it was a total trial by fire.”

He’s confident in their affordability and quality, based on tried-and-true recipes, including the house-made dairy and non-dairy vanilla ice creams that they combine with proprietary syrups, add-ins, and their own whipped cream.

“We’re proud of the fact that you can come in and get the best cookies-and-cream or strawberry shake for $6.75,” he says. “The magic of the MilkShake Factory is you can get the best milkshake you’ve ever had, but we also can spin it in under a minute.”

To expand beyond the Pittsburgh area, they began franchising last year. Partnering with Ann Arbor–based incubator Franworth and its founder John Rotche, they’ve already signed licenses to open 100 locations.

This one, in a new building shared with Tous Les Jours and an under-construction Korean fried chicken franchise, bb.q Chicken, is just the third to open. The ample storefront includes a training center, Reese says, so “all the franchisees from around the country are going to come through Ann Arbor.”

“I think it’s really important as the leader of the company to be really close to the action,” says Reese, who’s raising his family in Pittsfield Twp. “It’s my job to support all our franchisees, so going through this whole thing myself is pretty eye-opening.”

MilkShake Factory, 326 S. Maple. (734) 275–3883. Sun.–Thurs. noon–10 p.m., Fri. & Sat. noon–10:30 p.m. milkshakefactory.com