A chunk of cheesecake clung to her eight-ounce glass alongside some marshmallow cream and graham crackers as Casey Porter enjoyed some dessert Thursday afternoon.

The glass contained a milkshake, but it’s definitely not the kind your parents or grandparents sipped on at the local drive-in.

“I love it,” said Porter, who was taking a break from her job at Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group just a few strides from where she was having her strawberry cheesecake shake at the new BG Shakery gourmet milkshake business at 2800 Scottsville Road.

Nearby, her co-worker Sondra Humphries dug into a chocolate sensation shake that was topped by a brownie.

“It’s my first time trying it,” Humphries said. “We’re always looking for a good treat.”

Catering to such treat-seekers is the whole idea behind BG Shakery, the brainchild of Bowling Green businessman Brandon Farley.

Taking his cue from such dessert restaurants as Nashville’s Legendairy Milkshake Bar and others he had visited in Florida, Farley came up with the idea nearly two years ago of opening a similar business in Bowling Green.

“As Bowling Green has grown, I wondered why someone hadn’t thought of this kind of business here,” said Farley, a Muhlenberg County native who has been in the insurance business in Bowling Green for 11 years. “I don’t have a background in restaurants. I just saw a business opportunity and took off with it.”

Pursuing that opportunity meant spending months searching for the right location, which Farley believes he has found in the small strip shopping center that is home to Puerto Vallarta and Kyoto restaurants.

Farley, 36, believes the 3,000-square-foot space – formerly home to the Nine20Live barbecue restaurant and, before that, the Hangry Jack’s restaurant – is the ideal spot.

“I think being between Puerto Vallarta and Kyoto is good,” he said. “And I think we’ll get good visibility from Starbucks.”

Those who come in to BG Shakery will have plenty of opportunities to try some out-of-the-ordinary desserts.

Among the 14 flavors on the menu in eight-ounce and 12-ounce sizes are such concoctions as caramel delight, doughnut time and cookies & cream bomb.

The new store also offers vegan milkshakes through a partnership with Scottsville’s Status Crowe ice cream shop and ice cream by the scoop in 19 different flavors.

Farley said he worked about 80 hours per week between his insurance offices and the new store while getting BG Shakery ready. He was still hard at work Thursday, helping prepare milkshakes and deliver them to customers during the restaurant’s grand opening.

“I try to lead by example,” he said. “I won’t ask anyone to do anything I’m not willing to do.”

As BG Shakery begins its first full week of operations, Farley said it will be open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Farley expects the restaurant to have about a dozen employees, many of them youngsters working their first jobs.

“Our goal is for this to be a fun atmosphere,” he said. “It’s supposed to be a happy place.”