Hoover couple seeks to serve up milkshake ‘magic’

There now is a new place to get milkshakes and other treats in Hoover.

Lake Cyrus residents Monti and Shana Osman on Dec. 17 opened a shop called Magic Milkshakes & More in Galleria Trace Plaza, the shopping center on John Hawkins Parkway right across from Academy Sports.

The 2,500-square-foot shop is in the spot formerly occupied by Pivot Fitness, before it moved to The Grove shopping center. It’s right between Tortugas Pizza and Platinum Federal Credit Union.

Monti Osman said he and his wife don’t have any experience in the restaurant industry; they’re just a couple who saw what they considered a void in the market and decided to try to fill it themselves. They and their two boys, ages 11 and 7, always like to get a treat after they eat dinner, and they don’t think there are enough options for that in Hoover, particularly for milkshakes, Osman said.

They tried out milkshake recipes at home and had friends try them out, too, and they’ve come up with 15 “signature milkshakes,” he said.

His favorites are cookies and cream and chocolate mixed, he said. Others that he said have gotten good reviews include “The G.O.A.T” (which is a combination of Reese’s Pieces, butter crunch and Dutch chocolate) and “Mayhem Meets Madness” (which combines homemade vanilla with crunched-up Oreos and a fudge brownie with chocolate syrup and chocolate pearls).

Magic Milkshakes & More also offers customers the option to build their own milkshake with a variety of ingredients, Osman said. The shop also offers other types of desserts, such as brownies, he said.

Osman said he and his wife wanted to keep the milkshakes affordable and have priced them from $9.95 to $11.95. They’re making all the milkshakes 16 ounces to keep it simple, he said.

The Osmans own and manage the shop and plan to open from 2 to 9 p.m. every day.

Shana Osman, who is director of ambulatory services at UAB’s Kirklin Clinic and has been in the nursing profession for more than 20 years, plans to open the shop in the afternoon. Monti Osman, who manages taxes for Vulcan Materials, plans to come join her after work.

They both have some flexibility with their jobs and believe they can maintain both jobs, but they’ll have other employees as well, Monti Osman said.

The Osmans have lived in the Birmingham area since 1999 and moved to Lake Crest in Hoover in 2011 and then to Lake Cyrus in 2015, he said. They chose this location for the milkshake shop because it’s close to where they live, shop and do other activities, he said.

They think the location will do well because it’s convenient to so many people and they know a lot of people around the metro area, especially in Hoover, Monti Osman said. They also envision their shop being a place that kids will want to come hang out after school, he said.

The shop also is convenient to hotels that are nearby and will be an ideal spot for visitors who come into town for all the sports tournaments and other events at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex, Osman said.

However, their main target audience will be people who live in Hoover because they want to have repeat customers, he said.