Omaha Exploration

After it was founded in 1948, Zesto Drive-in would briefly challenge Dairy Queen for supremacy as the county’s favorite ice cream shop. Founded by inventor and businessman L. A. M. Phelan after he developed the Zest-O-Mat soft-serve and custard machine in 1945. After opening the first drive-in in El Paso, the company signed franchise agreements that granted exclusive use of the ice cream machines and use of the Zesto name.

Zesto grew quickly with locations stretching from California to Florida. The first Nebraska location was opened in Norfolk in 1950. Eventually there were locations in Fremont, Lincoln, Alliance, Columbus, Hastings, Scottsbluff, South Sioux City and Sidney. By 1953 Omaha had locations in South Omaha near Rosenblatt Stadium at 3901 S 13th Street and the other in Florence at 8608 N 30th Street.

After discovering it could make more money selling the machines than running the restaurants, Taylor abandoned the concept in 1955. The remaining stores were left to their own devices and operated independently from one another. Over time, most of the shops struggled and eventually closed but some like two of the locations in Omaha remained and even thrived.

The Rosenblatt location took on a life of its own and went on to become a staple of the College World Series experience with spectators waiting in line for ice cream, burgers and other food. The expanded menu allowed the restaurant to remain open year-round rather than a seasonal ice cream shop. It even set up a beer garden during the baseball championship. Owner Mike Kelley delivered milkshakes and burgers to the ESPN crew during the broadcast. The location closed after the CWS moved downtown. It was replaced with a seasonal ice cream stand inside Blatt Beer and Table next to the Charles Schwab Field at 610 N 12th St.

By 2012 cousins Chris and Rick Mintun who worked at the Florence location as teenagers bought that store as well as another in northwest Omaha at 7130 N 120th Street that opened in the 2000s. Omaha locations. Before buying the ice cream shops, Chris went to college while Rick rose through the ranks at Zesto to become general manager. Expansion of the hot food menu helped the shop to evolve from a seasonal business to year-round.

Today Todd B. Jansa of Wahoo, NE and business partner Jerry Irons co-own the trademark. They bought it from Harold Brown who operated a few locations in Missouri. The old locations that are still open all have their unique identity and are all grandfathered into the franchise. Meanwhile Todd and Jerry look to expand Zesto with new franchises that must use the prescribed settings on the machines to maintain consistency of the soft serve. The ice cream machines continue to be manufactured by the Taylor Company which founded the franchise to begin with.

Today there are more than 30 ice cream shops operating under the Zesto name. They are located in the Midwest and the South in the states of Nebraska, South Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Indiana, Georgia and Louisiana. It maintains a devoted following in Omaha with it being named among the best ice cream shops in 2023 by The Reader.

Content written by Omaha Exploration. Feel free to leave a comment or a suggestion. Until then, keep exploring!

Omaha Exploration is sponsored by @Rockbrook Mortgage Inc.

Click here to learn about opportunities to sponsor Omaha Exploration!

More pictures

Contact me to learn more about M4K!