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L.A.M. Phelan’s Zesto Ice Cream

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Published May 5, 2025 | Updated July 13, 2026

Zesto is famous in these parts for being part of the College World Series spectacle in South Omaha. But there was a time the chain challenged Dairy Queen for soft serve supremacy.

Zesto can trace its beginning to L.A.M. Phelan, someone you wouldn’t associate with starting an ice cream chain. Born in St. Louis in 1884, the serial inventor is most well-known for inventing the broaster, which remains in use by thousands of restaurants. Starting at the age of 17, he was associated with projects including American Car and Foundry Company, Monsanto Chemical Company, the Panama Canal project, Allis-Chalmers Company, and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. He went on to invent and develop the non-deteriorating mercury switch, for which he obtained 52 patents. Among his inventions was the soft-serve ice cream machine that challenged Dairy Queen for dominance.

In 1928, Phelan found himself as the head of Taylor Freezer Corporation. Founded by Charles Taylor in 1926, the company made its name by allowing restaurants to manufacture their own ice cream using a mix. It was under Phelan’s leadership that the Zest-O-Mat soft-serve and custard machine was invented in 1945. The machine led to the development of the Zesto franchise concept, which saw the company open its first drive-in in El Paso, Texas, in 1948. At that point, the company signed franchise agreements that granted exclusive use of the ice cream machines and the name.

Zesto set its sights on the queen and grew quickly. By 1949, it operated locations in 46 states stretching from California to Florida. The first Nebraska location opened a year later in Norfolk, followed by 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 another in Florence at 8608 N. 30th Street.

Dairy Queen soon left Zesto and its other competitors in the dust, expanding from 100 stores in 1947 to 2,600 by 1955. Taylor abandoned the concept that same year after discovering it could make more money selling the Zest-O-Mat machines. 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 the two Omaha locations, remained and even thrived.

The Rosenblatt location took on a life of its own as Zesto went on to become a staple of the CWS. As a result, college baseball fans waited in long lines for ice cream, burgers, food, and even beer once it established a beer garden. The expanded menu allowed the restaurant to remain open year-round rather than operating as a seasonal ice cream shop. The owner’s son, Tom Kelley, even hand delivered burgers and milkshakes to the ESPN crew during the games. The location closed after the CWS moved downtown. It was replaced with a seasonal ice cream stand inside Blatt Beer and Table, next to Charles Schwab Field at 610 N. 12th Street.

Cousins Chris and Rick Minturn worked at the Zesto in Florence as teenagers. As Rick remained and was promoted to general manager, Chris continued his education. In 2009, they bought the Florence location, and three years later they bought the location in northwest Omaha at 7130 N. 102nd Circle. Zesto was a family affair as their grandmother worked in Florence three decades prior. The cousins expanded the hot food menu, helping it evolve from a seasonal business to year-round.

The current trademark holders are Todd B. Jansa and business partner Jerry Irons. The two were self-described car guys who met in the mid-1980s while cruising Lincoln’s O Street, making regular stops at the Zesto down the road. Jansa’s connection goes back even further. He told the Flatwater Free Press that his mother stopped for a black raspberry malt on her way to the delivery room, telling him years later that she was feeding him Zesto umbilically. Irons later moved to California while Jansa remained in Nebraska.

They approached Harold “Brownie” Brown in the 2000s about buying the trademark. Brown had registered the Zesto name in 1985 and operated locations in Missouri. The remaining locations that are still open all have their own identity and are grandfathered into the franchise. Meanwhile, Jansa and Irons 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, the same company that founded the chain to begin with. While its numbers are well down from the days when it had locations in 46 states, Zesto still maintains a presence with more than 30 locations in Nebraska, South Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Indiana, Georgia and Louisiana.

Zesto maintains a devoted following in Omaha, having been named among the best ice cream shops in Omaha by The Reader in 2023. Even so, nothing can compare to that shop just south of the old ballpark on South 13th Street.

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

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