The Livaditis family has run Zesto Drive-In and Big John’s Christmas Trees for more than 77 years.
At its peak in the 1980s, Zesto had 10 locations across metro Atlanta. After multiple recessions and a global pandemic, however, only East Atlanta and Forest Park remain open under family control.
But a new generation of Livaditis family members have taken over Zesto in hopes of reviving the iconic Atlanta restaurant brand, betting on people’s nostalgia and cravings for its Chubby Deckers (double-stack burgers) and soft-serve ice cream.
Brothers beef up operations
Lucas and John Livaditis, the grandsons of Zesto founder “Big John,” took over operations earlier this spring from their parents, Jimbo and Leigh Ann.
“My brother and I were here for 80 hours a week the first two months,” Lucas Livaditis told Rough Draft. “That March was the biggest we’ve had in six years … and then April was the second biggest.”
Fifteen minutes before the Forest Park Zesto started taking orders on a recent Friday, Lucas said his older brother John was opening the East Atlanta Zesto and grabbing some inventory to bring south.
The brothers do just about everything inside the retro fast-food joint: taking orders, filling inventory, training staff, and cleaning tables. If you go to a Zesto, there’s a Livaditis somewhere in the restaurant.
The Forest Park location is less than a 10-minute drive from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Lucas, vice president of strategy for Big John’s and Zesto, said people come from all over metro Atlanta to patronize their family business.
“At least once a day, someone comes in with their kids or grandchildren and says, ‘I’m bringing my kids because my grandparents brought me here when I was a kid,'” Livaditis said. “People come in here as a part of their family tradition. I’m shocked at how far people come from [to eat here].”
On the day of Lucas’ college graduation in 2021, his family learned that a tree had fallen on the Little Five Points Zesto. That location officially shuttered a few months later.
A little more than a year after that, his parents made the difficult decision to sell the Buckhead Zesto property on Piedmont Road. The family had already closed a longtime location on Ponce de Leon Avenue, which is now Cook Out.
“Every single day, John and I talk about getting back to Ponce de Leon,” Livaditis said. “We were there for 65 years. My dad designed that huge neon building … but they sold it in 2014 … I did work on the last day at Ponce, though, and I’ll never forget it.”
Working toward a century
The Livaditis brothers’ focus is now on perfecting operations, but they’re eyeing a return to the border of Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward and Midtown. Their goal is straightforward: “restore Zesto to the Ponce glory.”
“Ponce was a genuinely productive store that was probably in the upper quartile of restaurant volumes in Atlanta,” Livaditis said. “Seventy-seven years is longer than I can fathom. We have to be worthy of that, keep earning return visits, and welcome new people.”
Despite the Forest Park location being in an industrial area, surrounding neighbors, churchgoers, and hungry drivers still peel into the drive-thru for a snack.
Livaditis said it’s no mystery why the family business has shuttered its locations in recent years, and city planners across metro Atlanta probably don’t want to hear it.
“Little 5 and Piedmont didn’t have a drive-thru,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that those are the ones that closed in the last five years. The ones that have them are still here.”
Before jumping behind the counter for the day to take orders, Livaditis said he does not want residents and visitors to Atlanta to suffer in the summer heat. That means trying to sell more of Zesto’s coveted soft-serve ice cream.
“There’s a sweet spot of like 80 to 86 [degrees],” he said. “We’re really hoping people give us a try during the World Cup.”
