Custard Chronicles: The 5 families of frozen custard

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- For the very first time, we've brought together five of Milwaukee's frozen custard legends: Gilles, Leon's, Kopp's, Oscar's, and Culver's. 

We sat down with the men who know our favorite frozen treat best to learn the origins of frozen custard and the time-honored traditions that define these iconic shops. 

That includes Willy Linscott of Gilles, Ron Schneider from Leon's, Jeff Feist from Kopp's, Jim Taylor from Oscars and Craig Culver of Culvers.

CBS 58's Alex Corradetti got the exclusive sit-down interview. She asked them if they'd ever gotten together before. 

"It's a first for all of us to be face to face. It feels really awesome, I think. Thanks to you Alex, we're getting the custard gang together," said Linscott.

"I've only seen Craig on TV, it's nice to meet him," said Feist. 

"In the time it takes to run these shops, when would we all have time to get together in the same space?" said Schneider. 

With the Custard Kings all sprinkled together, it was time to dig into their backstories. 

"Gilles is Wisconsin's oldest custard stand… but it doesn't mean it was the first," said Linscott. 

"The first frozen custard stand in Milwaukee was started by Joe Clark, brother of Emory Clark, Clark Oil Company. The second store was Gilles in 1938. My father worked for Paul Gilles as his night manager with the intention of opening a store at some point. We opened May 1st, 1942. At that point there were three stores in the whole area. We opened on May 1st of 1942, at that point there were 3 stores in the whole area. At that point people tried to come to my father to ask about the business," explained Schneider. 

Jim Taylor runs Oscar's Frozen Custard with his beloved wife Susie Taylor. He shared special his first memory of frozen custard with us. 

"When I was maybe 10 my mom took us to Leon's custard, and she said this Is the best ice cream in the world. And of course it's custard, and it was but I still have that memory in my mind from when I was ten years old about frozen custard," said Taylor. 

Soon after Leon's Custard, came Kopp's in 1950, and both Culvers and Oscars Frozen Custard in 1984.

Both Taylor and Culver agree, there was just something special about Leon's Frozen Custard. 

"I feel like I have a connection to all these people because I was looking at them a long time ago. While I was going to school and whenever I had a chance, I went over to Leon's Frozen Custard in OshKosh... the stuff tasted so good. I actually bought our first six custard machines from Ron," exclaimed Culver. 

"In 1984, we tried to figure out why is his custard so good. After a while of chasing down Leon's and Kopps, we found out that Ron made the machines that were crazy good, so all of our machines came from Ron also," said Taylor. 

"The machine is critically important, and then the know-how—you have to do the work. Some things in the food business you can neglect, like a Twinkie… because it lasts forever, but in our case, you have to be mindful of this product. In our case, I want everybody to get the best they can," said Schneider. 

Culver says there is a science and an art behind making good frozen custard. 

"It's the temperature of the custard too. If you get it too cold, your taste buds don't react as much. Ron taught us many years ago it should be at 22 or 23 degrees," said Taylor. 

"20 to 22 degrees. Your taste buds don’t work below 15 degrees. With our product, if you get over 22, it starts to get hard to work with because it melts," explained Schneider. 

All of the Custard Kings agree, the product quality must come first. 

“Our philosophy has always been to try and keep the product the same year after year after year. We have so many customers that have been gone for 10-20 years and they get a burger and custard, and they say man this is just how I remember it when I was a kid and that's always been our goal. What Elsa Kopp started in 1950, and what her son Karl Kopp and perfected it and came up with a lot of new ideas and we have been able to keep that consistency after all these years," said Feist. 

Feist went on to say that keeping the machines running and showing off the fresh custard keeps customers coming back for more.

Corradetti asked the icons if they eat each other's product to this day. Culver shared a funny story. 

"I went over to Leon's on the other side of town. We pull in order a turtle sundae. A car pulls up next to us, rolls down her window and says hello Mr. Culver… Darn you caught me!" laughed Culver. 

The Five Families of Frozen Custard agree that working together is what's best for Wisconsin. 

"I think it's in our best interest and Milwaukee's best interest to rally together and promote the culture of frozen custard. It's like it's our food identity if not the food identity of Milwaukee," said Linscott. 

“That's one of the greatest strengths of our success here is that early on we had a good direction, we all were able to get good mix, we had equipment, some training and stuck with it. Because there's all sorts of people that think they know about frozen custard in other parts of the country, and they don't know about frozen custard," said Schneider. 

We will have Custard Chronicles Part 3: Frozen Custard Culture on CBS 58 News Wednesday at 10 pm. Don't miss it!