Eighteen years ago, budding entrepreneurs Jerry and Naomi Hancock had a problem. The burrito business they’d opened in Orem was not covering the rent.
One day, Naomi came across an article about chemists making ice cream using liquid nitrogen. She showed it to Jerry, who was a chemistry major in college.
Jerry reached out to his chemistry professors at BYU, who told him that it was relatively easy to make ice cream with liquid nitrogen, but it didn't taste good. It wasn’t anything you’d want to sell commercially.
Instead of giving up on the idea, Jerry started experimenting. Through trial and error, he found the perfect ratio blending liquid nitrogen (at minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit) with liquid flavors and ingredients to produce perfectly textured ice cream that was tasty.
Better yet, the process took about 30 seconds. A customer could witness their order come to life in less time than it would take to dig a scoop out of a conventional ice cream tub.
He and Naomi called their new product Sub Zero Ice Cream and started selling it next door. The burrito business soon died out, but not the ice cream. They’ve been selling liquid nitrogen ice cream ever since.
Today there are 30 franchises in locations around the United States, including five in Utah.