It may be under new ownership, but Cabot’s is an unchanging institution.

Friends sit around a round table as they have lunch at Cabot’s Ice Cream & Restaurant which has been in business since 1969. A local gathering place for friends and family enjoying the nostalgic vibe and cheap menu prices. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

“The rate of change in our lives today can be very unsettling,” said Kay Masterson, who took over Cabot’s with her husband, Kevin, just over two years ago. “There’s a huge diversity of people that rely on these places as kind of this touchpoint. … There’s something you can see when people walk in, they just feel good knowing that Cabot’s is still there.”

At first, the community was hesitant to see Cabot’s under new ownership. But the Mastersons have become well-known in Newton after taking over Johnny’s Luncheonette, a retro diner on Langley Road, 11 years ago.

Customers sit in booths as pendant light hang above them at Cabot’s Ice Cream & Restaurant which has been in business since 1969. A local gathering place for friends and family enjoying the nostalgic vibe and cheap menu prices. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

“It’s been here forever,” said Juliana Zambrim, who worked for the Mastersons at Johnny’s for 10 years. “All the customers grew up coming here. People who come here who are 60 bring their grandkids. It’s a tradition here in Newton.”

In taking over Cabot’s, the Mastersons aspired to change as little as possible. They switched from setting the tables to using utensil rollups but kept the layout of the restaurant.

“We just brought more management in there, some from Johnny’s, that allowed us to staff it and to build the sales and not change pretty much anything,” Kevin Masterson said.

Joe Prestejohn (center) former owner of Cabot’s Ice Cream shares a hot fudge sundae he made with new owners Kay and Kevin Masterson. Cabot’s Ice Cream & Restaurant has been in business since 1969. A local gathering place for friends and family enjoying the nostalgic vibe and cheap menu prices.John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

So far, things have been a breeze. Two years in, the Mastersons have been welcomed by the community. But they also have a not-even-close-to-secret weapon: Joe Prestejohn.

Prestejohn is known as Cabot’s “ice cream ambassador” — that is, he’s the face of the business. It makes sense — he’s the one who sold it to the Mastersons. Cabot’s was in his family for nearly 55 years. He started working there when he was 11.

“My punishment was if I didn’t do my homework, I couldn’t come to work,” Prestejohn said sitting at a Cabot’s booth on a recent Tuesday afternoon. “That was always my dream, just to stay here, be here.”

A menu board at Cabot’s Ice Cream & Restaurant.John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

Prestejohn wrestled long and hard with whether to sell. He took over the restaurant from his parents when he was 26, working alongside his sister and mother after his father died at the age of 63. He worked 85-plus hours a week. While he loved the grind, he wanted more time to spend with his grandkids.

When Prestejohn started talking with the Mastersons about a sale, Kay told him she wanted to free up his time so he could spend more of it in the community, doing all the parts of the job he loves most.

“Two years later, that’s the thing I’m most thrilled about,” Kay said, “is that when I see him out in the community scooping ice cream, knowing that he’s also got time in that week to see his grandkids and to go to Aruba and do all the things that were really hard for him to do when he had the restaurant himself.”

Violet Chan, 5 from Newton, colors fishes at her table as she waits for her meal at Cabot’s Ice Cream & Restaurant.John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

Now, Prestejohn works a few days a week, but his main job is running community events. Cabot’s sponsors the local Little League team and the Boys & Girls Club; rather than put money into advertising, Prestejohn said his family always wanted to go “into good use, back into the community.”

“Joe is just a legend, he’s like a second father to me,” said Laurei Antonellis, who has been a server at Cabot’s since 1990, when she was 15 years old.

For Antonellis, Cabot’s is a second family. When she first heard Prestejohn was thinking about selling, it was the first time she really considered leaving the restaurant; the idea that her “family might be pulled apart … hurt [her] heart.” But she trusts the Mastersons; they’ve only added to the family.

Hot fudge is drizzled onto a hot fudge sundae at Cabot’s.John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

“They’ve done a really good job of preserving what was already here,” Antonellis said. “They’ve just added more hands to help out.”

Kay said her hope is to ensure Cabot’s continues to be a staple in the community for years to come. In changing as little as possible — including the prices — she hopes Cabot’s remains the sort of place people can come for human connection.

“We forget the importance of human connection,” Kay said. “Isolation is not good for anybody, and to be able to come out to a place like Cabot’s, and sit at the counter and just hang out for a bit with a cup of coffee — these aren’t expensive things to do, but they can make a great difference in people’s lives. We don’t want to lose that. I mean, there’s nobody that sits down to one of those amazing sundaes and doesn’t have sort of a smile on their face.”

Manager Theo Vallas takes a phone order at the counter at Cabot's. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

Emily Wyrwa can be reached at emily.wyrwa@globe.com. Follow her @emilywyrwa.