Toto's Pizza House
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Toto's Pizza House (Toto's) was the first
pizzeria A pizzeria is a restaurant focusing on pizza. A pizzeria may offer take-away, where the customer orders their food either in advance or at the restaurant and then takes the prepared food with them in a pizza box. A pizzeria may deliver food to ...
established in Melbourne, Australia, now a small chain of Pizza stores. Toto's opened for business on 7 July 1961 in Lygon Street,
Carlton, Victoria Carlton is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, three kilometres north of the Melbourne central business district within the city of Melbourne local government area. Carlton recorded a population of 16,055 at the 2021 census. ...
, where the business remained until closing in 2020 due to Melbourne’s COVID lockdowns. Toto's was originally owned by Salvatore Della Bruna, who operated the business in partnership with Franco Fera and in 1968 with Silvio Tuli and Salvatore Mercogliano. Successful, and well respected, business man Mario Bandera also played a large part. In 1983 the business was purchased by the most recent owner and Managing Director, Sami Mazloum. Silvana Mercogliano, the wife of former owner Salvatore Mercogliano, credited Toto's with changing the image of Lygon Street from an area with primary appeal to European migrants, commonly referred to as New Australians in the 1950s, to an eating destination of mainstream Australians in the 1960s. Professional historians have credited Toto's Pizza House with contributing to the development of pizza as an Australian fast-food staple. In 2007 Toto's Pizza House was inducted as the second member of the World Pizza Hall of Fame, after Lombardi's Pizza in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. Although the accolade was given on the basis that Toto's Pizza House was the first pizza bar in Australia, it was unknown at the time that Lucia's Pizza and Spaghetti Bar of Adelaide should hold this title having opened its doors in 1957.


See also

*
List of pizzerias in Australia This is a list of notable pizzerias in Australia. Chain restaurants Current * Domino's Pizza Enterprises – an Australian company that holds the master franchise for the Domino's Pizza brand in Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium, Neth ...


References


Further reading

*Michael Harden (2008). ''Lygon Street: stories and recipes from Melbourne's melting pot'', Millers Point, NSW, Murdoch Books Australia. *Peter Yule (ed.) (2004). ''Carlton. A History'', Carlton, Victoria, Melbourne University Press and Carlton Residents Association. {{ISBN, 0-522-85204-1 1961 establishments in Australia Restaurants established in 1961 Pizzerias in Australia Companies based in Victoria (state) Italian-Australian culture in Melbourne