Although the accolade was given on the basis that Toto's Pizza House was the first pizza bar in Australia, it is more likely that Lucia's Pizza and Spaghetti Bar of Adelaide should hold this title having opened its doors before 1959.
The first pizza shop in Australia
In 1961, the first pizza shop, Toto's Pizzeria, opened its doors in the Carlton neighbourhood of Melbourne. Today, Toto's pizza place has several chain stores across the country. As a result of being the first in Australia, they received a place in the World Pizza Hall of Fame.
Lucia's Pizza Bar opened in 1957 and may well be Australia's first pizza restaurant, a title claimed for many years by Toto's in Melbourne. The cafe, at Adelaide's Central Market, served home-style Italian pizza and pasta and still has a reputation for serving the city's best pizza Margherita.
The first Italian pizza restaurant, Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba, began baking pizzas in 1738 as the dish grew in popularity, especially with tourists visiting Naples. Then, in 1889, modern pizza was born when pizzamaker Raffaele Esposito created the “Pizza Margherita” for the Queen consort of Italy, Margherita of Savoy.
The first Australian Pizza Hut opened in Belfield, Sydney in April 1970. The building (shown here) was most recently a Korean restaurant with the red roof painted green, but in early 2018 was demolished, to be replaced by a mixed-use development.
Pizza dates back thousands of years, believe it or not, tracing its roots back to the flatbreads with toppings that were popular with ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. But modern pizza, the flatbreads with tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings, was born along the western coast of Italy, in the city of Naples.
Domino's started out small, with just one store in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 1960. Fast forward more than 60 years, and Domino's has grown to become one of the most recognized and leading pizza brands in the world.
Toto's Pizza House (Toto's) was the first pizzeria established in Melbourne, Australia, now a small chain of Pizza stores.
Shakey's Pizza is the oldest pizza chain in America
For context, Pizza Hut first opened in 1958, making Shakey's Pizza the oldest pizza restaurant by only four years.
Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba is a pizzeria in Naples, Italy, which is widely believed to be the world's first pizzeria.
Meanwhile, Toto's Pizza House was the first pizzeria founded in Australia, opening in 1961 at the hands of Salvatore Della Bruna, who claims to have invented the 'Aussie' pizza with bacon, egg and pineapple.
Fast-forward several decades to 1898, and on Melbourne's very own Lonsdale Street, stood what is largely considered to have been the first Italian restaurant in Australia to achieve public notoriety ― Fasoli's.
Primarily regarded as the first pizza ever created, the tried-and-tested margherita pizza was created in 1899 and continues to dominate as Australia's most popular pizza takeaway choice.
The "Aussie" was invented by the late Salvatore Della Bruna, the Picasso of Australia's pizza heritage who established this country's first pizza parlour, Toto's on Melbourne's Lygon Street.
Nestled in the city's bustling centre, the famous Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba is not only the oldest pizzeria in Naples, Italy but the oldest pizzeria in the whole world.
Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd (Domino's) is the largest pizza chain in Australia in terms of both network store numbers and network sales. It is also the largest franchisee for the Domino's Pizza brand in the world.
Who Named the First Pizza? Though we can never answer that question with certainty, we have proof of when the word pizza was used. Guiseppe Nocca, a food culture historian, discovered the word pizza in an official document in 997 AD. The paper was in Latin from Southern Italy, specifically the city of Gaeta.
The queen fancied hers with mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil, and from there on out, this iconic combo has been called the Margherita pizza. This meal is also credited as the first pizza delivery! Though it's unclear who invented the word “pizza,” the first documented instance is credited to Gaeta, Italy in 997 AD.
Legend has it that Italian King Umberto I and Queen Margherita visited Naples in 1889. There, Esposito was asked to make them a pizza. He topped the pizza with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil. That pizza is still known as Pizza Margherita today.
The Neapolitan flatbread, known as 'Pizzaiola', was invented in the 1800s. Initially, the dish was made using only tomato sauce and garlic on a bread base, and it was known as the 'Pomodoro e Mozzarella' pizza.
History. Pizza Hut was launched on May 31, 1958, by two brothers, Dan and Frank Carney, both Wichita State students, as a single location in Wichita, Kansas.
Monaghan wanted the stores to share the same branding, but the original owner forbade him from using the DomiNick's name. One day, an employee, Jim Kennedy, returned from a pizza delivery and suggested the name "Domino's".
The inventor of pizza is a highly debated topic amongst foodies and historians alike. Many people credit baker Raffaele Esposito from the Naples region of Italy for first creating the dish. Others believe that the history of pizza dates far further back than Esposito's era of the late 1800s.
How Was Domino's Pizza Started? Domino's pizza restaurant history began in 1960 with just one location. Back then, Domino's was called DomiNick's, and two brothers named Tom and James purchased it for just $500! Tom renamed the restaurant Domino's Pizza five years later.