Totino's
 | |
| Product type | Frozen pizza and pizza products |
|---|---|
| Owner | General Mills |
| Country | United States |
| Introduced | 1951 (Totino's) 1968 (Jeno's) |
| Markets | Worldwide |
| Previous owners | Rose and Jim Totino (Totino's) Jeno's Inc. (Jeno's) Pillsbury Company |
| Website | www |
| Part of a series on |
| Pizza |
|---|
 |
Totino's is a brand of frozen pizza products owned by General Mills, best known for their pizza rolls. Totino's was founded as a restaurant in the 1950s in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which expanded to frozen foods in the 1960s. They also operate the Jeno's brand.
History
[edit]
Jim Totino founded a take-out pizzeria in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on February 7, 1951. After customers regularly tried to eat in the store, they expanded to a full-service restaurant,[1] which relocated to Mound's View in 2008 before closing in 2011.[2]
Totino's expanded as a frozen-pizza manufacturing company in the 1960s, first selling frozen pastas out of their restaurant, then expanding to frozen pizza when they purchased a plant in St. Louis Park, Minnesota in 1961.[1] In 1970, they built a larger-capacity plant in Fridley.[1] The Totinos sold their frozen pizza business to the Pillsbury Company in 1975, where Rose Totino was named as vice-president.[3] After the acquisition, Rose Totino helped develop a new in-house crust and the brand grew nationwide.[1] By the 1970s, they were the top-selling frozen pizza in the United States.[4] Totino-Grace High School in Fridley was renamed after the brand's founders in 1980.[5]
Separately, Jeno Paulucci developed a series of food businesses starting in the late 1940s, including the Chun King line of Chinese foods.[6] After selling Chun King in 1966, he founded Jeno's Inc. in 1968, where cook and product developer Beatrice Ojakangas developed Pizza Rolls,[7][8] a type of egg roll filled with pizza ingredients. The first pizza roll flavor was cheese.[6] In 1985, Paulucci sold his Jeno's Pizza Rolls brand to Pillsbury for $135 million.[9]
The Jeno's line of pizza rolls was rebranded as Totino's in 1993.[10] Totino's was acquired by General Mills with its purchase of Pillsbury in 2001.[1]
Health and nutrition issues
[edit]On November 1, 2007, Totino's and Jeno's brand pizza were recalled for E. coli contamination.[11]
Totino's products contain cheese substitutes made with hydrogenated oil.[12] Totino's products have been criticized for their high amount of trans fat[13] and sodium.[14] In 2011, Consumer Reports rated Totino's as "only fair for nutrition" because of "high total fat and trans fat and low fiber."[15] [16] Packaging on Totino's brand pizza now indicates 0 trans fats per serving.[17]
In pop culture
[edit]Saturday Night Live featured a popular series of ad parodies for Totino's Pizza Rolls in the 2010s, starring Vanessa Bayer.[18]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Johnston, Louis (April 29, 2021). "How Totino's secured Minnesota's slice of the frozen pizza market". Retrieved 31 January 2025.
- ^ "Totino's Italian Kitchen in Mounds View to close after 60 years". Pioneer Press. twincities.com. 7 June 2011. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
- ^ "Rose Totino". Great American Leaders of the 20th Century. Harvard Business School. n.d. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
- ^ Huddleston Jr., Tom (May 2, 2020). "The history of frozen pizza—how a frozen food staple became a multibillion-dollar business". CNBC. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
- ^ "History and Heritage". Totino-Grace High School. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
- ^ a b Slotnik, Daniel E. (November 25, 2011). "Jeno Paulucci, a Pioneer of Ready-Made Ethnic Foods, Dies at 93". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
- ^ Johnston, Louis D.; Riley, Susan E. (May 19, 2021). "How (American) Chinese cuisine gave birth to the Minnesota-invented pizza roll". MinnPost. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
- ^ Dean, Lee Svitak (October 9, 2016). "Adventure of a lifetime". Star Tribune. pp. E7. Retrieved March 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Finkelstein, Matt (2007-11-02). "The Master Chef". Inc.com. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
- ^ "Totino's History". Totino's. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
- ^ "Ohio Firm Recalls Frozen Meat Pizzas Due to Possible E. Coli O157:H7 Contamination" (Press release). Food Safety and Inspection Service. November 1, 2007. Archived from the original on 2008-02-09. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
- ^ "Pizza Makers Whip Dairy Lobby, Duck 'Imitation Cheese'". Ocala Star-Banner. June 10, 1987. Retrieved October 31, 2012 – via Google News.
- ^ Rem, Kathryn (January 18, 2012). "Kathryn Rem: Investigating the contents of packaged foods – Trans Fats Have Not Gone Away". GateHouse News Service. Archived from the original on 20 Jan 2013. Retrieved 2019-11-01 – via Journal Star.
- ^ "Processed-Food Makers Criticized on Sodium". The New York Times. Associated Press. February 13, 1986. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
- ^ "Shop Smart: Frozen pizzas can satisfy even adults". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Consumer Reports. January 30, 2011. Archived from the original on 2019-11-01. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
- ^ Perrin, Gail (November 30, 1988). "Frozen Pizzas May Be High in Fat". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
- ^ "Combination Party Pizza: Nutrition Facts". Totino's. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
- ^ Fox, Jesse David (February 4, 2019). "The Story Behind SNL's 'Totino's' Sketches". Good One Podcast. Vulture. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
External links
[edit]- Totinos history via General Mills
- General Mills Totino's and Jeno's page Archived 2010-06-19 at the Wayback Machine
| Historical figures |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Cereals | ||
| Brands | ||
| Pillsbury | ||
| Snacks | ||
| Dairy | ||
| Baking | ||
| Natural & organic | ||
| Former | ||
| Other | ||
| Key innovations | ||
