In 2006 Tosi and Co were celebrating 100 years in business on Main Street. That wasn’t quite accurate, although Peter Tosi had arrived in Canada in 1906. The earliest reference to Peter Tosey (sic) in the city was in 1912, when he was listed as a meatcutter living on the newly renamed Union Street, in Strathcona. He had a grocery store on Union by 1913, which was mainly a meat market. In 1913 the Province reported that “Entering the butcher shop kept by Peter Tosey at 565 Union street with drawn revolvers in their hands, two men robbed the proprietor of $150 on Saturday night shortly before 10 o’clock. Neither of the bandits wore masks, and Mr Tosey was able to furnish good descriptions of the men to the police. The meat market is about the middle of the block, and away from other stores. Business was slack on Saturday night, and Mr. Tosey was about to close the place when the two men entered the little shop. Thinking that they were customers Mr. Tosey turned to wait on them when he was confronted with two revolvers which were levelled at his head.”
Peter’s name was only changed to Tosi in 1924. He was born in Arona, Novara, Piedmont, Italy in 1884, and the 1921 census showed him arriving in Canada in 1906, and his younger brother, Joseph, (who was Guiseppe when he arrived) in 1914. They were both lodging on Union Street, and both were butchers. Joseph Tosey was married in 1922, and in 1929 he was still a clerk in Peter’s Union St business, which had now expanded by importing Italian foods. A year later J Tosi was manager of Can-Italian Macaroni Manufacturing, with an address here – 1315 E Hastings. That year Peter married Caterina Casorzo: she was also Italian, born in 1901.
The building on the corner was developed in 1929, when P Tosi obtained the permit for a $15,000 factory / warehouse designed by H S Griffith. The permit for Peter’s own business, on Main Street, (and still operating today) was taken out a few months later. By 1932 the business here had been renamed to Famous Foods, with J Tosi as president. The 3-storey addition was added that year. In 1933 Catherina and Peter had a son, Angelo, who was featured in a full page collage of babies in the city a year later, and a daughter, Mary.
When the business started in 1929 it could manufacture 10,000 lbs of pasta a day, but by 1935 (a year after this image was taken), it was running on three shifts and processing 25,000 lbs a day, with a new flour mill under construction. It manufactured pasta from Canadian wheat, and that year the grocery department of The Bay sold their macaroni, alphabets, noodles, shells, etc at 5c for an 8oz package. The company were faced with a court case in 1933 that led to them dropping one line – Creamettes – after a trademark dispute with the Creamette Co of Minneapolis. The court proceedings were brought against Peter, rather than Joseph Tosi, suggesting a continued involvement in the business.
In 1950 the company announced that ‘out of respect to the passing of Mrs. Emma Tosey, wife of the President of Famous Foods Ltd. and Master Baker Flour Mills Ltd., the plants and offices of this company will be closed’. The earliest mention of the flour mill was in 1947. In 1958 Safeway were offering a 2lb pack of Famous Foods spaghetti for just 25c. A year later the company were offering direct sales from the mill: 50 lbs of flour was $2.85, and by 1968 the offerings had increased. The cash-and-carry sold carob powder, dry and tinned pasta, cheeses, and specialty imports including Polish, Syrian and Arabian Food.
In 1963 the flour mill increased capacity and added 20 workers when an export deal was negotiated to ship flour to Russia. At the time it was described by The Sun as the only flour mill still operating in the province. The food processing activities of Famous Foods ended in 1964, after a string of complaints about the quality of tinned foods, and mis-labeling of the contents. The fine of $1,800 was paid, but the company president said it would close down after all the bad publicity.
Joseph Tosey died in 1975, survived by his second wife, Katherine, a son, and two daughters. The retail business was still here in 1978, but a year later it had moved to Commercial Street, and a few years later to Kingsway (where Famous Foods can still be found). Peter Tosi died in 1973, and Catherina in 1982. Their son, Angelo, continued to run the family Italian food store on Main Street.
For at least 30 years the site has been cleared and used for second-hand car sales.
Image source: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 99-4688
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Changing Vancouver 