Rose Totino helped turn a small Minneapolis pizza shop into one of America’s best-known frozen pizza brands.
In 1975, 24 years after opening the business with her husband, Jim Totino, she sold Totino’s to the Pillsbury Company for a deal reported at $22 million.
Her success came from making pizza that people loved and finding a way to bring it into homes across the country. Her work also helped change the frozen pizza business, especially through her efforts to develop a crisp crust that held up after freezing and baking.
Totino died of cancer in June 1994 at age 79, according to her obituary published that month. Beyond her business success, she was known for giving millions of dollars to charities and supporting schools, churches and community projects.
Mario Ferrari, owner of Mario’s Restaurant, smiles with Rose Totino, founder of Totino’s frozen pizza, at the Pizza Awards in 1980 in Nashville, Tennessee.Photo by Bob Grannis/Getty Images
In 1951, Rose and Jim Totino opened Totino’s Italian Kitchen in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They started with a small kitchen and a $1,500 loan, according to Investors.
A story often told about the business says Rose had to bake a pizza for a bank loan officer because he did not know what pizza was. The loan helped the couple open their shop, which soon became popular with local customers.
Demand grew so much that the restaurant expanded from takeout to sit-down dining. At its busiest, the shop reportedly made 400 to 500 pizzas a day.
The couple later saw a chance to reach more customers by selling frozen pizza. In 1962, they began making frozen pizzas for people to bake at home, per General Mills. The move helped take their business beyond Minneapolis and into the growing national market for convenient frozen food.
In 1975, Pillsbury acquired Totino’s. Reports put the deal at about $22 million, including company stock, while some accounts describe the cash offer and stock portion separately.
Rose continued working with the company after the sale. She helped develop Totino’s signature “Crisp Crust,” designed to stay crisp after freezing and baking. The crust patent was granted in 1979, helping strengthen the brand’s place in the frozen pizza market.
The acquisition also brought Rose a major career milestone: She became Pillsbury’s first female corporate vice president. Her work was later recognized in 2008, when she was inducted into the Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame for her role in frozen pizza innovation.
Rose also used her success to support others. Her charitable giving helped fund arts and mental health projects, school improvements, church repairs and community needs in Minnesota and her family’s ancestral village of Scopoli, Italy.
Her story began with a small restaurant and a loan for an unfamiliar food. It grew into a business that helped make frozen pizza a familiar choice for families across America.
Related: George Peabody grew up 1 of 7 children in a poor Massachusetts family; he gave away more than $8 million before he died, including a $2 million gift to educate the poor
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