Angelo's History
2008 marked the 40th anniversary of Angelo’s Fresh Pasta Products. Angelo first started hand-making pasta under his house in 1968. Since then, the business has steadily grown to become Queensland’s largest award-winning pasta producer.
Born in Northern Italy, Angelo was nineteen when he immigrated to Australia in 1952. He started out finding seasonal work—picking pears in Shepparton, grapes in Griffith, and cutting cane in Bundaberg. He planted pine trees in Gympie, made tyres for Dunlop in Melbourne, and then, after driving trucks for Transfield in Kuranda, took over as their cook and stayed on, cooking for the camp of workers for the next two years. Whilst working on the Snowy Mountain Project in 1963, he received a medal for setting a world record in tunnel drilling – 552 feet in one week!
After marrying Val in 1964, Angelo returned to Italy. While there he saw a little shop selling fresh pasta and inspiration struck. In 1965, he bought two small pasta machines and brought them back on the boat to Australia.
For the next few years, Angelo ran a restaurant in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley and used the two small pasta machines to make fresh pasta that he would serve on the daily menu. After the restaurant was sold, Angelo worked as a cook for Transfield at Swanbank for a few months before he started working full-time, making pasta. In 1968, Angelo’s Fresh Pasta Products was born.
Angelo moved the manufacturing operation to a factory in Wandoo Street, Fortitude Valley in 1975. The business continued to grow and in 1992, Angelo moved Angelo’s Fresh Pasta Products around the corner to their current site on Doggett Street: the big red factory, a landmark in the neighbourhood.
In forty years, Angelo’s Fresh Pasta Products has certainly come a long way. Angelo attributes determination and hard work as the secret recipe of his success.