| Tony Packo's Cafe | |
| Type: | Restaurant |
| Foundation: | 1932 |
| Founder: | Tony Packo |
| Location City: | Toledo, Ohio |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Locations: | 5 |
| Key People: | Bob Bennett, Tony Packo Jr. |
| Industry: | Restaurant, pre-packaged foods |
| Revenue: | $5 Million (2003) |
| Owner: | Bob Bennett |
| Num Employees: | 190 (2010) |
| Parent: | TP Foods LLC |
Tony Packo's Cafe is a restaurant that started in the Hungarian neighborhood of Birmingham, on the east side of Toledo, Ohio, at 1902 Front Street.
Founded in 1932, the restaurant became famous when it was mentioned in several episodes of the 1972-83 M*A*S*H television series. Dubbed "Toledo’s most famous eatery"[1] and “a Toledo institution”, it is noted for its signature sandwich and large collection of hot dog buns signed by celebrities.[2]
During the Great Depression in 1932, Tony Packo used a $100 loan to open his shop, which originally sold only sandwiches and ice cream. In 1935, the Packo family purchased the current wedge-shaped (flat iron-shaped) building on the corner of Front and Consaul streets next to the Maumee River, which includes the former Consaul Tavern.[2]
Packo invented his signature "sausage-and-sauce sandwich" on rye after he decided to add a spicy chili sauce to his sandwiches for more flavor. The sandwich features a Hungarian sausage called kolbász, not unlike the Polish kielbasa; slicing the sausage in half yields about the same amount of meat as a conventional hot dog. This creation became known as the "Hungarian hot dog", even though no such thing had come from the Old Country.[2]
When Tony became seriously ill in 1962, his daughter Nancy Packo Horvath took control of the business. Tony died in 1963 at the age of 55; his son Tony Jr. (Horvath's brother) joined the company in 1968 at the age of 20. The company had a long period of growth in the late 1960s under the leadership of the siblings.[3] The Packos started in the packaged food business in 1980 after Merco Foods agreed to carry a line of pickles under the family brand.
In July 2002, Horvath and her son Robin (himself a Packo's vice president) sued Tony Jr. and his son Tony Packo III for libel, breach of duty, and trying to force her out of the business. A week later, Tony Jr. and Tony III counter-sued to dissolve the business, claiming that as each family owned 50 percent of the company they were at an impasse. The families settled their dispute in October 2002 by adding an impartial third person to the company's board of directors. Tony Jr. said that the problem occurred because there was no formalized succession plan. Soon after the dispute was settled, Horvath was diagnosed with cancer; she died on April 23, 2003.[3] [4]
Robert G. Bennett bought Tony Packo's, Inc., in October 2011 for $5.5 million in a court-ordered sale. Bennett died in May 2013.[5]
In October 2019, Packo's opened two concept stores in Kroger grocery stores in Perrysburg, Ohio, and Holland, Ohio.[6]
When actor Burt Reynolds visited Toledo in 1972, he made a stop at the restaurant on the suggestion of Tony's daughter, Nancy. Reynolds was the first big name to eat at Packo's, and he also began the tradition of "bun signing" when he inscribed his signature on a Packo hot dog bun.[2] Ever since then, celebrities who visit the restaurant sign a "bun"—now a foam, air-brushed look-alike—and have it placed on the walls of Packo's.
Tony Packo's Cafe gained world-wide fame when M*A*S*H character Maxwell Klinger, who was portrayed by Toledo native Jamie Farr, mentioned the restaurant as his favorite eatery. Tony Packo's was mentioned in six episodes of the series.[2]
In the season 4 (1976) episode "The Interview", Klinger says to interviewer Clete Roberts, "Incidentally, if you're ever in Toledo, Ohio, on the Hungarian side of town, Tony Packo's, greatest Hungarian hot dogs, with chili peppers, 35 cents, and a cold beer!"[4]
In the Season 6 (1977) "The Grim Reaper", Klinger and a wounded soldier, Private Danker, exchange nostalgic memories of Toledo. Danker says he had his last Hungarian hot dog just three days before he shipped out for Korea. After Danker has been sent home, he sends Klinger some Packo's Hungarian hot dogs and chili peppers, which Klinger shares with Hawkeye Pierce, B.J. Hunnicutt, and Charles Winchester.
In the Season 7 (1978) episode "Dear Sis", Klinger relays to Father Mulcahy about his dream of "Christmas tree, 10 feet high. Strung with an endless chain of Packo's Hungarian hot dogs. And up on top, dressed like an angel, is my ex-wife, Laverne."
The season 8 (1980) episode "Dreams" features the visual of Tony Packo's in the M*A*S*H series. Here, Klinger falls asleep out of exhaustion and dreams he is walking through the windswept deserted streets of Toledo. He looks through the shop window of Tony Packo's, but he only sees the 4077th Operating Room with Colonel Potter gesturing to him. The patient turns to look at him and Klinger finds that the patient is himself. (The address as seen on the restaurant store front, 1902 Front Street, is accurate, but the scene was filmed on a set and not on location.)
In the Season 9 (1980) episode "A War for All Seasons", the hospital unit orders a batch of sausage casings from Tony Packo's to use in a blood-filtering machine (a crude artificial kidney).
In the season 11 (1983) finale "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" (the series' two-and-a-half hour final episode), when Klinger finds out that B.J. has received his orders to return home, he says, "Boy, what a lucky guy. I'd give anything to be back in Toledo. Sitting in Packo's with the guys, having a beer and eating a dog while the chili sauce drips down your arm..."
The actual Tony Packo's restaurant exhibits memorabilia from M*A*S*H on the premises, including the prop box used for the sausage casings in "A War for All Seasons".