Togo's Eateries, LLC is an American chain of

fast casual A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is an intermediate conc ...

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

restaurants A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

owned by Southfield Mezzanine Capital who purchased the company in March 2019. Togo's is headquartered in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

. Togo's is a franchise-based business. Some Togo’s locations are co-branded with

Baskin-Robbins Baskin-Robbins is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake speciality shops owned by Inspire Brands. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin (1913–1967) and Irv Robbins (1917–2008) in ...

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

shops (which were both owned by the same parent company from 1997 to 2007). As of July 2020, the company has more than 180 locations open and under development throughout the West.

History

In 1964, two students of

Northern Michigan University Northern Michigan University (Northern Michigan, Northern or NMU) is a public university in Marquette, Michigan. It was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School. In 1963, the state designated Northern a uni ...

, Tom Neumann and Gordon Reed, opened the first Togo's in

Marquette, Michigan Marquette ( ) is a city in Marquette County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 20,629 at the 2020 United States Census, which makes it the largest city in the Upper Peninsula. Marquette serves as the seat of government of Marquett ...

. The origin of the name is twofold. The two co-founders combined parts of their first names, the "TO" from Tom and "GO" from Gordon. Additionally, the original shop had no seating, so all of the orders were "to go." Neumann departed a year after the founding, and in 1966 Reed sold the business to Joseph Fountain. Fountain moved the Marquette business twice, settling in its current location at 1000 North Third Street. A second location in nearby Harvey was opened in the mid-1990s, but closed in April 2019 Reed moved to

and in 1968 again opened a shop named Togo's, this time at 336 East William Street near

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

. At that time, the sandwich shack (in a building built in 1919 and less than ) was so small that only four people at a time could be inside and the sign out front read "Sandwiches To Go" with To Go being on the second line. In 1971 the shop was purchased by Mike Cobler, a local

student. The second Togo's location was opened in Corvallis, Oregon, in 1971 when Reid relocated after the sale of the San Jose location. The third location opened in downtown San Jose in 1974. The first franchise was sold in 1978. In 1997, Togo’s was acquired by Allied Domecq Quick Service Restaurants, a precursor of

Dunkin' Brands Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. was an American restaurant holding company which ran three chains of fast-food restaurants: Dunkin' Donuts, Mister Donut, and Baskin-Robbins. It was headquartered in Canton, Massachusetts. History Allied-Lyons In 197 ...

. By 2001, there were approximately 350 Togo’s sandwich shops, serving more than 25 different types of sandwiches. On November 30, 2007, Togo's was sold to Mainsail Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, in partnership with Tony Gioia, a former president of Baskin-Robbins. Gioia served as chairman and chief executive officer of Togo's until his retirement in May 2017. Mainsail sold the company to David Nazarian's Nimes Capital in December 2015. In 2018, its stores switched soft drinks from

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi wa ...

Coca-Cola Freestyle Coca-Cola Freestyle is a touch screen soda fountain introduced by The Coca-Cola Company in 2009. The machine features 165 different Coca-Cola drink products, as well as custom flavors. The machine allows users to select from mixtures of flavors o ...

Sandwiches

Most sandwiches on the Togo's menu are served with

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...

tomatoes The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...

pickles Pickles may refer to: Dogs * Pickles (dog) (died 1967), a dog that found the stolen World Cup trophy in 1966 * Pickles (pickleball), a dog often cited as the name origin for the sport of pickleball * Mr. Pickles, the titular demonic dog in ...

and pepperoncinis, often called "Togo's Style." Depending on the menu item, Togo's Style can also come with

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

and

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in dia ...

References

External links

* * * {{Fast-food chains of the United States, state=collapsed Submarine sandwich restaurants Fast-food chains of the United States Fast-food franchises Restaurants in San Jose, California American companies established in 1964 Restaurants established in 1964 1968 establishments in California Private equity portfolio companies Inspire Brands 1997 mergers and acquisitions 2007 mergers and acquisitions Restaurants in California Companies based in San Jose, California

History

Sandwiches

See also

References

External links