History

The O'Tooles have a long history of successfully growing and marketing fresh produce.

Lawrence O'Toole arrived in Australia from Ireland in 1875. He soon prospered as a farmer in the Koroit area of Victoria, by marketing his onions and potatoes to the booming new cities of Ballarat and Bendigo, which had developed in the gold rush. He also traded his produce to the local merchants who specialised in sea freighting to other coastal towns.

H. O'Toole & Co was established in 1922 by Lawrence's son Hugh O'Toole, in Koroit, Vic. Hugh O'Toole, a large potato and onion farmer, saw the need to develop better national marketing for his own and neigbouring farmers' produce. The business developed and was taken over in the late 1950s by Hugh's son Kevin O'Toole, who was also a dynamic farmer and merchant.

In 1984, Kevin's son Paul O'Toole and his wife Bernice, became the proprietors of H. O'Toole & Co. The 1980s saw vast changes in the growing and marketing of potatoes and onions around Australia. Advances in technology for large-scale irrigation and improvements to fertilizers, crop management methods, and farm harvesting and packing machinery brought about "new" growing areas. H. O'Toole & Co looked to additional growing districts to service its extensive wholesale client base.

In 1991 H.O'Toole & Co made a decision to relocate the company to Brisbane, which changed the emphasis from trading in growing regions to trading from a central market. Extensive experience at both farm and central market levels provides H. O'Toole & Co with the advantage and ability to compare a wide range of brands and quickly establish day and trend pricing.