Frank McEncroe
| Frank McEncroe | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Francis Gerard McEncroe 11 October 1908 Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 14 March 1979 (aged 70) Melbourne, Australia |
| Resting place | Keilor cemetery, Melbourne |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | Trade (boilermaker) |
| Occupation | businessman / fast food entrepreneur. |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Doreen, née Nolan |
| Children | Two |
Francis Gerard "Frank" McEncroe (11 October 1908 – 14 March 1979) was an Australian publican, caterer, dairy farmer and food manufacturer. He is known for his invention of the Australian fast food phenomenon that became known as the Chiko Roll.
McEncroe was born at Castlemaine, Victoria on 11 October 1908, the second son of Victoria-born parents Pierce Francis McEncroe, a wheelwright, and his wife Sarah Ann, née Desmond. Frank attended a local primary and acquired his secondary education at Marist Brothers College, Bendigo, where he obtained his certificate of merit. He then completed an apprenticeship as a boilermaker at Thompson's foundry, Castlemaine, where he worked for a time.
During the Great Depression, McEncroe joined his father and two brothers on a dairy farm at Bendigo. In the late 1930s he ran an outdoor catering business, selling pies, pasties and other types of takeaway food at race meetings, country shows and similar gatherings. During World War II he was the licensee at the Court House Hotel in Pall Mall, Bendigo, while also holding a boilermaker's position at the Bendigo Ordnance Factory. Following the war McEncroe resumed his outdoor catering business, which he now ran from his family's former dairy farm, gaining experience in the processing, packaging and snap-freezing of takeaway foods.
In 1950, inspired by Chinese chop suey rolls he saw being sold outside the Richmond Football Ground, McEncroe decided to try to develop a similar product of his own, one which he reportedly envisaged could be eaten with one hand while holding a beer in the other at a football match or other venue. The result was a product which was much larger and heavier than a conventional Chinese roll, but with somewhat similar ingredients and flavour. The roll was composed of "a mixture of cabbage, barley, carrots, celery, condiments and meat (beef or mutton) wrapped in an egg-batter dough". McEncroe initially prosaically named it the "Chicken Roll", but since it actually contained no chicken, he later reconsidered and dubbed it, simply, the "Chiko Roll". He launched his new product at the Wagga Wagga Show in 1951.
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