Research notes on Cahill's Restaurants, Sydney, compiled by Alison Brooks, 2004-2005, 2010

MLMSS 10122

fonds

2004-2005, 2010

Textual Records, Clippings

9611773

0.16 metres of textual material (1 box) - typescript, photocopies and printed

Cahill’s was a chain of restaurants and other businesses operating in Sydney between 1920s-1970s. Teresa Cahill (1896-1979) and her brother Reginald Henry Cahill (1890-1955) initially opened a small sundae and confectionary shop in Pitt Street, Sydney in 1922. By 1927 they formed the company, Cahill’s Holdings, comprising a factory in Alexandria and five shops in the city. In 1937, they opened their flagship business which took up four floors in Pitt Street, including a ground floor café with a soda fountain, a high-class restaurant on the first floor and a banqueting or dance room on the second floor.

The Cahills visited America frequently and introduced American style and service to their expanding restaurant and café chain, which also included teashops and theatre services. Their family-style restaurants included the Tudor Hall, in Martin Place; the Cosmopolitan in Pitt Street; the Coolabah at North Sydney; Island Trader at Circular Quay; and the A.P.A. Restaurant, Elizabeth Street, Sydney. While each restaurant had its own distinct decor, the menu was the same across them all, supported by centralised production and careful cost structure, with common key elements to their success: moderately priced food, speedy service, and a casual family ambience.

By the 1960s the Cahills empire included 25 themed cafés and restaurants. In 1961, the company was listed on the Sydney Stock Exchange and Teresa, along with two of Reg’s children, were among the directors. The family remained on the board until Nestlé Australia bought a controlling interest in the company in 1970 and made a complete takeover in 1977.

References:
Library correspondence file
Kerry Regan, 'Cahill, Teresa Gertrude (1896–1979)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cahill-teresa-gertrude-12831 (accessed 23 August 2018)

Comprises research notes of Alison Brooks originally intended for a thesis. Includes interview transcripts, letters, subject notes and working papers mainly relating Cahill’s restaurants, but also Cahill’s theatre services, confectionary, and teashops, which operated in and around Sydney between 1920s-1970s.

Thesis notes – compiled from interviews, supervisor correspondence

Lists of Cahill’s restaurant and business addresses for the period 1927-1983

Cahill births, deaths & marriages, War Records (no results), ASIC enquiry

SLNSW PICMAN search results, mainly images of events, gatherings and early sites occurring 1925-1955

City of Sydney Archives search results, mainly applications for business renovations, licensing, extension of operating hours for the period 1947-1979

Newspaper clipping of advertisement placed in Sydney Morning Herald 17-18 December 2005, and some responses

Interview transcripts (typed): John Cahill, Peter Cahill, Ron and Joyce Masson, George Nandor, Cliff Carpenter, Philippa Barber, Margaret Owens and Pepita Carpenter, Pat Wilcox, Enid Farrell, 23 October 2004-9 January 2005

Photocopies of newspaper articles, print outs of Column 8 (May-June 2010), photocopy of Cahill’s map of Sydney

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