Avocado on toast founder reveals millennial dish backstory

The chef credited with inventing avocado on toast has revealed how he started serving the dish out of necessity 25 years ago.

Bill Granger put the now-famous snack on the menu of his Darlinghurst cafe, in Sydney’s inner suburbs, in 1993.

The 48-year-old said the cafe had restricted trading hours of 7am to 4pm, meaning he had to open for breakfast to pay the rent.  

Avocado on toast has since remained a staple within his 18 cafe-strong empire, and has grown to become the breakfast that defines a generation.

Bill Granger (pictured) – credited with inventing avocado on toast – has revealed how he started serving the dish out of necessity 25 years ago

Mr Granger put the now-famous snack on the menu of his Darlinghurst cafe (pictured), in Sydney's inner suburbs, in 1993

Mr Granger put the now-famous snack on the menu of his Darlinghurst cafe (pictured), in Sydney’s inner suburbs, in 1993

The 48-year-old (pictured) said the cafe had restricted trading hours of 7am to 4pm, meaning he had to open for breakfast to pay the rent

The 48-year-old (pictured) said the cafe had restricted trading hours of 7am to 4pm, meaning he had to open for breakfast to pay the rent

‘I am now known as the avocado on toast person and not the scrambled egg person, which is quite nice actually,’ Mr Granger told The Australian. 

More than 20 years after its inception, the meal symbolises a growing division between baby boomers and disgruntled millennials struggling to gain a foot in the Australian property market.

Demographer Bernard Salt claimed in a 2016 column for The Weekend Australian that young people could afford houses if they stopped spending $22 on smashed avocado toast.

The claim was backed the following year by millionaire property tycoon Tim Gurner, who said: ‘When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each.’  

Millennials hit back at Salt and other baby boomers, claiming the market is much more expensive than when their parents were purchasing houses.

But despite the debate, Australians remain as obsessed with avocado on toast as ever, Mr Granger said. 

Avocado on toast has since remained a staple within his 18 cafe-strong empire, and has grown to become the breakfast that defines a generation

Avocado on toast has since remained a staple within his 18 cafe-strong empire, and has grown to become the breakfast that defines a generation

The meal symbolises a growing division between baby boomers and disgruntled millennials struggling to gain a foot in the Australian property market

The meal symbolises a growing division between baby boomers and disgruntled millennials struggling to gain a foot in the Australian property market

Mr Granger (pictured) is also credited as being the first person to put the recipe in a cookbook, which he said felt 'silly' at the time

Mr Granger (pictured) is also credited as being the first person to put the recipe in a cookbook, which he said felt ‘silly’ at the time

Mr Granger has 18 cafes worldwide, including four in London, one in Hawaii and two in Korea

Mr Granger has 18 cafes worldwide, including four in London, one in Hawaii and two in Korea

He added: ‘It is in the Australian attitude to life. People are interested in health – they want to get up early, go for a surf and eat healthy, and because the climate is so mild it makes you want to eat fresh food.’  

Mr Granger is also credited as being the first person to put the recipe in a cookbook, which he said felt ‘silly’ at the time.

‘We had been selling it at the restaurant for years and I remember thinking this is so silly putting a recipe for avocado on toast in a book, so I jazzed it up a bit and put a bit of lime and coriander on it,’ he said.

The Washington Post traced the first ‘recorded sighting’ of avocado on toast to his first cafe, bills.

Mr Granger opened the restaurant on Liverpool Street as an art student dropout at the age of 21.  

He now has 18 cafes worldwide, including four in London, one in Hawaii and two in Korea.  



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