Our Story

Since 1955

A sauce he never wrote down.

Five generations, one kitchen, and a recipe that has never been on paper. This is how a catering business in post-war Melbourne became the ready-made meals now sold in 600+ stores across seven states.

From Abruzzo, by way of Melbourne

In 1955 Finuccio — Fino to everyone who knew him — left Abruzzo for Melbourne with his mother's cooking committed to memory. He arrived with no business plan and no written recipes, and built a catering business anyway.

It turned on one thing. A sauce he made the same way every week, adjusted by taste and by eye, and never once wrote down. Weddings, christenings, funerals — half of Melbourne's Italian community ate it without ever knowing whose it was.

That recipe passed to his son, Renzo, the only way it could: standing next to him, for years. Renzo still makes it. In 2020 he and Sam turned it into Aston Lucas Gourmet — the same food, made properly, ready for the nights you haven't got two hours to give it.

Renzo · Founder

Seventy years, four kitchens

1955 — Abruzzo to Melbourne

Fino arrives with his mother's recipes and starts cooking for other people's celebrations.

1970s — The catering years

A standing order at half the weddings in the north. Renzo learns the sauce the only way it was ever taught — beside the pot.

2020 — Aston Lucas Gourmet

Renzo and Sam open the Campbellfield kitchen. Same recipes, made for the fridge instead of the function room.

Today — 600+ stores, seven states

Pasta, Grab & Go and desserts made fresh each morning — and delivered chilled to homes across Victoria and metropolitan New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland.

Three rules we don't bend

Nothing that needs a preservative

If a dish only holds together with additives, it isn't on the list. Ours keep 10–14 days in the fridge because of how they're cooked and chilled, not because of what's in them.

Australian produce, used the week it lands

Victorian and Australian-grown wherever it exists. A shorter trip from the grower saves us nothing — it just tastes better.

Gluten friendly, without the compromise

The newest part of the range, and the one that took longest to get right. The same recipes, made gluten friendly, so nobody at the table is eating something different.

Come and taste the sauce.

Order online for delivery to your door, or find the closest of our 600+ stockists. Shop the range.