Brighton has always had a strong independent food scene, with small restaurants, pubs and cafés often shaped as much by the people behind them as the food they serve. Tony’s is a good example of this, with Toby Cackett’s approach to pizza having evolved through takeaways, private cheffing, pop-ups and, more recently, two very different spaces in the city.
Originally opening on Trafalgar Street in 2025, Tony’s has since expanded to the Open Market with Tony’s Open Kitchen, a more stripped-back version of the restaurant built around pizzas by the slice and a walk-in format. Along the way, Toby has also collaborated with a number of Brighton’s independent businesses, becoming part of the network of people and places that gives the city its character.
For this instalment of Friends of Peggs, we spent some time with Toby at Tony’s, talking about the journey from Original Toby’s to Tony’s, the different ways he’s found to cook for people, the independent businesses he’s surrounded himself with and what keeps him interested in food.
Getting to Know Toby
P&S: For those that don’t you know, who are you and what do you do?
Toby: I’m Toby Cackett, I’m 32 and I’ve been a chef for 12 years now. I started as a pot wash at a restaurant called Silo. I’m the chef/co-founder of Original Tony’s with my best mates Salah, Charlie, Lily and Zac. I’m also a private chef for ultra-high-net-worth families around Europe.
-
P&S: What was happening in your life when you first started making pizzas, and what made you think, “Yeah, I’ll give this a go”?
Toby: This originally started during lockdown in my mum’s kitchen. I taught myself on YouTube how to make pizza. The first few hundred were a disaster. Then I got obsessed.
-
P&S: A long time ago, before Tony’s, there was Original Toby’s. What happened with that, and are you still chasing the same thing?
Toby: Original Toby’s was good pizza for me at the time. One of my best mates, who’s now a co-founder, had the idea of bringing it back. I thought it was a mental idea, but I haven’t looked back since that chat. Now there are five of us who own and run Tony’s.
THE TONY'S STORY
P&S: There are people in Brighton (including us) who still talk about the parm-crusted pizzas and roast potatoes from Toby’s. Did you realise at the time that you were making something people would become weirdly nostalgic about?
Toby: At the time, I didn’t think it would come to much, but looking back I still have such good memories of those weighty pizzas.
-
P&S: Since then you’ve worked as a private chef, opened Tony’s, done pop-ups at places like Patio, Vine and The Windmill, and opened Tony’s Open Kitchen. How has the idea behind Tony’s evolved and is there a master plan here?
Toby: Trying to keep Tony’s feeling like Tony’s is hard when we’ve been expanding, but with the pop-ups we do, we want to show people that we’re way more than just pizza. The obvious next step is pasta…
-
P&S: What does a good night at Tony’s look like to you?
Toby: Drake Radio on Spotify and a queue out the door.
-
P&S: Pizza has a lot of rules attached to it - what it should look like, how it should be made, what counts as authentic. How much do those conventions matter to you?
Toby: There are a million ways to make a pizza, let alone make a great pizza. I’ve got years of experience working with and making bread, so for me the dough is the most important thing to get right. Everything else feels easy if the dough is right.
-
P&S: What’s something about Tony’s that you’re quite stubborn about? Something where if someone suggested changing it, you’d immediately say no.
Toby: How much we cook our pizzas. There’s a small sweet spot where you get little char marks but still have a good structure. It’s not overdone, it’s perfect.
-
P&S: Tell us about the Open Kitchen - what appealed to you about making something so simple in comparison to the restaurant?
Toby: Tony’s Open Kitchen is where we do a lot of our prep, but mainly it’s where you can get Tony’s by the slice.
-
P&S: You’ve cooked for people in their homes, at pop-ups, in a restaurant and now in a market. Where do you feel most at home cooking?
Toby: I feel most at home in the back of Tony’s kitchen, overwhelmed and hot. Tony’s is home.
BRIGHTON & INDEPENDENTS
P&S: There’s a particular ecosystem of independent businesses in Brighton where everyone seems to know everyone, eat and drink in each other’s places, and occasionally end up doing something together. Do you think that’s genuinely special here, or does it just feel that way because you’re in the middle of it?
Toby: The food scene in Brighton is, and has always been, amazing. There are so many incredible independent restaurants. I’d say over the last couple of years it feels more similar to the London food scene than it ever has.
-
P&S: Best restaurant in Brighton right now?
Toby: It has to be Plateau. I spent many years working there, so it has a place in my heart, but the food is also 10/10.
-
P&S: Hospitality aside, give us a Brighton business or two that you think deserves more love?
Toby: Eric & Margaux, who own Good as Gold! They’re good friends of ours at Tony’s and always deserve some love. Another one has to be Patio/Vine Street and Outgrown, without a doubt.
-
P&S: What do you think Brighton would lose if all of its independent businesses disappeared tomorrow?
Toby: It would lose what makes Brighton, Brighton. It wouldn’t be much without them, to be honest.
BEYOND TONY'S
P&S: What do you get up to when you’re not in the kitchen?
Toby: Honestly, not much, I won’t lie. If I have time I’ll go to the sauna, but most likely I’ll be with my girlfriend Matilda and my little cocker spaniel, Miffy.
-
P&S: Is there anything that people who only know you through Tony’s might be surprised to find out about you?
Toby: I think so! If I’m not at Tony’s, I’m working as a private chef, from cooking for Middle Eastern royalty to billionaires on yachts.
-
P&S: Has anything outside of food influenced the way you think about what you do professionally?
Toby: Honestly, stopping drinking almost four years ago. Without that, I would never have started making pizzas again. Now me and my best mates own Tony’s!
QUICK FIRE
P&S: Is hot honey woke nonsense?
Toby: No. It's good. People just need to calm down with it.
-
P&S: You a pineapple on pizza guy or is that some straight BS?
Toby: Ansolutely stunning, it's time we do it.
-
P&S: Crispy base or nothing, right?
Toby: 100%, no one wants a wet bottom
-
P&S: Is it ok to roll your pizza up like a tube before you eat it?
Toby: When it's cold, yes! Like a pizza burrito.
-
P&S: What are you currently listening to?
Toby: 2005 grime.
-
P&S: Favourite album?
Toby: Songs in the key of life- Stevie Wonder.
-
P&S: Who do you look up to?
Toby: Actually, Jamie Oliver. Grew up watching him and was obsessed.
-
P&S: Last thing that made you laugh?
Toby: Rewatched old Vine videos on the train this morning.
-
P&S: House is burning down - you’ve got Miffy under one arm, what are you grabbing with the other?
Toby: Matilda. Although she'd be pretty pissed she came second to the dog.
-
P&S: Last thing you took a photo of?
Toby: Club sandwich I made yesterday for a client.
-
P&S: Any chance of some Tony’s merch?
Toby: Yes!
-
P&S: One thing you always have in the fridge?
Toby: Food for Miffy, not much else.
-
P&S: Would you let Ian Peggs cook you one of his specialty omelettes?
Toby: Yes, but has to come to mine.
-
P&S: One word to describe Tony’s?
Toby: Chaotic.
-
P&S: Thanks Toby, great to chat!
Tony's
