1980

Frank made sausage for friends and family as a hobby. Inspired by his mother’s own traditional recipe, handed down through the generations, Frank’s sausage was well loved by friends and family, who told him over and over that he should try to sell it. At the time, there was little quality, traditional Italian sausage available commercially in Seattle. Frank wasn’t convinced at first, but finally he was persuaded to take up an offer to share working quarters with a neighboring family who made pasta in a converted basement of a home in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood.

After working all night at his full-time pipefitting job in the shipyards, he would then start making sausage at 5 a.m. He promoted his product by loading the ice-filled trunk of his car with sausage and driving around to local restaurants to sample his creations.