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Colosimo Sausage


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This is Fred Ball for Zions Bank, speaking on business.

I recently made my regular Saturday morning visit to the farmer's market at Pioneer Park. Around lunchtime, I caught a whiff of a great aroma coming from the Colosimo Sausage booth. I ordered a skinless bratwurst. It tasted so delicious that I grabbed a business card from the counter, and early Monday morning I made my way to the Colosimo's European Market & Deli in Sandy.

Well, that morning I learned not only about sausage and Italian food, but also about an Italian immigrant family. Today I will tell you about the Colosimo family and tomorrow I will tell you about their great Sandy facility and wonderful Colosimo products.

More than 80 years ago, Ralph Colosimo arrived in America, all alone. He hoped for the chance to start a new life in a new country, but he had very little money. While he had empty pockets, however, he had a mind full of recipes of how to prepare, season and create Italian sausage.

Ralph found work in the mines, and in the summer of 1923, he moved to Magna. He met and married Rose Barbiero and they had four children. Ralph opened a little store called Rome Market on the corner of 9200 West and 2900 South. Ralph and Rose would work in the little market when times were good. When times were bad, the store would close and Ralph would go back to the mines.

When Rose and Ralph's sons, Gale and Ernie, returned to Magna after serving in the Army during World War II, they opened their own store called the Standard Market. The boys convinced their father to come into the store at night and make sausage after working all day at Kennecott. The boys watched their father and tried to note the ingredients and methods used to produce the great products.

It worked! Gale became a great "seasonologist" as well as an inventor, creator, master sausage maker and "accordion player extraordinaire." Tomorrow, I'll tell you about the Colosimo facilities and the delicious products made there.

For Zions Bank, I'm Fred Ball. I'm speaking on business.

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