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While Lena’s husband was the owner of the company, according to her grandchildren, it was Lena who spent her days blending spices by hand and drawing in crowds by standing on the street with hot and mild sausage links draped around her as she announced to the neighborhood that food was ready. Over the years, she worked to get the product into large chains such as Costco and Sam’s Club. “We would bring the grocers new product and they would say, ‘Okay, what do you want to remove then?’ You're up against these big brands like Johnsonville who have a giant bank to take risks and to pay for end caps, and there’s us just fighting for a small presence,” Diana recalls.
“We really don’t have a lot of room here,” Diana notes. “Charlie, the plant manager who has been here since 1992, comes in at 3 a.m. every morning to start production. We make the sausages, case them, put labels on them and try and get them out to the markets as soon as possible.” Sam’s Club does still carry Canino’s mild and hot Italian sausage. Its products can also be found at Safeway and Walmart as well as on the menu at restaurants like Billy's Gourmet Hot Dogs on Larimer Street and GeJo's Original Italian Restaurant & Lounge in Centennial.