Two relatives with a passion for fresh, never-frozen sausage are making adjustments to their business operations in Sharpsburg.

Brothers-in-law Michael Conte of O’Hara and Frankie Marckisotto of West Deer founded Frankie’s Sausage in 2022.

Business has doubled in the past year, and, in an effort to focus on expanding the wholesale side of it, they closed the retail store at 807 Main St. on July 4.

According to Conte, sausage production jumped from last year’s 2,500 pounds per week to the current 5,000 pounds per week.

“I joke and tell everyone I work eight days a week. You never really get a day off,” Marckisotto said. “You never really shut it off.”

The production facility remains in the same building, and customers can call in sausage orders for pick-up.

Frankie’s Sausage came about to honor both of their deceased fathers — Jeffrey Conte and Frank Marckisotto — and their love of making homemade sausage with a late relative’s top-secret recipe brought over from Sicily.

Their fathers had wanted to go into the sausage business with their sons, but both men died from cancer before that could happen.

Frankie’s Italian business motto, “Prodotto dei nostri padri,” honors their fathers. It means “Product of our fathers.”

“Neither of us got to do what we wanted to do with our fathers,” Marckisotto said. “It’s the family recipe, and my father said don’t change anything and leave it alone. People love it. Once they try it, they really enjoy it.”

Frankie’s Sausage was named a 2025 champion in the class 6 fresh sausage/uncooked category by the Pennsylvania Association of Meat Processors.

Marckisotto grew up in Wilkins Township and resides in West Deer. Conte hails from New Kensington and lives in O’Hara.

Both are proud Italian-Americans with a passion for food.

They scouted several communities, including New Kensington and Arnold, for a production facility.

With more than 60 years of family Italian sausage recipes in their arsenal, the duo found a location that proved to be a great fit.

They found a more than century-old building along Main Street in Sharpsburg — the former home of Guyasuta Printing Co. — gutted it and turned it into a production facility.

Sausage is made there by seven employees, five days a week.

“Frankie’s impact on Sharpsburg is truly unparalleled. Their steadfast involvement in community events — particularly their support of community dinners — demonstrates a genuine commitment to fostering unity and connection,” said Sharpsburg Mayor Kayla Portis. “We are deeply grateful to have such a dedicated and generous presence enriching our community.”

Italian sausage varieties include sweet, hot and mild. They are available in ground, rope and link form.

Wholesale customers include select Giant Eagle locations, independent grocers, pizza shops and restaurants.

Fox Chapel-area eateries that partner with Frankie’s include Local Provisions, Mercurio’s, Pub 333, Italian Village Pizza, Primanti’s and Labriola’s.

The retail store saw brisk business with many folks driving from other communities to snag sausage, but the increasing demands of providing enough sausage for wholesale orders led to the decision to close the shop.

“Due to the growth of Frankie’s Sausage as a company, our goal is to get Frankie’s Sausage in as many households as we can. And the best way to do that is through grocery stores,” Conte said.

Conte grew up in New Kensington and is a graduate of Kiski Area High School.

Sausage specs

Frankie’s Sausage is all pork and made without steroids or hormones.

While their sausage is never frozen, Frankie’s Sausage does freeze nicely, said Conte, 38.

The pork shoulder sausage is the key to a quality product, and Frankie’s aims to achieve the perfect fat-to-meat ratio.

“The average sausage ratio is 70/30 percent, meat to fat. We are a lot leaner (80/20 ratio), and that retains the weight of the meat,” said Marckisotto, 35. “We hand-trim the cuts down, and we control how much fat.”

Conte said he knows his father would be pleased to see their success.

“My dad would be extremely proud of both of us. He loved Frankie in the short time that he knew him. My dad wasn’t an entrepreneur, and we literally took Frankie’s Sausage as an idea and turned it into what it is now. Everything we’ve done has been bootstraps and grassroots. Nothing has been handed back to us,” Conte said.

Both Conti and Marckisotto expressed their thanks to the extended Sharpsburg community and their retail customers for supporting what was once a start-up idea.

“We’re so grateful and appreciate the support we’ve gotten from the Sharpsburg area,” Conte said.

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