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Carollo’s Italian Gourmet Grocery & Deli is a family-owned Italian grocery, deli and grill that has operated in Kansas City’s River Market (City Market) since 1989, founded by Sicilian immigrant Mike Carollo and run alongside his brother and sons around imported Italian goods and Carollo family recipes.

Description

Carollo’s Italian Gourmet Grocery & Deli is a specialty Italian grocer, deli and seasonal grill located at 9 E 3rd Street inside Kansas City’s historic City Market, in the River Market neighborhood. The business combines a retail grocery stocked with imported Italian goods — pastas, olive oils, canned tomatoes, sauces, Italian wines and spirits, cookies, gelato and pastries — with a full deli counter offering fresh deli meats, cheeses and olives, and made-to-order Italian sandwiches and subs.12

The shop is known for its house-made items, including homemade Italian sausage, cannoli, olive salad and chicken spiedini.13 From spring through fall, Carollo’s runs an outdoor grill serving items such as Italian sausage, brats and chicken spiedini.2 The store keeps daily hours (reported as roughly 10:00 AM–5:30 PM) within the City Market’s merchant footprint.2

Ownership and history

Carollo’s has served the Kansas City area from its River Market location since 1989.123 The business was founded by proprietor Mike Carollo, who built it around what the business describes as authentic Italian food and family recipes “he learned years ago in his boyhood home in Sicily” — establishing the operation as a Sicilian-immigrant-founded, family-run business.14 Family members associated with the business include Mike’s brother Frank and sons Anthony and Frankie.1

The Carollo name sits within Kansas City’s deep Italian-American heritage. Sicilian emigration — particularly from the Palermo province, including villages such as Santa Cristina Gela — fed Kansas City’s Italian enclaves (notably Columbus Park / the North End) beginning in the 1890s, with Sicilians forming the dominant Italian subgroup by the 1920s.4 Carollo’s, founded in 1989 in the adjacent River Market, is a continuation of that Italian-grocery tradition rather than a survivor of the early-1900s enclave wave.

Regarding the seed-data reference to “Carollo Food Service”: web research found no evidence that this River Market deli operates as, or is owned by, a major foodservice/wholesale distributor named Carollo Food Service. Available sources consistently describe a retail grocery, deli and grill that serves customers directly. The business should be treated as an independent retail operation with no corporate or distributor parent unless a primary source establishes otherwise.

See also

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Carollo’s Italian Grocery (official site) — “Best Italian Deli and Grocery In Kansas City” (1989 founding, proprietor Mike Carollo, brother Frank and sons Anthony/Frankie, Sicilian boyhood recipes, product range) — https://carollosspecialtyitaliangrocery.com/ — accessed 2026-05-30. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. The City Market KC — Carollo’s Italian Grocery & Deli merchant page (1989 founding, 9 E 3rd St address, daily hours, imported goods, house-made items, seasonal grill, phone) — https://thecitymarketkc.org/carollos-italian-grocery-deli/ — accessed 2026-05-30. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Carollo’s Grocery & Deli — online ordering/menu site (since 1989, River Market, house-made sausage/cannoli/olive salad/spiedini) — https://www.carollosdelikcmo.com/ — accessed 2026-05-30. ↩ ↩2

  4. Historical context on Sicilian (Palermo-province) immigration to Kansas City’s Columbus Park / North End enclaves, 1890s–1920s — derived from KC Italian-American immigration history references — accessed 2026-05-30. ↩ ↩2

See also

Categories
  • Locally owned
  • Italian
  • River Market