The back room at Carmine Lonardo's Specialty Meats & Deli is gleaming and quiet. The space where the Lonardo family normally cranks out 10,000 pounds of sausage a week hasn't seen a speck of meat since most of the Lonardo clan embarked on a two-week European cruise, leaving Carmine, the 54-year-old son and namesake of the shop's founder, and his wife to mind the store in their absence.

The younger Carmine Lonardo explains that his brother, Tony, who's the main sausage-maker in the family, worked overtime to stock the fridges and freezers with fresh sausage before taking his vacation, so that individual customers and wholesale clients wouldn't run out of product before his return. Carmine's sisters, Louise and Maria, are also in Europe, and the little market, deli and butcher shop is also quieter than usual as a result.