Tenuta’s Deli is Kenosha County Small Business of the Year

Tenuta’s Delicatessen & Liquors Inc. has been a mainstay of Kenosha since 1950. And while the owners are constantly changing their selection to meet customers’ needs, they don’t plan to change the store’s traditions.

Tenuta’s supplies tens of thousands of specialty groceries and liquors from several ethnicities, particularly Italian, at its 18,000-square-foot store. The popularity of food programs on TV and trends in cooking mean customers are always looking for new ingredients.

“Our business changes on a daily basis,” said president Chris Tenuta. “In order to stay in the market we are (in), we have to change every day because the market changes.”

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Tenuta is part of the third generation running the business, and he aims to keep the same family atmosphere Tenuta’s has had since the beginning.

“I think we try to keep it a family business and even make the workers feel like part of a family,” Tenuta said. “The workers all have a say. We’re a small enough business that even the management does the same thing the workers do.”

While the business has held true to its roots, Tenuta’s also is offering its unique products more widely through an online ordering system. If loyal customers move away, they can still get their products from the deli, he said.

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“The Internet’s a major factor now and I think our system needs some fine tuning, but we’ve shipped for years,” Tenuta said. “Being that we have a lot of out of town customers and so forth, we’ve shipped for years and are trying to stay more modern.”

The goal is to remain a small business and avoid becoming like a large chain grocery store, he said.

“I think we’ve met what our niche is and are trying to fine tune every day what we are doing,” Tenuta said.

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