Image Of John Catsimatidis From The Cats Roundtable Roosevelt Island Gristedes Supermarket chain owner, real estate developer, billionaire oilman, former NYC Mayoral candidate and entrepreneur John Catsimatidis is also host of a Sunday morning radio talk show – the Cats Round Table on AM 970. Yesterday’s November 23 Cats Roundtable discussed: with guests, Here’s the Cats Roundtable from November 23 , Also, the Commercial Observer recently interviewed Mr. Catsimatidis about his various business interests including the Gristedes supermarket chain:
… Overall, how is the Gristedes franchise is doing?
Its doing okay. It represents less than two or three percent of our companys sales.
So why still own it?
Some of the people have been with us for 30 years and Im keeping it for them so they dont lose their jobs. And if I didnt have Gristedes, Id live 10 years longer and I would probably be worth more. Our main businesses are energy and real estate. And weve dwindled our businesses in aviation.
What Im talking about is whats happening in New York. Its becoming very competitive. And its a big problem. The big problem is we had Whole Foods open up big stores. We had Costco open up. We had Fresh Direct open up. We had Amazon open up. We had Trader Joes open up. We had every drugstore in the city [become] a supermarket, just about. So the competition is not like its ever been before. And we are fully unionized. And our full-timers get $10 an hour in just benefits. So how do you make that work? And every lease that we have to re-up; its a minimum million-dollars-a-year rent. Its the pressure of the real estate. The pressure of electric rates in New York City. The pressure of paying union charges and union work weeks. And it becomes like, try to win with one hand tied behind your back.
Here’s Mr. Catsimatidis at the March 2013 Grand Re-Opening of the Roosevelt Island Gristedes and 2012 Roosevelt Island Gristedes Town Hall Meeting.