Listen again: The supermarket billionaire, John Catsimatidis

Leanna Byrne (0:01)

Welcome to Founders from Business Daily. I'm Leanna Byrne, and today my guest is Greek-born billionaire John Catsimatidis. He started with a single grocery store, but has dabbled in all sorts of other businesses, including oil and airline and radio stations. He's also friends with Donald Trump and once ran for New York mayor. It's quite a story.

John, Catsimatidis, you're one of those New York business figures whose life really sounds almost like a novel. You're born in Greece, raised in Harlem. You worked behind counters as a teenager. You studied at NYU, but then you just left short of graduating to take a chance on the grocery business, and by your mid-20s, you'd built a chain of supermarkets. Today, through Red Apple Group and your interests, they really stretch across everywhere, groceries, property, energy, media, and including New York's WABC radio. It's quite a story, John, so very welcome to meet the founders.

John Catsimatidis (1:01)

Well, thank you so much.

We have a few companies that we make a lot of money in, and then we have a few companies where we consider, let's have a little bit of fun. Our energy business has always made a lot of money, and our real estate business has always made a lot of money. Then we have the aviation business, which I don't think anybody's ever made any money. I mean, we were partners with British Airways back in 1984 in the terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport. Half the terminal was ours, half the terminal was British Airways. And now you know why I'm telling you the story?

Because we were partners in the terminal. I got to fly to Concord all the time, like I would take a bus to school or something.

Leanna Byrne (1:54)

Wow, they don't even have them anymore.

John Catsimatidis (1:56)

I know, and that Concord was such a beautiful airplane. It's sad that we don't have them anymore. But it's enjoyable.

It's nice to be able to fly around the world and almost be carefree. And we bought a radio station, and we took it from number 28 in the region to number one in the country. And our goal is now to expand it to world wide. And I do a few shows myself. So the older I get, the harder I work. President Trump is a friend for 40 or 50 years. I'm trying to compete with him because he's working very hard too.

Yeah, 80 years old. He's 80 years old and he's working 80 hours a week. So I'm 77, so I'm working 77 hours a week. And it is what it is. And I try every day to teach our people to accomplish something every day. Don't let a day go by without accomplishing something.

Leanna Byrne (3:03)

Well, that's great advice, John. You're a really passionate guy. I can tell by your voice, but I want to take you right back because you came from an immigrant family and your story is very much about hard work and building a business empire in one of the wealthiest cities in the world.

Is that a quintessential American dream story, do you think?

John Catsimatidis (3:22)

Well, all the immigrants that came in the 1900s, I mean, there was a wave of immigrants from the 1890s to the 1920s, and then it regained the speed again after World War II, I guess.

My two grandfathers, they came over in 1913 because everybody was looking for a place where they could have an opportunity to have a better life for their families. And the joke I tell on the air is, whether it's the Jewish families that came over, whether it was the Greek families that came over, the Irish families that came over, they all worked hard to make their kids and grandkids better than they were.

Leanna Byrne (4:17)

Who taught you about money when you were younger? Was it one person or was it just the people around you who you saw hustling?

John Catsimatidis (4:24)

Well, I'll tell you, I finished high school and I was going to go to New York University. I set up the couch and I set up the television set and I was ready to just sit on top of the couch and watch television for all summer.

Well, my mother, she throws me out of the bed and she goes to the local grocer guy and says, I want you to give my son a job. So she throws me off the couch and I end up from trying to be on the couch for the next three months to working 70 hours a week. So I guess I'm a person of extremes. I either going to work 70 hours a week.