John Catsimatidis | Fox Business
Gristedes CEO John Catsimatidis says that electing Zohan Mamdani as mayor will hurt New York City with “Varney & Co.”
New York City candidate Zohran Mamdani’s plans to create a network of city-owned grocery stores to cut food costs face pushbacks from the industry. Manhattan-based grocery chain If Mamdani is elected, they are threatening to sell or close the business.
John Catsimatidis, CEO of Grocery Chains Gristedes and D’Agostino supermarkets, discovered obstacles to Mamdani’s plans and said that if there were city-run supermarkets they could not compete in the market.
“Does Mamdani run a supermarket with the help of Union? When people start shoplifting, he gets police officers to arrest them,” Catsimatidis told The New York Post.
Mamdani, a self-identified democratic socialist, is closing the gap with former governor Andrew Cuomo in preparation for Tuesday’s Election Day.
Buy now, use after groceries almost doubles as consumers suffer from food costs
Apart from city-owned grocery stores, Mamdani campaigned on New Yorkers’ promises to “reduce costs and make life easier” including building more affordable homes, free buses and eliminating childcare costs every six weeks to five years.
Gristedes Foods CEO John Catsimatidis will speak at a press conference held in New York City on Wednesday, April 27th, 2022. (Fox Business)
x users It is also called Mamdani’s proposal for New York City, “the most economically paranoid thing I’ve seen in a long time.”
In contrast, a group of economists wrote a letter published online earlier this month, saying, “Economic data is clear. The benefits of consumers when the public sector intervene to correct market failures in the provision of essential products.”
Fox Business reached out to Mamdani for comment.
If selected, Mamdani said that, according to a video posted on his campaign website, he would redirect city funds from the company’s supermarket to city-owned grocery stores.
New York State Sen. Zohran Mamdani and mayoral candidates for New York City said if elected, the city’s funds from corporate supermarkets will be redirected to city-owned grocery stores. (Reuters/Bing Guang)
According to Mamdani’s website, grocery stores do not pay rent or property taxes. They also buy and sell at wholesale prices, centralize warehouses and distribution, and partner with local neighbours on products and sourcing.
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“The job of city government is not to mess around with the edges, but one in four people in our city gets hungry,” he said in the video. “New York City already needs to redirect public funds to actual ‘public options’ to subsidize private grocery store operators (who even has no need to take SNAP/WIC!). ”
People shop at a grocery store in Brooklyn, New York City on May 13th, 2025. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
In an interview in March, Mamdani estimated that the pilot program for the plan would cost $60 million to run, but he insisted that the city would spend more than twice as much in corporate supermarkets.
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A spokesman for the National Grocers Association (NGA) told the Fox business: “A more immediate and impactful strategy is “to reduce food costs.” “We will implement existing antitrust laws to promote healthy competition among independent grocery stores and large chains,” he said.
“We urge government officials at all levels to direct resources towards implementing the Robinson-Patman Act, crack down on price discrimination and exclusive leverage, and work with state and federal agencies to break the barriers to swiping fees and regulatory burdens,” the spokesman said. This would “empower independent grocery stores and strengthen the food ecosystem more sustainably than launching government-run stores.”
The Robinson-Patman Act was enacted in 1936 and prohibits price discrimination, which could harm competition.