The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – How Far Do You Want to Go?: Lessons from a Common-Sense Billionaire by John Catsimatidis

Episode Date: March 11, 2023

How Far Do You Want to Go. Lessons from a Common-Sense Billionaire by John Catsimatidis Billionaire entrepreneur John Catsimatidis, owner and CEO of the Red Apple Group, reveals how his instincts and common sense have propelled him to massive business success in this detailed account of an incredible rags-to-riches story. Born on the small Greek island of Nisyros, John Catsimatidis immigrated to the States with his family and quickly became a true New Yorker, raised in Harlem. He went to school by day and worked in a small grocery store by night to help his parents pay the bills until, just eight credits short of graduating from New York University, he opted to work in the grocery business full-time. Today, that grocery business has become the Red Apple Group, a conglomerate with interests in energy, real estate, aviation, baseball, entertainment, and media, including the iconic radio station WABC, where John hosts leading figures in government, politics, business, and economics. As Catsimatidis has discovered, the American Dream doesn’t come with an instruction manual—or even a sign to let you know when you’ve arrived at the finish line. How Far Do You Want to Go? tells Catsimatidis’s dynamic story, from his beginnings in the grocery business to entering the political arena, including a New York City mayoral campaign. He’s tried his hand at nearly everything, but he’s far from finished with his adventures. Now, he offers readers a glimpse into the wisdom he’s gained—and the excitement he has for what the future holds in store. About John A. Catsimatidis is an American billionaire businessman and radio talk show host. He is the owner, president, chairman, and CEO of Gristedes Foods, a grocery chain in Manhattan, and the Red Apple Group, a real estate and aviation company with about $2 billion in holdings in New York, Florida and Pennsylvania.

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast, the hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready. Get ready. Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, folks. This is Voss here from the chrisvossshow.com, the chrisvossshow.com. Welcome to Big Circus Tennis Guy, friends, neighbors, relatives, all the people who join us every day.

We're certainly very happy to have you as well. Be sure to refer the show to your family, friends, and relatives. Go to goodreads.com, 4chesschrisfoss, youtube.com, 4chesschrisfoss, the big LinkedIn newsletter, LinkedIn 130,000 group, and our LinkedIn stuff over there on LinkedIn as well. Today, we have an amazing gentleman on the show. He's been fairly successful in life. Well, fairly might not be the right word. He has written the newest book that just came out, February 28th, 2023, How Far Do You Want to Go? Lessons from a Common Sense Billionaire. John Katsimatidis is on the show with us today. He's going to be talking about his hot new book and his life, his journey through the American dream and everything else, which has been quite the story journey.

He was born on the Greek island of Nisros in 1948. And six months later, his parents immigrated to New York City in search of a better life. During his senior year at NYU and with just eight credits remaining, he dropped out to work in the grocery business full-time. By his 25th birthday, he was already a success with 10 Red Apple supermarkets scattered across Broadway and Manhattan's Upper West Side. He's a firm believer in giving back to the community and has been a strong supporter of the Police Athletic League for nearly 30 years. He works on the board of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, the Hellenic Times Scholarship Fund, and over the years served in a variety of volunteer positions in the Greek Orthodox Church. Welcome to the show, John. How

are you? Well, Chris, I'm happy that I'm with you. And I'll tell you, I guess sometimes you're better lucky than smart, but a little bit of both helps. And a little bit of hard work, according to your book, from what I read, too. Well, the more hard work you put in, the luckier you're going to get. There you go. Luck is what happens when hard work meets opportunity, I think someone said. John, give us a.com or wherever maybe you want people to look you up or order the book online. Well, you can go to katzmatidis.com or you can order the book on amazon.com

or order the book on bondsandnobles.com or a radio station, wabcradio.com, the store. And the store has autograph books, and you can instruct us how to autograph it, and you can get it out of our radio station, wabcradio.com. There you go. So, John, what motivated you to write this book? You've done a lot in your life. You've contributed a lot in your life. What motivated you to say, hey, I'm going to write a book and tell the story of my life?

Well, I was trying to think about doing it a few years ago. And we started it. And then COVID hit. And then we put it on the shelf for a while. Then we had to update it. So we actually started it over three years ago. And we finally pushed the had to update it. So we actually started it over three years ago and we finally pushed the button to do it because, look, I have a family and I want them to, our grandkids to come. I don't have any right now. I want them to know who's paying the tuition in their period of time.

There you go. Well, it's good to know. It's good to know you're looking to that next generation. So, you know, when I read your book, it really seems to tell the story of the American dream, especially the immigrant story of what really built this country, the melting pot of immigrant families coming to America. My great-grandfather came from Germany, and it seems like it's a real American dream story. Do I have that right? Well, my two grandfathers came in 1913. One with a Turkish passport because his original family came from Constantinople, which was a Greek city, but it was part of Turkey at that point. And the other one came from the island of Nisidos along the Turkish coast,

the 12 islands. And at that point, Italy owned him. So he came under the Italian passport. So I guess I'm a United Nations person. And they left my father in the old country to take care of the three sisters and the mother. So after World War II, the British were so upset that the Italians were on the wrong side. They took those 12 islands along the Turkish coast and they say, we're taking it away from Italy. Let's give it back to Greece. So my father, who worked for the Italian government, keeping his eyes on the lighthouse for 17 years by himself in the lighthouse, went back to his island, married my mom, and then came to America. And in 1949, they came to America. I was six months old.

And then our American story begins. But my two grandfathers came in 1913. Yeah. I got really jealous when I was reading your book because it seems like you had a great family unit. Your parents didn't seem to complain. They're kind of like what I remember my grandfather and grandmother doing. I never heard them fight.

I never heard them complain. But they loved family, and there was big feasts and food and everything. I got hungry reading your book. they love family. And there was big feasts and food and everything. I got hungry reading your book. Everything was family. Everybody got together. And I was at dinner with somebody the other day, and he was very impressed by

the Greek word philotomos. And the Greek word meant that be proud of your family so much that you would never do anything bad to embarrass the rest of your family. I think that's the key. the Gristini's company that was Greeks that were in Germany and moved from Germany to America and opened up the Gristini's food company in, I think, 1888. There you go. There you go. So you are technically, you don't follow the normal thing where people go to college and get a degree degree i think at one point you were considering being an engineer you you go and get in the supermarket business and by accident accident

that's another point in my in my book that you're going to reach many forks in the road in your life and deciding which way you're going to go during those forks in the road will decide which way your life goes. And you don't have the hangups that a lot of people today do. They go, well, I can't borrow money. The banks won't lend me money. I can't do this. I can't do that. You make it work through networking and knowing people. And it seems like you really have an affinity for liking people, networking, getting to know people. I love people. I love people.

Don't forget. I actually didn't drop out of college. In my senior year, I was working 70 hours a week. And I ended up being eight credits short from graduating and i you know i knew i didn't want to be an engineer because i think it was calculus that uh i didn't get i didn't finish i hated calculus i couldn't i looked at the calculus equations i said how is those calculus equations going to make let me make a living meanwhile back at the grocery store i knew if i bought an orange for 10 cents and sold it for 20 cents, you know, it was a good deal. Yeah. That's the best algebra, algebra, algebra,

best algebra seller for $2. Yeah. Very simple math. And so you, you work hard. I mean, has anything, some people think that when you become successful or rich in America, that you can just rest on your laurels. Are you still working 60 to 70 hour weeks? I hit the age of 70 plus, and I still work 60, 70 hours a week, but it's a different kind of work. My mother and father were crying when I didn't finish college. And they were saying to me, we sent you to the university. We sent you to the university to become a Hamali. A Hamali was a guy that used to carry crates on his back.

And, you know, listen, I did what I got to do to be successful. Failure was not an option. So I wrote this book to help friends i said if you read my book then you may make a billion dollars too because it gives you the different uh forks in the road in life and uh um and person said to me how do do I make $2 billion? I said, you buy two books. Yeah, you buy two books or wait for the second copy to come out. I like that.

I will hold you to that. If I don't make my first billion, I'm going to call you. Well, I already promised thousands of people a billion dollars. I'm not sure how much money is enough for that. There you go. Well, you know, the American dream, hard work, putting in the time and effort. When you first kind of establish yourself buying your first store and getting that opportunity, did you have a vision of what you would become?

Did you have a vision of owning multiple stores throughout New York City? I got my first store and then we ended up getting about 10 stores by the age of 24, 25. By the age of 24, 25, I started making a million dollars a year.

What's the joke? That's when a million dollars was really a million dollars. Yeah. Yeah. 1973, 74. And then when I made the first hundred million is I took that money and reinvested it in real estate. 1977, the world was coming to an end in New York. Real estate was worth nothing.

I was too stupid to know that. So I bought real estate in 1977 when the world was coming to an end. I figured worse comes to worse. If I can't find a tenant, I'll open up another supermarket. And I woke up one day and that money I put into the real estate business, about $3, $4, $5 million, I woke up one day, it was worth $100 million. Wow. And so by the late 1970s, I was in the real estate business, and I was in the supermarket business, and both were giving us good cash flow to go on to the next part of life.

You seem to have a real affinity for New York. And I can't blame you, but I'd like to hear it in your words. Why do you love New York so much? And why is New York so important to you? We've got comments coming in that people are saying. I will give it to you. Now, if you invest a million dollars in the west side of New York, a million dollars, and you want to sell that property in five years,

there's 20 different people that want to buy it. You invest a million dollars and take a place, Kansas City, Boise, Idaho. In five years, what do you think it's going to be worth? Maybe a million and a half. So New York is the greatest city in the world. It's a great melting pot. There's people from all over the world that find a reason to buy,

find a reason to sell, and that's the way it is. There's no other city like New York. So if you want to make a billion dollars, maybe you should move here. There you go. There you go. There's opportunities now. Let me tell you, I don't know what the heck is going on,

but in the last 24 months, 484,000 New Yorkers that were middle class and above and millionaires moved out. Hi, folks. Chris Voss here with a little station break. Hope you're enjoying the show so far.

We'll resume here in a second. I'd like to invite you to come to my coaching, speaking, and training courses website. You can also see our new podcast over there at chrisvossleadershipinstitute.com. Over there, you can find all the different stuff that we do for speaking engagements. If you'd like to hire me, uh, training courses that we offer and coaching for leadership, management, entrepreneur ism, uh, podcasting, corporate stuff, uh, with over 35 years of experience in business and running companies as CEO. Uh, I think I can offer a wonderful breadth of information and knowledge to you

or anyone that you want to invite me to for your company. Thanks for tuning in. We certainly appreciate you listening to the show and be sure to check out chrisfossleadershipinstitute.com. Now back to the show. Was part of it COVID? Was part of it, you know, the soaring price of real estate there for a while in the city of new york the social the socialist agenda where the crime is all over our city so i've said to the governor's office i said to the mayor's office you know what i said

there's 3 000 violent criminals in New York. Who are you going to support? The 20 million New Yorkers or the 3,000 violent criminals? We don't understand why in the state assembly, in the state senate, they are supporting the 3,000 violent criminals. How about the 20 million citizens that want to be able to walk to their restaurants and feel good that they're not going to be mugged? Yeah, that definitely makes a difference. So how important is leadership? And, you know, I wrote my book, Beacons of Leadership, how important leadership is. And leadership is a real important aspect to me.

I was a Democrat. I was a Republican. I ran Bill Clinton's campaigns in the 1990s. I helped run it. And I love Bill Clinton because common sense Democrat. But the common sense Democrats right now don't have the guts to stand up against the, the bizarro Democrats, the ones that, that, that, that don't, you know,

they just want socialism. Now, if you look at Venezuela, 20 years, Venezuela went from the wealthiest country in South America to being destroyed. They're trying to do that to America. I don't care if you're democratic. I don't care if you're Democratic. I don't care if you're Republican.

What I care about is caring about our cities, caring about our states, caring about our country. And you've been on both sides of the political spectrum. Is there a way we can ever reach a point where we can get, you know, government, you know, everyone seems to be very polarized right now. Is there any way that we ever reach a point where we can get government? Everyone seems to be very polarized right now. Is there any way that we can get government working again? Is there a problem with the – Absolutely, because all it takes is common sense.

Ronald Reagan and Chip O'Neill didn't like each other, but they yelled and screamed all day. But at 6 o'clock, they got together, had a beer, and worked things out for the country. Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, didn't like each other. They yelled all day. But at six o'clock, they got together and did what's right for the country. So what I'm looking for is common sense Democrats, common sense Republicans, getting together and working what's best for our country. And it's not happening right now.

And that makes me upset. Extremism on the left or extremism on the right is not good for the country. Let's do, I want to, I'm not going to be around, but I want my kids to be around in 2076 when it's the 300th year of the United States of America. And if we keep going the way we're going, we're not going to make it. Yeah, we're not. I mean, it's an interesting dynamic that's going on in our world right now. How important is, you know, we see a lot of people,

I see you talk about the three-day work week. I've seen you, you know, we have a lot of people, I see you talk about the three-day work week. I've seen you, you know, we have these, we have a lot of new generation of Generation Z that hopefully your book reaches that, you know, they just want to be influencers on TikTok. And to me, that doesn't seem like a path to the American dream of real success. Listen, you work hard. You have to work hard. You have to have vision. People have to like you. Nobody's going to like you if you're staying home sitting on the couch.

It's not going to happen. You've got to be in the office working. During COVID, 95% of our people were in the office working, you know during the uh during covid 95 of our people were in the office working running our companies so it takes a ceo with the courage to say enough is enough hey if you have a company that has a soft ceo short the stock because that stock is going to go down there you go. Vision leadership is so important. Having a vision for the future and stuff like that.

I've been criticizing General Motors. If she thinks, the CEO of General Motors, if she thinks she's going to have an all-electric fleet by 2030, by 2035, whoever believes that, I'll sell them the Brooklyn Bridge at a good price. I think you own the Brooklyn Bridge. Hey, you've done a lot of philanthropy, especially in New York. How important is that an aspect to being able to give back to what you've achieved in your life? Well, it helps you give back. But what I found is an advantage. When I didn't know what I wanted to do in life, I said, well, let me get involved with the church. Let me get involved with the religious

groups. I got involved in the Orthodox Church, which I am the highest lay person in North America for the Greek Orthodox Church. That gave me access to being involved with the Catholic Church, being involved with our Jewish friends, and putting it all together to work as a religious group to do what's better for America. I got involved with many, many charities. So I got involved in charities. I got involved in people's charities. The Police Athletic League, I took a big interest in. I worked with Bob Morgenthau, who was there for 50 years. And I got involved in different political campaigns. And you know what I found?

I found I met a lot of people, a lot of people doing all those things, which eventually helped me in life. I remember helping run Bill Clinton's campaigns. I ran those events that he had at the Jefferson Hotel, 25,000 each, 20 people, Democrats and Republicans. And nobody walked out of there disappointed because he knew his stuff. He was a smart guy. And I enjoyed that. And I met so many people that also eventually ended up helping me in business.

There you go. And when I ran for mayor, I remember whispering in Bill Clinton's ear when I saw him at an event, you know what I said to him? Thank you for the training. Yeah. You know, the one thing I came away from your book in reading it is the attitude of gratitude. You seem to be very positive, very optimistic. You're very grateful for the experiences and the people in your life and stuff. You know, we've got things coming in from our live audience. John is a great supporter of New York

City. The people of New York love John. So getting some great replies there. What is, how much of that has made a difference for you? And is your Greek heritage, you know, how much of that shaped you, do you think? Well, you know, other than my father and my mother taught me never do anything wrong that's going to bring shame on the family. You know, you always keep that in the back of your head because I love my family. And, you know, about six years ago, seven years ago, the Greek government dedicated a stamp in my honor. That is awesome. And for two years or three years, that was the number one stamp used in Greece. And I wasn't going to do it originally.

But I said, let me, you know, you know what I did it for? I did it for my grandfathers and great-grandfathers, for their memory. And I enjoyed it. And I think the same year they did a stamp for George Stephanopoulos and a few others. Ah, yeah. Mine was the number one used. There you go. There you go.

It's always the number one. There you go. So, you know, what is something about you that people, you wish people knew? Maybe, you know, they misrepresent or they assume things about you. Everyone in media gets that. What's something maybe people might want to know about you? I love people. Yeah.

And I'm there to help rather than to attack or just, you know, if people like you, you will do more business with them. And I learned that at an early age. And that's why I write in my book. I had about 12 mentors. And in life, you have many forks in the road and depending if you zig or zag you're going to become either successful or fail there you go there you go now you mentioned uh i know we're pressed for time with you john because you've got a limited schedule and you're doing a lot of appearances for this how are we doing for time on with you i well i well i could do another five

minutes or so okay let's do that let's do that. Let's do that. What haven't we touched on that we can tease out about your book to get people to pick that up? That if you read the book, maybe you'll get some tips and you're going to make a billion dollars. There you go. There you go. How important was those mentors? It sounds like they made a big difference in your life. Those mentors made a big difference in my life. Let's say I had about a dozen of them. And for some reason or another, I would say at least nine of the 12 or 10 of the 12 were of Jewish background. Because in New York, you had a lot of Jewish people. And a lot of them were business people.

And I dealt with them in the food business and the real estate business so a lot of them were and I learned a lot from them and what every and that's what I do for the police athletically because those kids from Harlem they need mentors they need somebody to put their arm around them and say, here's the right direction. And Senator Moynihan, who I knew back 40 years ago, said one of the problems in Harlem was 30% of the families only had one parent family. It wasn't

the old lever- it to beaver family where you had a mother and a father. Well, 40 years later, guess what? It's much worse. There you go. Only 30% of the families have two or a parent family.

So these kids need guidance. Otherwise, they go hang out in the pizza store and they end up getting in trouble. Or they get on TikTok or something. You know, that's a big thing these days. That's, you know, I wish I knew how it actually worked. But, you know, you got to find a 25-year-old and below to find out how it actually works.

There you go. There you go. So what do you hope when all the books are written about you in the end and history tells its tale, what do you hope people come away? What do you hope people remember about you? What's most important to you? Well, that John Casamitides was a hardworking person, a philanthropic person, worried about charities, worried about people, and raised his kids in the same manner. And I hope, I don't have any grandchildren, but I hope my kids, eventually when they have kids,

that they'll raise their children in the same way, to believe in people and to be kind to people. If people like you, they'll do business with you. If they don't like you, they'll do business with you. If they don't like you, they'll walk the other direction. There you go. Common sense, billionaire. It really is a simple program when you talk about it. The American dream is such a beautiful thing. And a lot of entrepreneurs really discover that and how important the American dream is and the rights and the privileges that we get from it. It only happens in America.

You can't find it in too many countries overseas. And New York is the greatest city in the world. So, if you can make it here, how did Sinatra say? If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere? Yeah, there you go. That's right. And I'll tell you,

I think New York will make a comeback. I pray for New York. I am working hard to make sure New York makes a comeback. And New York has gone, you know, just like any country or city has gone through, you know, recession times and booms and changes. There's always kind of the ebbing and flowing of the economy. I'm sure it will, too. It's the greatest city on earth. And like you say, it's a city of immigrants. It's the

melting pot there is astounding and the people who come out of it like yourself have learned a lot. John, it's been wonderful to have you on the show. Thank you very much for coming. Well, Chris, I hope to do our paths course again real soon. Let's do that. Whenever you're around, let me know. I'll buy you lunch.

That sounds like a deal, John. John, give me your dot coms, wherever you want people to order your books. You can go to wabcradio.com or you can go to catsroundtable.com or catsmatitis.com There you go.

Order it up, folks, wherever fine books are sold, but only go into those fine bookstores. Don't go in the alleyway bookstores, because you might get, you know, you might get into those fine bookstores. Don't go in the alleyway bookstores because you might get robbed. I don't know. How far do you want to go? Lessons from a common sense billionaire out wherever fine books are sold.

You can order it on Amazon and other places. Thanks to John for being here. Thanks to Moniz for tuning in. Go to goodreads.com for Chess Chris Foss, youtube.com for Chess Chris Foss, and linkedin.com for Chess Chris Foss. Thanks forin.com forward slash Chris Foss. Thanks for tuning in. Be good to each other.

Stay safe, and we'll see you guys next time. Thank you, Chris.