That's the narrative mythology anyway:
"Arthur T. Demoulas happy ‘just being a grocer’; Says Market Basket has rebounded, financing must be resolved" by Casey Ross | Globe Staff September 12, 2014
Sitting in the Tewksbury headquarters of the supermarket empire he had just reclaimed, Arthur T. Demoulas rattled off the statistics that have helped bring Market Basket back to life.
Some 2.3 million cases of beef, poultry, and seafood were shipped in seven days. An additional 1.65 million cases of nonperishables were processed. Last Friday alone, 88 tractor-trailers full of produce arrived at stores across New England.
Demoulas was exhausted and exhilarated by an around-the-clock re-stocking drive that followed his dramatic reinstatement to the company last month. Now, he said he is eager to return to the normal rhythms of running the company founded by his grandfather nearly a century ago.
“Look,” he said. “I’m happy just being a grocer.”
In his first interview since agreeing to buy the company from rival relatives, Demoulas said Market Basket has already accomplished a remarkable turnaround thanks to employees who worked day and night to replenish shelves stripped bare by the summer-long family standoff over the business.
“Sales are already at 100 percent of where they were last year,” he said in an interview with The Boston Globe. “Bakery, produce, and meat are mostly in. Everyone just got to it and worked as hard as they could.”
But even as the business turned a corner, Demoulas said his work was only beginning. Over the next few months, he must stabilize the company’s finances and complete a $1.6 billion purchase of shares owned by family members who have fought with him over Market Basket for 25 years. Then he must figure a way to manage the roughly $1.3 billion in debt that will be created by the transaction.
Demoulas acknowledged the new debt might slow expansion of the 71-store chain in coming years. But he insisted it will not change the discount pricing that has won the loyalty of customers across the region.
“Every retailer has to stand for something,” Demoulas said. “We’re very much grounded in the basic philosophy of driving the ‘more for your dollar’ business model. That’s really something we live by every day.”
The company’s operations nearly ground to a halt this summer after Demoulas was fired as president by a board controlled by his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas. Many employees refused to work in solidarity with their ousted leader, shutting down the company’s distribution network in an extraordinary revolt that drew national attention.
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Though he agreed to speak with a reporter about the effort to revitalize the company, Demoulas said he is not a man who enjoys the media spotlight, and while thousands of employees rallied on his behalf over the summer — plastering his face on placards and chanting his name — Demoulas said he hopes to return to a low profile soon. Right now, a simple visit to a store can become a three-hour event. He is often received like a celebrity, with employees and customers crowding around him to shake hands and snap selfies.
Demoulas said he appreciates the support but is more comfortable managing the nuts and bolts of Market Basket’s business. He is a fount of knowledge about the supermarket industry and passionate about his company’s place in the New England market. Off the top of his head, he can tick off the prices of specific products at Market Basket versus Stop & Shop, BJ’s, Whole Foods, and others.
He and his managers spend hours inside stores tracking prices, market penetration, and profit margins. But Demoulas eschews loyalty cards and other modern innovations used by his competitors. He prefers to stick to a formula learned from his late father, Telemachus, whose name he invokes repeatedly while explaining his business philosophy.
“We keep it as simple as possible for people,” he said. “We keep costs low and quality high. We keep the stores clean and offer service with a smile. And if at the end of the day you have some success, then you share that with the associates.”
In the wake of his agreement to buy Market Basket, many specialists have questioned whether the company will be able to maintain an employee profit sharing plan that costs tens of millions of dollars a year.
But Demoulas described his commitment to the plan as “unwavering.” He recounted a recent retirement party at which all four departing employees left the company with large nest eggs. Two store directors had more than $1 million; a produce supervisor had $800,000; and a truck driver was leaving with more than $700,000.
“We don’t anticipate that any of that will change,” he said. “We’re committed to the profit sharing plan that’s been in place now since 1963.”
The terms and exact sources of the $1.3 billion needed to complete the purchase of the company remain unclear. The private equity firm Blackstone Group serves in an advisory role to Demoulas and is arranging a financing package for the transaction. People familiar with the deal said Blackstone will not acquire an ownership stake in the company.
How much do they want for their services?
Besides, Blackstone carries a bad connotation now. Best just to bury the matter.
Demoulas declined to discuss the details of the company’s finances. But he said the additional debt could impede Market Basket’s ability to build new stores. In coming months, he said, the company intends to open five stores it has been building in Waltham, Revere, Attleboro, Athol, and Littleton.
After that, it is unclear when Market Basket will have the ability grow again.
Demoulas said the summer-long crisis created good and bad attention for the company. While it brought a focus on his family’s dysfunction, it also put a spotlight on Market Basket’s value to customers and employees who sacrificed to preserve it.
“I think so many people could relate to it because it affects everyone,” he said. “If everyone in the workplace is equal and treated with dignity, they work with a little extra passion, a little extra dedication. I think that’s a wonderful business message to the world.”
It is a great story for these times.
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I believe that was the last time the Globe was in Market Basket.
