May 30, 2025 • 42 mins
Back in the summer of 2014, Market Basket owners Arthur T. Demoulas and his three sisters were in a battle with their cousin for control of the company, in which customer boycotts and employee walkouts ensued. Now, this week CEO Arthur T Demoulas, two of his children and three other Market Basket executives were suspended and put on paid leave. The Market Basket board of directors said Arthur is being investigated by an independent law firm "for planning a work stoppage in retaliation for requests from the board for basic collaboration and oversight." Arthur and his allies claim, the investigation is "a farcical cover for a hostile takeover." We discussed the Market Basket feud!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's night Side, who Dan ray On doing Busy Boston Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Beg you very much. I'll the Red Sox continue with
their game down in Atlanta and we continue here at Nightside. Again.
Thank you to Gary Tangway who sat in for me
both Wednesday night and Thursday night. Had a chance to
go up to Montreal for two days. And my friend
and many many years, Chris Nyland, who played for the
(00:28):
Montreal Canadians, did a one man show, which is the
second one man show is going on tonight at the
same venue. It's a beautiful venue as a dinner place
with about six hundred guests who were supporting charity dealing
with mental health issues. And Chris basically told his life
(00:52):
story and it's a great job captivating story from being
a kid grown up in West Roxbury who dreamed about
playing in the National Hockey League but didn't think there
was a real way for him to get there. But
through some hard work he became a pretty accomplished hockey player,
(01:12):
played thirteen years in the NHL with the Canadians, the
Rangers and the Bruins, and then finished his career in
Montreal with his beloved Canadians. And he talked about his
post career and surgeries and addiction to certain substances, some
very tough drug dealing with drugs. He was brutally honest
(01:39):
in this presentation. He did that in conjunction with a
gentleman from Montreal, gentleman by named of Barry Larenzetti, who
worked with Chris and it was a compelling one man show. Basically,
(02:04):
he spoke from his heart and was fabulous in terms
of the message that he has. And I hope that somehow,
some way his performances and he will do two more
of these. It will be the same show or maybe
a little different each night, but it's not scripted per se,
(02:27):
It's outlined, and he is a compelling Speaker's done some
radio in Montreal, did a great job on Wednesday night,
and I'm sure he's doing a great job tonight even
as we speak. And I hope that one of the
content providers on television basically is small enough and enlightened
(02:51):
enough to pick it up because it's a message that
needs to be heard. How you can be overtaken in
the most innocent of ways if you rely overly rely
upon some of these opioids as you recover from surgeries
and you can develop. And Chris held nothing back, nothing back.
(03:14):
So for those of you who know Chris Nyland, if
you let him know that he's served a great public
service on Wednesday night, and he's doing it again tonight
and very very rarely to people want to tell the
world all of their faults and all of their failings
in an effort to prevent others from dealing with those
(03:36):
same faults and failings. And Chris has brought his life
back together amazingly. Well anyway, I also want to just
take a moment. I just got a very nice note
from Teresa Mahoney. She writes, Hydian. My husband used to
(03:57):
call it tonightside off and he was Paul m from
Norwood or Paul from Dorchester. He was a retired Boston
Public school teacher dean of students. Passed away at the
end of March after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.
He had been diagnosed in January of twenty twenty four
and passed away this past March. He always enjoyed talking
to you, and I was listening in tonight and thought
(04:18):
i'd let you know. Best regards to Teresa. Teresa, I
hope you're listening, I sent back. I sent to you
a quick email during the news in which I said
to you, and I want to tell the audience I
remember Paul very well. He was an excellent caller. He
was a dedicated teacher and a dedicated coach to his
(04:42):
students in Boston public schools. Someone had mentioned to me
a few weeks ago that he had passed, and I
did acknowledge it briefly on here because I wasn't quite sure.
You know, Paul Mahoney is not an uncommon name, and
I decided, after seeing your email tonight that I just
(05:06):
wanted to make a reference and do it right now.
And I hope you hear what I'm about to say.
But Paul always spoke from his heart. He was so
dedicated to his Boston Public school students. He was a
basketball coach and a basketball referee and spent a lot
of time with young people in gyms in Boston, in
(05:29):
the city of Boston, and I'm sure that he touched
the lives of hundreds, hundreds of young people in Boston,
and all for the positive. And I'm proud that he
was a listener to Night Side, and I'm proud of
the fact that he contributed so often to Night's side.
I get to know a lot of my callers on
this program because this is a talk show, and a
(05:51):
talk show is necessarily driven by callers. I don't think
that I'm some oracle of great knowledge or wealthy information,
and I do not think I have either the ability
or the inclination to sit here and spout my opinions.
I always want to throw out topics for conversation and
(06:12):
give people a chance to share our opinions. And from
the day I began this program back in two thousand
and seven, I said that I wanted to be the
voice of reason, and I wanted to hear different points
of view. And most of the time I would sit
back and listen to Paul because of the wisdom that
he imparted about his time as a teacher and as
(06:33):
a coach and the impact that sports could have and
teachers could have on students in Boston public schools. And
he remained remain so loyal to his students and to
his athletes, and it came through so clearly every time
he spoke on the radio. So he will be sorely missed, Toresa,
But I want you to understand that there are hundreds
(06:55):
of kids walking today, maybe now grown up families of
their own, who were impacted by Paul and positively impacted
by him as a teacher or a coach, and his
legacy will live on through them and through their families
because he, I know, changed lives and changed lives for
(07:16):
the better. So I just wanted to say thank you,
Teresa for confirming for me so I could speak a
little bit more openly about him. I would see his
name come up, and I knew that I was going
to get a good caller, and I was going to
get someone who's going to come with a point of
view and say it and say it well as he
did so many nights over so many years here on
(07:37):
night Side. So rest well, Paul Mahoney and hopefully Teresa,
he's listening tonight from somewhere in a far better place.
But they say that WBZ can be heard across the
country and around the world, and I suspect that if
Paul is where I think he is, he's sitting up
(07:57):
there and listening tonight. So thanks to and God bless you,
and God bless your family, and certainly in God bless
your late great husband. Paul Mahoney, Well, take a break.
We come back. We're going to talk about the Dumoulis battle,
another battle brawl, if you want to call it an
interfamilial battle. I got to tell you, I'm rooting for Artie.
(08:21):
It seems to me that this is a great store.
It's a store that is not convenient to where I live,
but I go there. I don't go there as often
as I would as I should, or maybe as I
would like to, because I do have some responsibilities during
the day. But join us. Feel free who you're rooting
for here. I'm rooting for ardt. It's as simple as that.
(08:45):
I think that he survived that attempted coup back in
the summer of twenty fourteen. I love Market Basket. They
are not advertisers on this program. They don't have to
be advertisers. I will tell you what I think, honestly.
I had a conversation with a manager at another grocery
(09:06):
store just yesterday actually, and I cited market Basket to
him as how all stores should be run. I'll explain
that conversation, and I want to hear from you on
this Who are you rooting for? Are you rooting for
RDT at market basket, or or he's been placed on
(09:26):
paid leave. Are you rooting for his other family members?
I guess it was a group of three sisters, all
shareholders in the chain, who together had more votes on
the voard of directors, and so they were able to,
I guess, accomplish what what he had avoided ten years ago.
(09:50):
But I hope somehow he gets back. The numbers, if
you'd like to join the conversation, are six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty and six one seven, nine three one thirty.
Light those lines up, and at ten o'clock tonight, we're
going to talk about the future of medicine and what's
going on in the medical world right now is extraordinary,
and for any of you who are under the age
(10:12):
of fifty, a lot of the things that we're going
to be talking about tonight will be considered just normal
medical practice by time you get into the year sixties
or seventies, and it'll be an exciting conversation we will
have with a futurist, Kevin Sirelli, and then we'll finish
it off with the twentieth Hour. For me, it's I
(10:34):
can't say it's the twentieth hours the twentieth hour of
the week. So far, I've done nine hours. Gary Tangway
has done eight and we still have three to go.
We're coming back on Nightside. Let's talk about Demolis, who
we are rooting for. I mean, this is important to
me because I want Market Basket to stay the way
it is. We'll be back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Go the headline in the papers today and I heard
about this yesterday. I was in Montreal on my way
to Montreal actually on Wednesday, and got a phone call
from someone and said to me that there was some
sort of a coup underway at the board meeting of
(11:20):
Market Basket people and longtime Market Basket leader Arthur T. Dermoulis,
who had survived a big fight ten years ago, and
any of you in our audience who were ten years ago,
he was in a battle with his cousin Arthur S
(11:42):
back in the day. Talk about an interfamilial battle, and
Arthur T survived. At that point, there were people who
boycotted the supermarket, and there were people employees who walked out,
and it was it was inspirational. I mean, market Basket
(12:03):
is a huge, huge company. It's a huge company, and
I guess it is. I'm just reading here. I think
it's ninety stores and they have something like three thousand
employees and and last year they did seven billion dollars
in revenue. And my understanding is that a lot of
(12:25):
the stores want the employees to do their restocking of
shells overnight, but apparently Arthur t does not want that,
and he wants his employees in the stores during the day,
which has been my experience. When I go to market
Basket and I do go there, I develop a list
(12:47):
and it saves me money, which is why I go there.
I mean, obviously it cost me some money to drive
there because it's not convenient. The one that's closest to
me is in Waltham, and that's the store I go
to on one twenty eight. I'm not going there this weekend,
by the way, because I would have to go past
the Massachusetts Turnpike. That's a different story from last hour.
(13:09):
But you could save money, and there's nothing wrong with
saving money. I was in another store I'm not going
to mention the name of the store yesterday, and one
of the things that bothers me about a lot of
these stores is that they have they have these apps
and stuff where and I don't know if you can
relate to this. I'm pretty good with the apps. I
(13:32):
know how to pull the apps down. I know how
to use the apps. But what they do is they
have like two sets of prices. They have the well,
they have three sets of prices. They have regular prices,
and then they have sale prices so that you can
walk down the aisle and say, oh, those that item
is fifty cents off. I can save a dollar on
that item. And then they have the digital coupons. But
(13:52):
you have to somehow be able to get the best
price on a lot of the items. You have to
get that you have to get the app, and then
you have to go through the app to find the
digital coupons you want, which is a pain that in
the in the neck. Okay uh. And the bottom line
is they make it difficult. They make and I blasted
(14:13):
a manager yesterday. I said, you're basically making you you
you basically are going to drive older shoppers away. They
know the older shoppers, uh, do not want to drive
far distances, so they have these marketing attitudes that that
they'll the older folks get treated as second class customers
because they can't. They're not comfortable with the apps, they're
(14:35):
not comfortable with the digital coupons. I am. I use
computers all the time. I'm kind of the exception. There
are probably a lot of older customers who do, but
there are a lot of older customers who don't. At Demola's,
the prices are all there. I you know, you walk
down the aisle, you see what the prices are, and
they're accurate, and you don't have any of these automatic
(14:58):
kiosks market basket. It is my favorite grocery store. And
the fact that RDT now has been put on leave
bothers me immensely. I hope some of you feel the
same way. I have no idea what was going on
within the family, but I'd love to get your take
on it. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty
(15:19):
six seven nine, three, one ten thirty. Now, this is
a talk show. I rely upon callers, Okay. I'm told
that Gary runs a little bit of a different show
and he's much more uh interview oriented, which is fine,
But I want to hear from you on this. Are
you concerned that Dumoulas might head in a different direction.
(15:40):
I know. I am Jeane in Boston. Gene, welcome, you
are next to the night side. Let me get you
up here on the on the board. Go ahead, Geene,
what rather?
Speaker 3 (15:51):
I think you also failed to mention though, that they
also price at different stories and in what town they're in,
which is also to scrimnatory against their customers based upon
the competition in the area, as well as all the
other things you talked about with digital coupons and things.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah, well, you know, that's a good point. I know
that there was some students I think from Boston, from Roxbury,
Mattapan who went in and did an analysis of I'm
not going to mention the store, but they did an
analysis of what the same grocery bag to fill up
(16:30):
with cost And I think it was a store in
downtown in Greater Boston, in Roxbury, I think it was
in the South.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
End right correct, the mall there over on the expressway,
versus what people in one of the suburban communities would pay.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
And I think that's that's a problem too. I mean,
they have a right to do that. I don't think
that I want the government going in and and price checking,
but I think it's good to make to do these
sort of consumer stories and I remember seeing that. My
hats off to those kids from Roxbury, Dorchester. They sort
(17:13):
of were doing the role of investigative reporters that should
be done occasionally by local television news reporters.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Yes, yes, I will also say too like in terms
of this like I was fully on board with the situation. However,
many years ago I was with Arthur and the family.
I do feel like now is a little different in
my opinion, with the three sisters, they also helped him
in that situation. They were on his side and took
on the debt with him that he did. And the
reality is now is they now own those three sisters.
(17:42):
They owned sixty percent of the company. He only owned
twenty eight percent. I don't know what the details are
of what's going on, but if it's true that he's
not providing them with budgets or big decisions you know,
factors and what's what decision he's making on top of
the fact that he's seventy years old, there should be
some shared you know, I guess of information with who
(18:04):
the managers are and what an exit plan would be,
because if they really are in the dark and they
own sixty percent of the company. I don't think that's
fair with them, and they were on his side and
they helped them get out of that situation and obviously
made the company what it is today. So I do
think that he should be sharing that with them if
thats back through you, and I don't think we know
what the details of that, So I don't think it's
(18:25):
fair to say that you're on his side or their
side whoever, without necessarily knowing what's really going on, because
from what I've heard, if that's true, if he's not,
you know, sharing that with them and keeping them in
the dark when they own sixty pern of the company,
you know, I hope that, honestly, I hope that. I
don't care who's right who's wrong, but I think that
they need to work it out and figure it out
(18:46):
because the company has been doing very well, and I
just hope they figure it out. And I'm not sure
which side to take, but I hope they figure it out.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, no, all, I'm all I'm trying to do. And
I think you're a great first caller because you make
the point that this is an internal fight within the market.
Basket Board of directors and it's an internal fight really
in effect between the Demula's family. Again, I've read the
same newspaper articles that you've read. None of us know
(19:16):
what internally is going on. My instinct is that he
has always done what has been right, not only for
the employees but for the customers, and he's grown the store,
grown the business. And whenever there's going to be a change,
I get a little bit concerned because I think having
market Basket in so many communities in East Well in Massachusetts,
(19:40):
and I guess also in New Hampshire could be wrong
on that, but I think it's good to have that option.
We have a variety of stores around, you know, you
have Shaws and Star Market and Roach Brothers and Stopping
Shop and Wegman's and Trader Joe's, and different stores appeal
to different people. As far as I'm concerned, market Basket
(20:02):
is the only one right now that accentuates low prices
year round and also fully employees people I've never seen
and if I'm wrong here, please someone correct me on this.
I've never seen one of those automatic checkout machines in
a Demola's market Basket.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Now.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I haven't been to every i'ven't been to most market baskets,
but I think, you know, one of the characteristics that
I like about market basket is when you go in there,
there's someone and often their first generation people who are working,
you know, at at at an entry level job. But
when you ask them to help you find something, whatever
(20:40):
the language difficulty might be, they always are responsive. And
I just I've never waited in line more than three
or four minutes, you know, the busiest times. It just
seems like a well run stored So that's that's what
I was responding to, to be honest with you.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I think obviously it's very well
roun I do have a little sympathy for the sisters,
but the little that I know, and ultimately I hope
they work it out because they came together to, you know,
take it out of a bad situation before. And I
don't fully understand what the what the are, but I
do get it that these sisters are probably the same
(21:19):
age or similar, that he is probably concerned about what
their errors are going to get and where it's going
to go to, and that they should be involved in
the succession planning and who's right and who's wrong. I
don't know, but I hope they work it out.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
I agree with you on that as well. And I
also hope that the characteristics of the store don't change
as was helping.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, absolutely about that's part of the succession planning that
I think that they should all be a part of.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Okay, thank you, g'd appreciate your call.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Well, welcome, I'm a good night.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
You too, have a great night, good night, bye bye.
All right, I'm having some trouble on my screen here tonight, Rob,
So whatever you can do would be very helpful. We
will continue with our conversations, and I have open lines,
which always worry me. Six thirty six one seven nine
one ten thirty. I think it's a very important story
because if market Basket were to go away or fundamentally change,
(22:08):
it would impact a lot of people who rely upon
them for good quality products at the fairest and I
think the least expensive prices around. Join the conversation, uh.
I think Jean's position of holding your fire, I just
want to get the conversation started, and I'm gonna be
honest with you. I saw what Arthur t has done
(22:32):
with that store. I saw how people stood up for him, before.
I haven't seen any indication that he should have been removed,
putting all of the into family internscine intomural warfare aside,
which I have no knowledge of. I have no knowledge of,
and I don't think most of you have any knowledge
of it either, But it will affect much more than
(22:55):
that family. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty
six month, seven nine three one ten thirty one. Coming
right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
It's Night Side with Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Now. I've been away for a couple of nights here,
but folks, this is an issue that is near and
dear to my heart, and I hope it's near and
dear to yours to yours as well. So I got
some open line six one seven, two, five, four ten
thirty six one seven nine three one ten thirty. I
like phone calls. Let's keep it a rolling. And I
also like Noel, who is up in New Hampshire. Noel,
(23:29):
welcome back to Night's Side. I haven't talked to you
in months. How are you tonight?
Speaker 6 (23:33):
I know Dan, I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
How are you so great to hear your voice? I
know that you travel along.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
I I just got back from Italy, really.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
For business or pleasure. Play God, good for you. Where'd
you go anywhere? I was in Italy last summer and.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
We were in Italy. I've done wrong before. This was Venice,
Florence for Pollo Venice. So but I have a lot
to say about this.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah, I want to hear it.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Go right ahead, Okay.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
All three of my children worked at Market Basket. They
all worked there, you know, as soon as they turned fourteen.
And I think, what people when the first walkout happened
eleven years ago, that was organic. The thing I find
extremely suspicious about this is it seems like this board
(24:36):
has not been very involved in the day to day
operations of Market Basket. The new the newer board members,
not people like mister Shay or the one that was fired,
mister Carlton. But what's interesting is the board comes out
with this letter saying that Arthur te Demu was planning
(25:00):
to stage a walkout. Now, the man who has been
there since I believe he was seventeen years old and
seven days, why would he do anything to jeopardize the
thirty thousand associates that he adores. They do, they absolutely do.
(25:24):
He is the nicest human being you will ever meet.
On the planet Earth, as are his wife and children.
I've had the pleasure to meet them. They are just
a wonderful feeling. They do so much for the local communities.
Mass General Lawrence General Lowell General Boys Clubs, Girls Clubs.
(25:46):
He's the most generous, honest, kindest human being you ever
want to meet. He is never going to do anything
to jeopardize the company that his grandfather and his dad built.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
So what do you think the motive is. I mean, again,
you never know what goes on in a marriage or
a family.
Speaker 6 (26:11):
We kind of I know, but I've been through this.
I've been through this when my mother died with my
own siblings. Yeah, I don't care how much money you have.
If you have one hundred dollars or one hundred million dollars,
if you have the opportunity to get more money, why not.
And I think what's really tragic about this is these
board members that you're seeing on television, they don't know
(26:34):
anything about the culture of this company.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Well, what I'd love to know. What I'd love to know,
and you seem to know some. What I'd love to
know is how do people get appointed to this board? Also,
I want you to know that we reached out to
a side today. Okay, there was no news conference, and
I have a sound, some sound which I can play. Oh,
(26:59):
I know it was Okay, I'm not not for you.
But what I'm saying is we gave them an opportunity,
the people who have been fired, to come on and
make their points available tonight, and we what did they say?
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't
make them drink. I was very disappointed that the people
who are supporting Arthur t they know how I feel
(27:21):
about his management style and about and about the business.
I was hoping they would come on and talk about it,
to be really honest with you. But the two individuals
who who were at the news conference, they fellow name,
I don't know if you know. Their name's Joe Schmidt
and Tom Gordon.
Speaker 6 (27:39):
And Tom Gordon, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Neither one of them were available even for ten minutes tonight.
Speaker 6 (27:43):
Which I think maybe that will be arranged for some
day next week. I think I think right now the
company and the associates and the people that actually work
for the company are in shock that this has happened.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Well, they missed an opportunity. They missed an opportunity. Tonight
to put a stake in the ground, and I would
be willing to have people from both sides on. Now
I'm told that Arthur t is there's not someone who
does interviews, which is fine, that's his.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
Right, but it's very private man.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, but this has now become once again. He went
through a very public a series of events eleven years
ago and he won that battle in the court of
public opinion.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
I think when it comes to the court of public opinion,
he'll win this battle. I think anybody, I mean thirty
thousand people. They have ninety stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Maine and even Rhode Islands. And if you read on
social media, people love this Mia, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
But here's the thing, Noel, they should hire Arthur t
should hire someone like you who has good sense of
public relations. Again, they missed an opportunity tonight, which is
unfortunate for them. They missed an opportunity to have joined
tonight and taken questions from me and set out what's
(29:14):
going on. But you've represented them very well. And I'm
inclined towards him only because I've been a customer of
the store for several years. I don't go there every
week because it's too far away, but at least every
couple of weeks or three weeks, I make an effort
to go there because I like the atmosphere, I like
the people, I like the product.
Speaker 7 (29:36):
And I like the prices, and I like itt me correct,
I believe in employee.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
A previous caller mentioned that or you were talking about
this study that was done on different prices in different stores.
I can tell you for a fact, market baskets prices
are the same.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Oh no, yeah, no, he made me no. Well, that
caller made it clear he was talking about another chain,
another well known and I'm not here to bash anybody,
uh at all or mine. It was. It was a
chain that had I think it was in South Bay Mall,
and the students who were from I guess Roxbury, Dorchester
(30:16):
went in and you know, priced what it would be
for a family of whatever buying their products for a week.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
And then they went and they did the same identical products.
I think it was a store in Denham and there
was a pretty good significant disparity and obviously the prices
were consistently higher in the poorer community, which is, you know,
a little unfair.
Speaker 6 (30:40):
It's a tragedy and Arthur would never do that, of course.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Noah, well, thank you for making it clear. I thought
I had made it clear. It was not it was
not U. And then I went on about these these
these companies that that induced people to get their app,
and then they had digital coupons in the app, which
is great for the people who have the to maneuver
around that app and spend the time in that app.
(31:03):
But a lot of people don't have smartphones. They don't
they're not able to get the app. And what they
do is they create two tiers of customers. People who
are smart enough to have the app and spend the
time of the app, they get the best prices, and
then you have these other people who don't get the
best prices. And that's not fair. And I had a
fairly straightforward conversation with the manager of a different store yesterday,
(31:26):
frankly because I saw him and I said, you know,
I said, I think you're being unfair to older customers,
and I know.
Speaker 6 (31:33):
You would never see that.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
That's why I go there. I don't buy it. I
don't buy anything that's expensive. I don't go you know,
if I have to buy some cold cuts or whatever,
I can go to my local store. But when I
want to stock up on you know, toilet paper, dishwasher detergent,
you know, dishwash, the liquid, all of that stuff, paper towels,
(32:00):
I go to marketing paper.
Speaker 6 (32:04):
The thing. Can I just mention? One other thing is
that when people talk about the board of directors, they
need to remember that the board has a fiduciary responsibility.
Every board has a fiduciary responsibility to act and the
best interest of everyone. That's the stakeholders, which is Arthur
and the sisters, but it's also the shareholders, the employees,
(32:25):
and the community. And Arthur is more concerned about the
employees and the community.
Speaker 7 (32:34):
All right, And that's what makes market that you represented.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Again, they need to they need to get someone like
you representing them. Noel, Hey, I got to run.
Speaker 6 (32:46):
It was very good for my kids, that's all.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
I wanted to make a very strong testimony. I wish
that the public relations people were smart enough to have
taken the opportunity we presented to them tonight, Thanks.
Speaker 6 (32:57):
Noel, Maybe they will thanks somebody.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Okay, And again, either side is welcome to join us
any night next week, that's for sure.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
I got some open lines. And I'm done at ten
o'clock on this, so if you're gonna call it five
to ten, probably won't make uh. And I have a
guest coming up at ten o'clock, so we are moving
on from this topic. At nine fifty eight, we got
about ten minutes six one seven, two, five, four thirty
six one seven, nine, three thirty. If you want to
wag in, go right ahead. We'll be back right after this.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray, Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Okay, back to the calls. Let me go to Gary
and Wooburn. Hey, Gary, welcome back.
Speaker 7 (33:38):
Yes, the fight between the family members and that I
really almost don't want to talk about because we really
don't know the fact.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Sure enough, I'm talking about what you'd like to talk about.
Go right ahead.
Speaker 7 (33:47):
Yet the show you go to? How much do you
pay for a pound of cheese?
Speaker 2 (33:51):
You know what? I don't keep stuff like that in
my head. Gary, to be really honest with you, I
go for my big items at market basket. There's also
a few it is that I know at market basket.
I know that a gallery of milk is going to
save me money at market basket. I know that half
and half cream for my coffee will save me money
at market basket. I know fruit will save me money
(34:12):
in market Basket. But there's also some big ticket items.
I go always spend one hundred dollars at Malcolt Basket
for probably what I would spend one hundred and fifty
dollars at somewhere else. So for me, the rut for
me to say fifty bucks or forty to fifty dollars
is well worth a thirty mile round trip to market Basket.
Speaker 7 (34:32):
As a guy who's an employee sixty four years old,
he works for market Basket, and I've been talking about
the last six months. We always talked baseball and so forth.
He told me in you know, I didn't want to
get two pressl on about how much he makes a
year and so for because he's been there for our
you know, over thirty seventy years. And he actually leaked
at three He said that he makes it well. By
the way, he's a manager of the department of like milk,
(34:55):
the dairy department that he's only in that aisle all
day longay that was, And he's one of the manager
at the store, but not the head man's that he
said he makes one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, and
I told him, I said, what are you kidding me?
I thought you, at the most was making about sixty cause.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
No one of the employees love RDT.
Speaker 7 (35:15):
Huh yeah. And when you figure, he said, oh, I'm
not even coming for one k and that's that bank.
And I said, why would you even want to leave?
I guess you must have new years ago that you
were heading in the right direction, because I'm sure we
all think of people that work at Market Basket, not
just that the cast, like we almost think of them
as flunkies working at a store. But those people are
(35:36):
making good money. I'm sure the cast are just women
and men making fifteen bucks an hour. When he told
me one hundred and twenty thousand, that's big money.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Sure is sure is Gary. That's let's give some really
good insight. Thanks for checking in, my man. We will
talk soon.
Speaker 7 (35:52):
Okay, okay, my man, Thanks Gary.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Doc deal later. Thanks. I'm gonna go left next to
Elaine and andover Elaine. You next on nightside, Go right ahead. Okay.
If Elaine's not ready, we'll put a land Elaine, let's go.
We're running out of time.
Speaker 7 (36:08):
Go ahead, Elaine, good evening.
Speaker 8 (36:12):
I just I agree with you that I am on
Atti T's side. Okay, I have seen the wonderful things
he's done his first of all know him. I have
had the opportunity of meeting him and his family. I
know that I happen to be an educator, so I
(36:34):
know how wonderful he is to all the hundreds of
children I've had in my career, the number of students
going off to college with wonderful profit sharing.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
And that's all. This is this, You're telling me what
I have always sensed about this, uh, this gentleman. And
we'll have to see how this works out. But I
thank you for calling and saying some kind words about
him tonight. I truly mean that. But I got a
bunch of other calls are going to try to give
him an opportunity to see what they.
Speaker 9 (37:05):
Have to all right, thank you, Thank you very.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Much, appreciate it. Thanks Thanks Elaine. Next up is Steve
and Merrimack, New Hampshire. Steve next on Nightsiger Right.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
Ahead, Hey Dan, thanks for taking my call. I just
want to say I, you know, everybody agrees and so
do I that Market Basket is absolutely the number one
food store in New England and I shopped there. I
went to high school with RDT. I know him very well.
He's a nice guy. I was talking to one of
(37:36):
the managers today and there's another side to the story,
you know. The the fact is that the board is
packed with the by the sisters who hate his guts.
I mean, it's not even close.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Again, I'm going to try to stay out of the
personalities at this point. I'm hoping to get people and
we'll follow the story. I think that that that his
people missed an opportunity tonight to come on and sort
of set their position out. And I would have invited
the other side. And if the other side, if me decide,
wants to go on, there's not much I can do
(38:14):
about it. But I felt I wanted to put my
stake in the ground tonight to give people an opportunity
like yourself.
Speaker 5 (38:20):
Yeah, he needs, he needs to come together with them,
and you know they he does the day to day operations,
but when he makes purchases of real estate and opens
up the new stores, you got to tell the board.
I mean, they are responsible for what happens, and I
think that's part of it. Too.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Fair enough, fair enough, thanks Dave, appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (38:40):
That's it, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Thanks sure, let me go to marketing Clinton, Mark, want
to get you and maybe one more in here, go ahead, Mark.
Speaker 9 (38:47):
All right, Yeah, I just wanted to weigh in. And
you were talking about, you know, new people coming into
a business and running it a different way. Yeah, and
that it's ridiculous in terms of you see, we've seen
so many businesses in the past that get handed down
generation a generation and then some new guy, whether it
(39:08):
be a grandson or just a totally new non family member,
comes in and changes the whole way of how the
company was run. And it's like that company worked a
certain way for five generations, it did well, why would
you change it?
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Yep? I hear you. You're breaking up with me. Mark. Unfortunately,
I think you made your point, but I got to
let you go because the line broke up on us.
Thank you very much for your call.
Speaker 9 (39:38):
Good all right, have a good night, you too.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Matt is in Pembroke. Matt gets in quickly. Here go ahead, Matt.
Speaker 10 (39:44):
Hey, Dan, thanks taking my call. I went into handle
the store a couple of years ago with my son
who's fourteen, and he walked right over with pushing a
cat and said, hey, hell are you what's your name?
And I told my name, my son's name. We carried
a convas station in ten minutes. He none of the
employees knew he was there. And he just seems like
(40:05):
a really, really nice guy. And he just we spent
ten minutes talking. You know, he was interested in me
and I'm talking about what he does, you know, and
it's just he went back to pushing his cat. Look
at the back of the groceries and you know, like
with the calories and.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
Stuff are so so that he was rd T is
what you're talking about.
Speaker 7 (40:28):
Gotti T.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (40:29):
Yeah, he was in the store doing his own shop
and he wasn't with managers or oh.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
I said that that's a great, a great story. And
I thanks Matt. I appreciate you call call more often.
We had called earlier. I'll give you more time. Thanks,
thank you, talk to you soon, okay, Alan, and weymouth Alan,
I got maybe thirty seconds for you. I got. I
worked to get you and go right ahead.
Speaker 11 (40:55):
Believe in Dan. I love your conversation. You always have
good calm. It's about everything. I work at market Basket,
in the store at Hanover I've been there for three years,
and I like where I work. The atmosphere in every way,
as far as I'm concerned, is good. I feel the
company cares about the employees and the customers and the stores.
(41:17):
The stores I kept upright, they're clean, they're comfortable, and
not just me. I've got rocalies and I help out
with other things. But we're going afraid to help customers
find something.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Absolutely, and I've been I've been that customer, Allan. And
by the way, my first job was I was a
bagger in a supermarket. So yeah, we have a lot
in common. Alan, I'm flat out of time. Call earlier
and I give you much, but it's the ten o'clock
news coming at me like a thanks, good weekend, you too, Alan,
talks soon. Thanks for your your comments on market basket.
(41:52):
All right, that is it on market Basket. We get
back when to talk about the future of medicine and
it's moving at a rapid page. Is back on Nightside
right after this
It's night Side, who Dan ray On doing Busy Boston Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Beg you very much. I'll the Red Sox continue with
their game down in Atlanta and we continue here at Nightside. Again.
Thank you to Gary Tangway who sat in for me
both Wednesday night and Thursday night. Had a chance to
go up to Montreal for two days. And my friend
and many many years, Chris Nyland, who played for the
(00:28):
Montreal Canadians, did a one man show, which is the
second one man show is going on tonight at the
same venue. It's a beautiful venue as a dinner place
with about six hundred guests who were supporting charity dealing
with mental health issues. And Chris basically told his life
(00:52):
story and it's a great job captivating story from being
a kid grown up in West Roxbury who dreamed about
playing in the National Hockey League but didn't think there
was a real way for him to get there. But
through some hard work he became a pretty accomplished hockey player,
(01:12):
played thirteen years in the NHL with the Canadians, the
Rangers and the Bruins, and then finished his career in
Montreal with his beloved Canadians. And he talked about his
post career and surgeries and addiction to certain substances, some
very tough drug dealing with drugs. He was brutally honest
(01:39):
in this presentation. He did that in conjunction with a
gentleman from Montreal, gentleman by named of Barry Larenzetti, who
worked with Chris and it was a compelling one man show. Basically,
(02:04):
he spoke from his heart and was fabulous in terms
of the message that he has. And I hope that somehow,
some way his performances and he will do two more
of these. It will be the same show or maybe
a little different each night, but it's not scripted per se,
(02:27):
It's outlined, and he is a compelling Speaker's done some
radio in Montreal, did a great job on Wednesday night,
and I'm sure he's doing a great job tonight even
as we speak. And I hope that one of the
content providers on television basically is small enough and enlightened
(02:51):
enough to pick it up because it's a message that
needs to be heard. How you can be overtaken in
the most innocent of ways if you rely overly rely
upon some of these opioids as you recover from surgeries
and you can develop. And Chris held nothing back, nothing back.
(03:14):
So for those of you who know Chris Nyland, if
you let him know that he's served a great public
service on Wednesday night, and he's doing it again tonight
and very very rarely to people want to tell the
world all of their faults and all of their failings
in an effort to prevent others from dealing with those
(03:36):
same faults and failings. And Chris has brought his life
back together amazingly. Well anyway, I also want to just
take a moment. I just got a very nice note
from Teresa Mahoney. She writes, Hydian. My husband used to
(03:57):
call it tonightside off and he was Paul m from
Norwood or Paul from Dorchester. He was a retired Boston
Public school teacher dean of students. Passed away at the
end of March after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.
He had been diagnosed in January of twenty twenty four
and passed away this past March. He always enjoyed talking
to you, and I was listening in tonight and thought
(04:18):
i'd let you know. Best regards to Teresa. Teresa, I
hope you're listening, I sent back. I sent to you
a quick email during the news in which I said
to you, and I want to tell the audience I
remember Paul very well. He was an excellent caller. He
was a dedicated teacher and a dedicated coach to his
(04:42):
students in Boston public schools. Someone had mentioned to me
a few weeks ago that he had passed, and I
did acknowledge it briefly on here because I wasn't quite sure.
You know, Paul Mahoney is not an uncommon name, and
I decided, after seeing your email tonight that I just
(05:06):
wanted to make a reference and do it right now.
And I hope you hear what I'm about to say.
But Paul always spoke from his heart. He was so
dedicated to his Boston Public school students. He was a
basketball coach and a basketball referee and spent a lot
of time with young people in gyms in Boston, in
(05:29):
the city of Boston, and I'm sure that he touched
the lives of hundreds, hundreds of young people in Boston,
and all for the positive. And I'm proud that he
was a listener to Night Side, and I'm proud of
the fact that he contributed so often to Night's side.
I get to know a lot of my callers on
this program because this is a talk show, and a
(05:51):
talk show is necessarily driven by callers. I don't think
that I'm some oracle of great knowledge or wealthy information,
and I do not think I have either the ability
or the inclination to sit here and spout my opinions.
I always want to throw out topics for conversation and
(06:12):
give people a chance to share our opinions. And from
the day I began this program back in two thousand
and seven, I said that I wanted to be the
voice of reason, and I wanted to hear different points
of view. And most of the time I would sit
back and listen to Paul because of the wisdom that
he imparted about his time as a teacher and as
(06:33):
a coach and the impact that sports could have and
teachers could have on students in Boston public schools. And
he remained remain so loyal to his students and to
his athletes, and it came through so clearly every time
he spoke on the radio. So he will be sorely missed, Toresa,
But I want you to understand that there are hundreds
(06:55):
of kids walking today, maybe now grown up families of
their own, who were impacted by Paul and positively impacted
by him as a teacher or a coach, and his
legacy will live on through them and through their families
because he, I know, changed lives and changed lives for
(07:16):
the better. So I just wanted to say thank you,
Teresa for confirming for me so I could speak a
little bit more openly about him. I would see his
name come up, and I knew that I was going
to get a good caller, and I was going to
get someone who's going to come with a point of
view and say it and say it well as he
did so many nights over so many years here on
(07:37):
night Side. So rest well, Paul Mahoney and hopefully Teresa,
he's listening tonight from somewhere in a far better place.
But they say that WBZ can be heard across the
country and around the world, and I suspect that if
Paul is where I think he is, he's sitting up
(07:57):
there and listening tonight. So thanks to and God bless you,
and God bless your family, and certainly in God bless
your late great husband. Paul Mahoney, Well, take a break.
We come back. We're going to talk about the Dumoulis battle,
another battle brawl, if you want to call it an
interfamilial battle. I got to tell you, I'm rooting for Artie.
(08:21):
It seems to me that this is a great store.
It's a store that is not convenient to where I live,
but I go there. I don't go there as often
as I would as I should, or maybe as I
would like to, because I do have some responsibilities during
the day. But join us. Feel free who you're rooting
for here. I'm rooting for ardt. It's as simple as that.
(08:45):
I think that he survived that attempted coup back in
the summer of twenty fourteen. I love Market Basket. They
are not advertisers on this program. They don't have to
be advertisers. I will tell you what I think, honestly.
I had a conversation with a manager at another grocery
(09:06):
store just yesterday actually, and I cited market Basket to
him as how all stores should be run. I'll explain
that conversation, and I want to hear from you on
this Who are you rooting for? Are you rooting for
RDT at market basket, or or he's been placed on
(09:26):
paid leave. Are you rooting for his other family members?
I guess it was a group of three sisters, all
shareholders in the chain, who together had more votes on
the voard of directors, and so they were able to,
I guess, accomplish what what he had avoided ten years ago.
(09:50):
But I hope somehow he gets back. The numbers, if
you'd like to join the conversation, are six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty and six one seven, nine three one thirty.
Light those lines up, and at ten o'clock tonight, we're
going to talk about the future of medicine and what's
going on in the medical world right now is extraordinary,
and for any of you who are under the age
(10:12):
of fifty, a lot of the things that we're going
to be talking about tonight will be considered just normal
medical practice by time you get into the year sixties
or seventies, and it'll be an exciting conversation we will
have with a futurist, Kevin Sirelli, and then we'll finish
it off with the twentieth Hour. For me, it's I
(10:34):
can't say it's the twentieth hours the twentieth hour of
the week. So far, I've done nine hours. Gary Tangway
has done eight and we still have three to go.
We're coming back on Nightside. Let's talk about Demolis, who
we are rooting for. I mean, this is important to
me because I want Market Basket to stay the way
it is. We'll be back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Go the headline in the papers today and I heard
about this yesterday. I was in Montreal on my way
to Montreal actually on Wednesday, and got a phone call
from someone and said to me that there was some
sort of a coup underway at the board meeting of
(11:20):
Market Basket people and longtime Market Basket leader Arthur T. Dermoulis,
who had survived a big fight ten years ago, and
any of you in our audience who were ten years ago,
he was in a battle with his cousin Arthur S
(11:42):
back in the day. Talk about an interfamilial battle, and
Arthur T survived. At that point, there were people who
boycotted the supermarket, and there were people employees who walked out,
and it was it was inspirational. I mean, market Basket
(12:03):
is a huge, huge company. It's a huge company, and
I guess it is. I'm just reading here. I think
it's ninety stores and they have something like three thousand
employees and and last year they did seven billion dollars
in revenue. And my understanding is that a lot of
(12:25):
the stores want the employees to do their restocking of
shells overnight, but apparently Arthur t does not want that,
and he wants his employees in the stores during the day,
which has been my experience. When I go to market
Basket and I do go there, I develop a list
(12:47):
and it saves me money, which is why I go there.
I mean, obviously it cost me some money to drive
there because it's not convenient. The one that's closest to
me is in Waltham, and that's the store I go
to on one twenty eight. I'm not going there this weekend,
by the way, because I would have to go past
the Massachusetts Turnpike. That's a different story from last hour.
(13:09):
But you could save money, and there's nothing wrong with
saving money. I was in another store I'm not going
to mention the name of the store yesterday, and one
of the things that bothers me about a lot of
these stores is that they have they have these apps
and stuff where and I don't know if you can
relate to this. I'm pretty good with the apps. I
(13:32):
know how to pull the apps down. I know how
to use the apps. But what they do is they
have like two sets of prices. They have the well,
they have three sets of prices. They have regular prices,
and then they have sale prices so that you can
walk down the aisle and say, oh, those that item
is fifty cents off. I can save a dollar on
that item. And then they have the digital coupons. But
(13:52):
you have to somehow be able to get the best
price on a lot of the items. You have to
get that you have to get the app, and then
you have to go through the app to find the
digital coupons you want, which is a pain that in
the in the neck. Okay uh. And the bottom line
is they make it difficult. They make and I blasted
(14:13):
a manager yesterday. I said, you're basically making you you
you basically are going to drive older shoppers away. They
know the older shoppers, uh, do not want to drive
far distances, so they have these marketing attitudes that that
they'll the older folks get treated as second class customers
because they can't. They're not comfortable with the apps, they're
(14:35):
not comfortable with the digital coupons. I am. I use
computers all the time. I'm kind of the exception. There
are probably a lot of older customers who do, but
there are a lot of older customers who don't. At Demola's,
the prices are all there. I you know, you walk
down the aisle, you see what the prices are, and
they're accurate, and you don't have any of these automatic
(14:58):
kiosks market basket. It is my favorite grocery store. And
the fact that RDT now has been put on leave
bothers me immensely. I hope some of you feel the
same way. I have no idea what was going on
within the family, but I'd love to get your take
on it. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty
(15:19):
six seven nine, three, one ten thirty. Now, this is
a talk show. I rely upon callers, Okay. I'm told
that Gary runs a little bit of a different show
and he's much more uh interview oriented, which is fine,
But I want to hear from you on this. Are
you concerned that Dumoulas might head in a different direction.
(15:40):
I know. I am Jeane in Boston. Gene, welcome, you
are next to the night side. Let me get you
up here on the on the board. Go ahead, Geene,
what rather?
Speaker 3 (15:51):
I think you also failed to mention though, that they
also price at different stories and in what town they're in,
which is also to scrimnatory against their customers based upon
the competition in the area, as well as all the
other things you talked about with digital coupons and things.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah, well, you know, that's a good point. I know
that there was some students I think from Boston, from Roxbury,
Mattapan who went in and did an analysis of I'm
not going to mention the store, but they did an
analysis of what the same grocery bag to fill up
(16:30):
with cost And I think it was a store in
downtown in Greater Boston, in Roxbury, I think it was
in the South.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
End right correct, the mall there over on the expressway,
versus what people in one of the suburban communities would pay.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
And I think that's that's a problem too. I mean,
they have a right to do that. I don't think
that I want the government going in and and price checking,
but I think it's good to make to do these
sort of consumer stories and I remember seeing that. My
hats off to those kids from Roxbury, Dorchester. They sort
(17:13):
of were doing the role of investigative reporters that should
be done occasionally by local television news reporters.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Yes, yes, I will also say too like in terms
of this like I was fully on board with the situation. However,
many years ago I was with Arthur and the family.
I do feel like now is a little different in
my opinion, with the three sisters, they also helped him
in that situation. They were on his side and took
on the debt with him that he did. And the
reality is now is they now own those three sisters.
(17:42):
They owned sixty percent of the company. He only owned
twenty eight percent. I don't know what the details are
of what's going on, but if it's true that he's
not providing them with budgets or big decisions you know,
factors and what's what decision he's making on top of
the fact that he's seventy years old, there should be
some shared you know, I guess of information with who
(18:04):
the managers are and what an exit plan would be,
because if they really are in the dark and they
own sixty percent of the company. I don't think that's
fair with them, and they were on his side and
they helped them get out of that situation and obviously
made the company what it is today. So I do
think that he should be sharing that with them if
thats back through you, and I don't think we know
what the details of that, So I don't think it's
(18:25):
fair to say that you're on his side or their
side whoever, without necessarily knowing what's really going on, because
from what I've heard, if that's true, if he's not,
you know, sharing that with them and keeping them in
the dark when they own sixty pern of the company,
you know, I hope that, honestly, I hope that. I
don't care who's right who's wrong, but I think that
they need to work it out and figure it out
(18:46):
because the company has been doing very well, and I
just hope they figure it out. And I'm not sure
which side to take, but I hope they figure it out.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, no, all, I'm all I'm trying to do. And
I think you're a great first caller because you make
the point that this is an internal fight within the market.
Basket Board of directors and it's an internal fight really
in effect between the Demula's family. Again, I've read the
same newspaper articles that you've read. None of us know
(19:16):
what internally is going on. My instinct is that he
has always done what has been right, not only for
the employees but for the customers, and he's grown the store,
grown the business. And whenever there's going to be a change,
I get a little bit concerned because I think having
market Basket in so many communities in East Well in Massachusetts,
(19:40):
and I guess also in New Hampshire could be wrong
on that, but I think it's good to have that option.
We have a variety of stores around, you know, you
have Shaws and Star Market and Roach Brothers and Stopping
Shop and Wegman's and Trader Joe's, and different stores appeal
to different people. As far as I'm concerned, market Basket
(20:02):
is the only one right now that accentuates low prices
year round and also fully employees people I've never seen
and if I'm wrong here, please someone correct me on this.
I've never seen one of those automatic checkout machines in
a Demola's market Basket.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Now.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I haven't been to every i'ven't been to most market baskets,
but I think, you know, one of the characteristics that
I like about market basket is when you go in there,
there's someone and often their first generation people who are working,
you know, at at at an entry level job. But
when you ask them to help you find something, whatever
(20:40):
the language difficulty might be, they always are responsive. And
I just I've never waited in line more than three
or four minutes, you know, the busiest times. It just
seems like a well run stored So that's that's what
I was responding to, to be honest with you.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I think obviously it's very well
roun I do have a little sympathy for the sisters,
but the little that I know, and ultimately I hope
they work it out because they came together to, you know,
take it out of a bad situation before. And I
don't fully understand what the what the are, but I
do get it that these sisters are probably the same
(21:19):
age or similar, that he is probably concerned about what
their errors are going to get and where it's going
to go to, and that they should be involved in
the succession planning and who's right and who's wrong. I
don't know, but I hope they work it out.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
I agree with you on that as well. And I
also hope that the characteristics of the store don't change
as was helping.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, absolutely about that's part of the succession planning that
I think that they should all be a part of.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Okay, thank you, g'd appreciate your call.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Well, welcome, I'm a good night.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
You too, have a great night, good night, bye bye.
All right, I'm having some trouble on my screen here tonight, Rob,
So whatever you can do would be very helpful. We
will continue with our conversations, and I have open lines,
which always worry me. Six thirty six one seven nine
one ten thirty. I think it's a very important story
because if market Basket were to go away or fundamentally change,
(22:08):
it would impact a lot of people who rely upon
them for good quality products at the fairest and I
think the least expensive prices around. Join the conversation, uh.
I think Jean's position of holding your fire, I just
want to get the conversation started, and I'm gonna be
honest with you. I saw what Arthur t has done
(22:32):
with that store. I saw how people stood up for him, before.
I haven't seen any indication that he should have been removed,
putting all of the into family internscine intomural warfare aside,
which I have no knowledge of. I have no knowledge of,
and I don't think most of you have any knowledge
of it either, But it will affect much more than
(22:55):
that family. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty
six month, seven nine three one ten thirty one. Coming
right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
It's Night Side with Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Now. I've been away for a couple of nights here,
but folks, this is an issue that is near and
dear to my heart, and I hope it's near and
dear to yours to yours as well. So I got
some open line six one seven, two, five, four ten
thirty six one seven nine three one ten thirty. I
like phone calls. Let's keep it a rolling. And I
also like Noel, who is up in New Hampshire. Noel,
(23:29):
welcome back to Night's Side. I haven't talked to you
in months. How are you tonight?
Speaker 6 (23:33):
I know Dan, I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
How are you so great to hear your voice? I
know that you travel along.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
I I just got back from Italy, really.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
For business or pleasure. Play God, good for you. Where'd
you go anywhere? I was in Italy last summer and.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
We were in Italy. I've done wrong before. This was Venice,
Florence for Pollo Venice. So but I have a lot
to say about this.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah, I want to hear it.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Go right ahead, Okay.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
All three of my children worked at Market Basket. They
all worked there, you know, as soon as they turned fourteen.
And I think, what people when the first walkout happened
eleven years ago, that was organic. The thing I find
extremely suspicious about this is it seems like this board
(24:36):
has not been very involved in the day to day
operations of Market Basket. The new the newer board members,
not people like mister Shay or the one that was fired,
mister Carlton. But what's interesting is the board comes out
with this letter saying that Arthur te Demu was planning
(25:00):
to stage a walkout. Now, the man who has been
there since I believe he was seventeen years old and
seven days, why would he do anything to jeopardize the
thirty thousand associates that he adores. They do, they absolutely do.
(25:24):
He is the nicest human being you will ever meet.
On the planet Earth, as are his wife and children.
I've had the pleasure to meet them. They are just
a wonderful feeling. They do so much for the local communities.
Mass General Lawrence General Lowell General Boys Clubs, Girls Clubs.
(25:46):
He's the most generous, honest, kindest human being you ever
want to meet. He is never going to do anything
to jeopardize the company that his grandfather and his dad built.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
So what do you think the motive is. I mean, again,
you never know what goes on in a marriage or
a family.
Speaker 6 (26:11):
We kind of I know, but I've been through this.
I've been through this when my mother died with my
own siblings. Yeah, I don't care how much money you have.
If you have one hundred dollars or one hundred million dollars,
if you have the opportunity to get more money, why not.
And I think what's really tragic about this is these
board members that you're seeing on television, they don't know
(26:34):
anything about the culture of this company.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Well, what I'd love to know. What I'd love to know,
and you seem to know some. What I'd love to
know is how do people get appointed to this board? Also,
I want you to know that we reached out to
a side today. Okay, there was no news conference, and
I have a sound, some sound which I can play. Oh,
(26:59):
I know it was Okay, I'm not not for you.
But what I'm saying is we gave them an opportunity,
the people who have been fired, to come on and
make their points available tonight, and we what did they say?
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't
make them drink. I was very disappointed that the people
who are supporting Arthur t they know how I feel
(27:21):
about his management style and about and about the business.
I was hoping they would come on and talk about it,
to be really honest with you. But the two individuals
who who were at the news conference, they fellow name,
I don't know if you know. Their name's Joe Schmidt
and Tom Gordon.
Speaker 6 (27:39):
And Tom Gordon, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Neither one of them were available even for ten minutes tonight.
Speaker 6 (27:43):
Which I think maybe that will be arranged for some
day next week. I think I think right now the
company and the associates and the people that actually work
for the company are in shock that this has happened.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Well, they missed an opportunity. They missed an opportunity. Tonight
to put a stake in the ground, and I would
be willing to have people from both sides on. Now
I'm told that Arthur t is there's not someone who
does interviews, which is fine, that's his.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
Right, but it's very private man.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, but this has now become once again. He went
through a very public a series of events eleven years
ago and he won that battle in the court of
public opinion.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
I think when it comes to the court of public opinion,
he'll win this battle. I think anybody, I mean thirty
thousand people. They have ninety stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Maine and even Rhode Islands. And if you read on
social media, people love this Mia, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
But here's the thing, Noel, they should hire Arthur t
should hire someone like you who has good sense of
public relations. Again, they missed an opportunity tonight, which is
unfortunate for them. They missed an opportunity to have joined
tonight and taken questions from me and set out what's
(29:14):
going on. But you've represented them very well. And I'm
inclined towards him only because I've been a customer of
the store for several years. I don't go there every
week because it's too far away, but at least every
couple of weeks or three weeks, I make an effort
to go there because I like the atmosphere, I like
the people, I like the product.
Speaker 7 (29:36):
And I like the prices, and I like itt me correct,
I believe in employee.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
A previous caller mentioned that or you were talking about
this study that was done on different prices in different stores.
I can tell you for a fact, market baskets prices
are the same.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Oh no, yeah, no, he made me no. Well, that
caller made it clear he was talking about another chain,
another well known and I'm not here to bash anybody,
uh at all or mine. It was. It was a
chain that had I think it was in South Bay Mall,
and the students who were from I guess Roxbury, Dorchester
(30:16):
went in and you know, priced what it would be
for a family of whatever buying their products for a week.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
And then they went and they did the same identical products.
I think it was a store in Denham and there
was a pretty good significant disparity and obviously the prices
were consistently higher in the poorer community, which is, you know,
a little unfair.
Speaker 6 (30:40):
It's a tragedy and Arthur would never do that, of course.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Noah, well, thank you for making it clear. I thought
I had made it clear. It was not it was
not U. And then I went on about these these
these companies that that induced people to get their app,
and then they had digital coupons in the app, which
is great for the people who have the to maneuver
around that app and spend the time in that app.
(31:03):
But a lot of people don't have smartphones. They don't
they're not able to get the app. And what they
do is they create two tiers of customers. People who
are smart enough to have the app and spend the
time of the app, they get the best prices, and
then you have these other people who don't get the
best prices. And that's not fair. And I had a
fairly straightforward conversation with the manager of a different store yesterday,
(31:26):
frankly because I saw him and I said, you know,
I said, I think you're being unfair to older customers,
and I know.
Speaker 6 (31:33):
You would never see that.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
That's why I go there. I don't buy it. I
don't buy anything that's expensive. I don't go you know,
if I have to buy some cold cuts or whatever,
I can go to my local store. But when I
want to stock up on you know, toilet paper, dishwasher detergent,
you know, dishwash, the liquid, all of that stuff, paper towels,
(32:00):
I go to marketing paper.
Speaker 6 (32:04):
The thing. Can I just mention? One other thing is
that when people talk about the board of directors, they
need to remember that the board has a fiduciary responsibility.
Every board has a fiduciary responsibility to act and the
best interest of everyone. That's the stakeholders, which is Arthur
and the sisters, but it's also the shareholders, the employees,
(32:25):
and the community. And Arthur is more concerned about the
employees and the community.
Speaker 7 (32:34):
All right, And that's what makes market that you represented.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Again, they need to they need to get someone like
you representing them. Noel, Hey, I got to run.
Speaker 6 (32:46):
It was very good for my kids, that's all.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
I wanted to make a very strong testimony. I wish
that the public relations people were smart enough to have
taken the opportunity we presented to them tonight, Thanks.
Speaker 6 (32:57):
Noel, Maybe they will thanks somebody.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Okay, And again, either side is welcome to join us
any night next week, that's for sure.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
I got some open lines. And I'm done at ten
o'clock on this, so if you're gonna call it five
to ten, probably won't make uh. And I have a
guest coming up at ten o'clock, so we are moving
on from this topic. At nine fifty eight, we got
about ten minutes six one seven, two, five, four thirty
six one seven, nine, three thirty. If you want to
wag in, go right ahead. We'll be back right after this.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray, Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Okay, back to the calls. Let me go to Gary
and Wooburn. Hey, Gary, welcome back.
Speaker 7 (33:38):
Yes, the fight between the family members and that I
really almost don't want to talk about because we really
don't know the fact.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Sure enough, I'm talking about what you'd like to talk about.
Go right ahead.
Speaker 7 (33:47):
Yet the show you go to? How much do you
pay for a pound of cheese?
Speaker 2 (33:51):
You know what? I don't keep stuff like that in
my head. Gary, to be really honest with you, I
go for my big items at market basket. There's also
a few it is that I know at market basket.
I know that a gallery of milk is going to
save me money at market basket. I know that half
and half cream for my coffee will save me money
at market basket. I know fruit will save me money
(34:12):
in market Basket. But there's also some big ticket items.
I go always spend one hundred dollars at Malcolt Basket
for probably what I would spend one hundred and fifty
dollars at somewhere else. So for me, the rut for
me to say fifty bucks or forty to fifty dollars
is well worth a thirty mile round trip to market Basket.
Speaker 7 (34:32):
As a guy who's an employee sixty four years old,
he works for market Basket, and I've been talking about
the last six months. We always talked baseball and so forth.
He told me in you know, I didn't want to
get two pressl on about how much he makes a
year and so for because he's been there for our
you know, over thirty seventy years. And he actually leaked
at three He said that he makes it well. By
the way, he's a manager of the department of like milk,
(34:55):
the dairy department that he's only in that aisle all
day longay that was, And he's one of the manager
at the store, but not the head man's that he
said he makes one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, and
I told him, I said, what are you kidding me?
I thought you, at the most was making about sixty cause.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
No one of the employees love RDT.
Speaker 7 (35:15):
Huh yeah. And when you figure, he said, oh, I'm
not even coming for one k and that's that bank.
And I said, why would you even want to leave?
I guess you must have new years ago that you
were heading in the right direction, because I'm sure we
all think of people that work at Market Basket, not
just that the cast, like we almost think of them
as flunkies working at a store. But those people are
(35:36):
making good money. I'm sure the cast are just women
and men making fifteen bucks an hour. When he told
me one hundred and twenty thousand, that's big money.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Sure is sure is Gary. That's let's give some really
good insight. Thanks for checking in, my man. We will
talk soon.
Speaker 7 (35:52):
Okay, okay, my man, Thanks Gary.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Doc deal later. Thanks. I'm gonna go left next to
Elaine and andover Elaine. You next on nightside, Go right ahead. Okay.
If Elaine's not ready, we'll put a land Elaine, let's go.
We're running out of time.
Speaker 7 (36:08):
Go ahead, Elaine, good evening.
Speaker 8 (36:12):
I just I agree with you that I am on
Atti T's side. Okay, I have seen the wonderful things
he's done his first of all know him. I have
had the opportunity of meeting him and his family. I
know that I happen to be an educator, so I
(36:34):
know how wonderful he is to all the hundreds of
children I've had in my career, the number of students
going off to college with wonderful profit sharing.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
And that's all. This is this, You're telling me what
I have always sensed about this, uh, this gentleman. And
we'll have to see how this works out. But I
thank you for calling and saying some kind words about
him tonight. I truly mean that. But I got a
bunch of other calls are going to try to give
him an opportunity to see what they.
Speaker 9 (37:05):
Have to all right, thank you, Thank you very.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Much, appreciate it. Thanks Thanks Elaine. Next up is Steve
and Merrimack, New Hampshire. Steve next on Nightsiger Right.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
Ahead, Hey Dan, thanks for taking my call. I just
want to say I, you know, everybody agrees and so
do I that Market Basket is absolutely the number one
food store in New England and I shopped there. I
went to high school with RDT. I know him very well.
He's a nice guy. I was talking to one of
(37:36):
the managers today and there's another side to the story,
you know. The the fact is that the board is
packed with the by the sisters who hate his guts.
I mean, it's not even close.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Again, I'm going to try to stay out of the
personalities at this point. I'm hoping to get people and
we'll follow the story. I think that that that his
people missed an opportunity tonight to come on and sort
of set their position out. And I would have invited
the other side. And if the other side, if me decide,
wants to go on, there's not much I can do
(38:14):
about it. But I felt I wanted to put my
stake in the ground tonight to give people an opportunity
like yourself.
Speaker 5 (38:20):
Yeah, he needs, he needs to come together with them,
and you know they he does the day to day operations,
but when he makes purchases of real estate and opens
up the new stores, you got to tell the board.
I mean, they are responsible for what happens, and I
think that's part of it. Too.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Fair enough, fair enough, thanks Dave, appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (38:40):
That's it, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Thanks sure, let me go to marketing Clinton, Mark, want
to get you and maybe one more in here, go ahead, Mark.
Speaker 9 (38:47):
All right, Yeah, I just wanted to weigh in. And
you were talking about, you know, new people coming into
a business and running it a different way. Yeah, and
that it's ridiculous in terms of you see, we've seen
so many businesses in the past that get handed down
generation a generation and then some new guy, whether it
(39:08):
be a grandson or just a totally new non family member,
comes in and changes the whole way of how the
company was run. And it's like that company worked a
certain way for five generations, it did well, why would
you change it?
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Yep? I hear you. You're breaking up with me. Mark. Unfortunately,
I think you made your point, but I got to
let you go because the line broke up on us.
Thank you very much for your call.
Speaker 9 (39:38):
Good all right, have a good night, you too.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Matt is in Pembroke. Matt gets in quickly. Here go ahead, Matt.
Speaker 10 (39:44):
Hey, Dan, thanks taking my call. I went into handle
the store a couple of years ago with my son
who's fourteen, and he walked right over with pushing a
cat and said, hey, hell are you what's your name?
And I told my name, my son's name. We carried
a convas station in ten minutes. He none of the
employees knew he was there. And he just seems like
(40:05):
a really, really nice guy. And he just we spent
ten minutes talking. You know, he was interested in me
and I'm talking about what he does, you know, and
it's just he went back to pushing his cat. Look
at the back of the groceries and you know, like
with the calories and.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
Stuff are so so that he was rd T is
what you're talking about.
Speaker 7 (40:28):
Gotti T.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (40:29):
Yeah, he was in the store doing his own shop
and he wasn't with managers or oh.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
I said that that's a great, a great story. And
I thanks Matt. I appreciate you call call more often.
We had called earlier. I'll give you more time. Thanks,
thank you, talk to you soon, okay, Alan, and weymouth Alan,
I got maybe thirty seconds for you. I got. I
worked to get you and go right ahead.
Speaker 11 (40:55):
Believe in Dan. I love your conversation. You always have
good calm. It's about everything. I work at market Basket,
in the store at Hanover I've been there for three years,
and I like where I work. The atmosphere in every way,
as far as I'm concerned, is good. I feel the
company cares about the employees and the customers and the stores.
(41:17):
The stores I kept upright, they're clean, they're comfortable, and
not just me. I've got rocalies and I help out
with other things. But we're going afraid to help customers
find something.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Absolutely, and I've been I've been that customer, Allan. And
by the way, my first job was I was a
bagger in a supermarket. So yeah, we have a lot
in common. Alan, I'm flat out of time. Call earlier
and I give you much, but it's the ten o'clock
news coming at me like a thanks, good weekend, you too, Alan,
talks soon. Thanks for your your comments on market basket.
(41:52):
All right, that is it on market Basket. We get
back when to talk about the future of medicine and
it's moving at a rapid page. Is back on Nightside
right after this
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