Crains New York - June 10, 2013 - (Page 3)
SOURCE DINNER:
IN THE
BOROUGHS
BROOKLYN
BOB UNANUE
Locals find
rebirth as
mariners
Rowing club reunites
neighborhood with
forgotten waterways
HE PAID HIS DUES:
Goya President Bob
Unanue got his start
working “on the
production line.”
BY CARA EISENPRESS
See SOURCE DINNER on Page 26
See RISING TIDE on Page 19
buck ennis
I’m one of the older siblings,so I got
an earlier start in the company.
When I was 10 years old, I worked
on the production line, packing
Bicycles aren’t the only personaltransit mode experiencing a new
popularity this summer.
At noon on alternating Saturdays,
a group of hearty Brooklynites begin
threading their way along a waterfront stacked with steel shipping containers to a small dock on Newtown
Creek in Greenpoint.There they don
life preservers,board a score of brightly hued canoes and kayaks—the entire North Brooklyn Boat Club
fleet—and bravely paddle out into the
murky waters of the waterway before
swinging out onto the East River.
True,the creek ranks as one of the
largest Superfund cleanup sites in
the nation, the legacy of the decades
when the waterway was lined with
oil refineries, but many locals can’t
wait to dip their paddles in it.
“We’re bursting at the seams with
excitement,” said Jens Rasmussen,
an actor who last year was one of a
group of 10 who founded the club at
a temporary site on Ash Street at the
foot of the Pulaski Bridge, donated
by Broadway Stages, the video production studio that owns the land.
Goya grows beyond Hispanics
BY LISA FICKENSCHER
Bob Unanue, president of Goya
Foods Inc., may be the country’s
most understated chief of a $1 billion business.
The 59-year-old executive from
LISTEN to a discussion at
CrainsNewYork.com/podcasts
Wyckoff, N.J., shuns big titles.“We
don’t use CEO,” he said over dinner
at a Manhattan restaurant. Afterward, he rushed back across the
Hudson River to join the nightshift workers’ Memorial Day weekend barbecue at Goya’s headquarters in Secaucus, N.J.
Mr. Unanue’s common touch
contrasts with Goya’s lofty financials. It is the largest Hispanicowned food company in the U.S.,
with more than $1 billion in
revenue, and the 23rd-largest privately held company in the area, according to Crain’s. Mr. Unanue continues to grow its operations with
two new facilities being built in Jer-
sey City, soon to be the company’s
new headquarters, and Houston, at
a cost of nearly $200 million.
“These are pretty big undertakings for us and represent the largest
investment in the company’s history,” said Mr. Unanue.
Since Goya was founded 77
years ago as a specialty distributor
serving Hispanic immigrants in
New York, the business has transformed into a manufacturer and national conglomerate whose signature cans of beans are sold in big
supermarket chains across the
country. Some 35,000 stores in the
New York metropolitan area alone
carry Goya products.
Cuomo bets gambling bill will
pass before end of the month
NYC moratorium,
lower tax rate irk
some players; memo
takes aim at Genting
BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS
For Gov. Andrew Cuomo, resistance to his plan to legalize casino
gambling in New York is attributable to the scary wording of a poll
question. But the reality is far more
complex than the governor may be
willing to admit. The casino debate
is rife with conflicting and overlapping agendas.
Voters, however, will play the final card. Only 48% of New Yorkers
think changing the state’s constitution to allow casino gambling is a
good idea, according to the latest
Quinnipiac poll. Asked about the
lackluster support for his proposal,
formally unveiled last week and
scheduled for a public referendum
this November, Mr. Cuomo said he
was unsurprised.
Mr. Cuomo paraphrased the poll
Only 48% of
voters favor an
amendment to
allow casinos
question and New Yorkers’ response
in a radio interview last week: “ ‘Do
you want to change the state constitution to do gambling?’ ‘No, that
sounds bad.’ That’s not an attractive
proposition.”
But then he admitted, “And
that’s technically what we would
have to do.”
The governor, who shies away
from using the word “gambling” to
describe his plan,indicated that New
Yorkers would respond more favorably to the casino question when offered some context. Given the proliferation of racetrack casinos, or
racinos, across the state, he said most
residents would agree that “we already have gaming in New York.”
Still, Mr. Cuomo faces a steep
climb in his quest to persuade first
the Legislature and then the public
to embrace his plan, which begins
with three upstate casinos. It would
prohibit any casino from being built
in New York City for five years, and
would tax casino revenue at 25%—
much lower than the current rate for
racinos, but several times more than
casinos in other states pay.
At the same time, the company
has retained its family roots, as the
fourth generation joins Goya’s ranks.
Among Mr. Unanue’s closest colleagues are 16 members of his family, including three of his six children.
He tells Crain’s how Goya has
evolved over the decades and what’s
in its future.
How did you rise to the top of the
company over your five siblings and
cousins?
STATS AND THE CITY
by Emily Laermer
EMERGENCY BREAKS: Because of Sandy, the MTA will close the R train’s
Montague tube for at least a year and the G for five weeks and 12 weekends.
81%
ON-TIME ARRIVAL rate for the G, ranking
second in the system
38,300
PASSENGERS
DELAYED by signal
failures in the
EXPECTED
Montague tube
AVERAGE
each month, up
commute wait time
120-fold since
for R passengers,
Sandy
including their new
tube-related transfer,
up from 6 mins.
11:40
Sources: MTA, U.S. Department of
Transportation, Straphangers Campaign
65K
DAILY
PASSENGERS
affected by R train’s
closure—more than
the Fulton Street
stop sees each day
$100M+
ESTIMATED COST of repairing the
5,000-foot-long Montague tube
between Brooklyn and
Manhattan
istockphoto
Third-gen bean
counter talks $200M
expansion, discovers
pouches are OK, too
ADDICTED TO NUMBERS? GET A DAILY DOSE AT @STATSANDTHECITY
See GAMBLING on Page 24
June 10, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 3
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - June 10, 2013
SOURCE DINNER
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
DIGITAL NY
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
SMALL BUSINESS
OPINION
STEVE HINDY
GREG DAVID
REPORT: HEALTH CARE
THE LIST
FOR THE RECORD
CLASSIFIEDS
REAL ESTATE DEALS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS
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