94-Year-Old South African Entrepreneur Selling Food Empire for $29.1 Billion
A reclusive 94-year-old from South Africa is putting his vast food empire on the market for a staggering $29.1 billion. Over the past 50 years, Nathan “Natty” Kirsch has transformed a single warehouse in Brooklyn into a major player in the restaurant supply industry.
Cisco, recognized as the country’s largest food distributor, revealed on Monday its plans to buy Kirsch’s Jetro Restaurant Depot. This company boasts 166 locations across 25 states and generated $16 billion in revenue last year.
Kirsch holds approximately 70% ownership of the business, as noted by Forbes, and he was instrumental in creating the “cash-and-carry” model. This allows small restaurant owners the flexibility to visit warehouses and pick up groceries whenever they need to.
JETRO claims this model enables them to offer lower prices since they bypass delivery and logistics expenses.
“We literally have no competition,” Kirsch mentioned during a class at London Business School back in 2011.
Mr. Kirsch seems like an unusual figure in the recent wave of high-stakes mergers, with a personal fortune estimated at around $7.3 billion. He leads a comparatively private life in Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, according to Forbes. He was born in 1932 in South Africa to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants and began his business career helping to manage his family’s malt factory.
By 1958, he had started his own flour milling operation in Swaziland, securing a government agreement that granted him a monopoly on corn purchases and imports. In 1970, he ventured into distribution by acquiring Moshal Jevisser, a company that catered to black shopkeepers in areas restricted by apartheid laws.
By the mid-1970s, Mr. Kirsch wanted to move abroad, reflecting on his doubts regarding South Africa’s future. A trip to New York opened his eyes to an opportunity in the city’s supply chain.
After observing the inefficiencies in how small stores were sourcing their supplies, he realized he could make improvements.
In 1976, Kirsch launched Jetro Cash & Carry in a Brooklyn warehouse, employing the cash-and-carry model he had refined back home. He acquired Restaurant Depot in 1994, merging both companies under Jetro Holdings to create the largest food warehouse supply network in the nation.
Currently, Richard Kirshner serves as the CEO and president of JETRO, with Stanley Fleischman as chairman.
Kirsch’s wealth largely stems from a diverse real estate portfolio, which includes Tower 42 in London and the Australia-based Abacus Property Group, alongside his interests in Jetro Holdings.
Despite being one of Africa’s wealthiest individuals, Kirsch has chosen to live a low-profile life in Eswatini, making rare public appearances. He also holds residency status in both the US and UK.
Locally, he focuses his philanthropic efforts on his hometown, helping over 12,000 individuals in Eswatini to establish small businesses. Notably, he donated around $8.7 million to the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and $10 million towards the Jerusalem Arts Campus in 2016.
He is married to Frances Ha and the couple has three children, one of whom, Linda Mirels, is the president of UJA New York Federation, an organization dedicated to combating anti-Semitism.
