Who

Joe Gurrera is the owner of Citarella, which operates half a dozen gourmet supermarkets in New York City and the Hamptons.

Backstory

The son of a fishmonger, in 1983 Gurrera purchased Mike Citarella's famed fish business, which Citarella had founded in 1912 on 164th Street and Broadway and later relocated to 75th Street. Guerrera quickly developed a reputation for his meticulousness, personally selecting the fish most mornings at the Fulton Fish market. By the late 1980s, word had spread west: Wolfgang Puck asked Gurrera to be his fish supplier, a relationship that later yielded a handful of big-name new clients, like Michael's in Santa Monica and Chez Panisse in Berkeley. And Citarella also started gaining attention for its whimsical window displays, which turned the exhibition of seafood into high art. (Gurrera actually hired someone to design the windows full-time.)

Gurrera expanded the Upper West Side location in the early '90s, opening a second level and taking over a storefront next door, turning Citarella into a full-fledged gourmet food store, offering meat, cheese, desserts, and prepared foods. (It's located just yards from the competition, Howie Glickberg's Fairway.) Nowadays Citarella has seven locations in total, including outposts in Harlem, the Upper East Side, the Village, and the Hamptons. (The stores collective gross more than $150 million a year.) Gurrera's also an on-and-off restaurateur: In 2001, he opened a high-end fish restaurant in Rockefeller Center also named Citarella. It's since closed, although he says he plans to reopen it near his Upper East Side store in the near future.

For the record

Although Gurrera isn't a member of the Citarella family, many people over the years have assumed so, which is why he's known as "Joe Citarella" to some suppliers and customers.

Personal

Joe is married to Yusi Gonzalez-Gurrera, who's on the board of Citymeals-on-Wheels. Gurrera has three kids—Anthony, Nancy, and Helen—and lives on the Upper West Side. The Gurreras also have a weekend home on Long Island.