This interview is based on a conversation with Jake Dell, 39, the owner of Katz’s Delicatessen in New York City. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I’ve been coming to Katz’s Delicatessen since before I could crawl. My grandfather, father, and uncle took over the deli in 1988, 100 years after it was originally established.
My dad would often be here six or seven days a week, so I would come down here all the time. I remember being around 7 and working at the soda station.
I had my 6th birthday at Katz’s. We invited my whole first-grade class and had a table at the back. My parents had organized a magician. We ate hot dogs and had a great time.
They didn’t have to close the restaurant for that, as we weren’t as globally famous as we are now. That iconic “When Harry Met Sally” scene with Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal still draws people here nearly 40 years on. When you rewatch the original scene, nowhere does it say “Katz’s” — but our regulars knew us right away. We get people reenacting it, and we’ve had people propose at the same table.
They did close the deli for my bar mitzvah. We had about 100 guests, but it still wasn’t a fancy affair. People went up to the counter and ordered whatever sandwiches they wanted. We had a dance floor at the back.
The meat cutters are our most highly paid store staff
I officially picked up a meat carving knife at the age of 21. To be a meat cutter, you have to work your way through the different stations, so by the time you get to that point, you’ll usually have been working here for 10 or more years.
Ultimately, it’s not a skill that needs a Ph.D. to learn. But that role represents such an important part of our business. It’s about values and whether that person has become family here. The cutters are our most highly paid store staff.
I had actually planned to study medicine and become a doctor. I had taken all the pre-med classes in college, and I was getting ready to interview for med school while I was working here.
I took a gap year between college and medical school, and continued working at Katz’s. That’s when I had to think about whether I wanted to take my own path or go into the business.
It dawned on me that, if I didn’t get involved, then maybe the business would disappear, especially if my father and uncle ever had to sell it because there would be no one else to take over. A developer could knock it down and replace it with a big building. New York is a vicious place, so I’m not going to deny that something I had to factor into my decision. A place like Katz’s is very important for the nostalgia and tradition that give the city life.
But I didn’t want to make a decision based on guilt or pressure, that I would then come to regret. I wanted to make sure I was doing it from a place of love.
So, during that year off between undergraduate and med school, I fell in love with this place more deeply and realized this was really my calling.
My dad and uncle give me ‘constructive input’
I formally joined in 2009. One of my family’s requests was to pursue an MBA. I enrolled in a program that allows you to study while working, going to school at night, and on weekends.
That’s when my father and uncle started stepping away before officially retiring. They’re in their late 70s now and come in for lunch. They give me their “constructive input” — would it be a family business if they didn’t?
I was really in the thick of it from 2012 to 2015 when I was studying. We were also transitioning to a 24-hour operation. I would try to stay up all night, then come back to the deli for lunchtime.
Things are different now — my kids are 5 and 3, and I make it a point to be home for breakfast and for dinner every day. I also make a point to be home on weekends as much as possible.
I still check the store cameras periodically when I’m home, and answer emails and texts. But trying to be present at this stage of life with my family is top of my priority list.
It’s a team of about 200, and we have not just the deli, but a warehouse, a smokehouse, a shipping facility, a catering business, and an events business. They all have managers, so I’ve learned to be everywhere at once, without being physically everywhere. We do a lot of publicity to reach all our different audiences — we’ve had DJs like Diplo perform live sets, we do carving events at museums, and we even had a party with Prada.
I’d love my kids to take over one day
Do I secretly hope one of my kids wants to take over from me? Of course. But I’m not going to force it on them. I’m going to show them what I love about it.
And maybe one day I’ll come in for lunch to see them at work. I know that some of the best times in my life were when I would come in to have lunch with my dad and my uncle. I took it for granted at the time, but now I see how special it was.
