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Meet billionaire heir Sammy Nussdorf, who’s behind the ‘Erewhon of New York’, Meadow Lane
STORYIshani Sarkar
The heir to a billionaire New York family, Nussdorf studied at NYU and went to culinary school before opening his luxury grocery store
New York’s new mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, may be campaigning to make the city affordable and to tax the rich, but that’s not slowing the city’s elite from finding new ways to bring luxury to their lives.
TikTok influencer Sammy Nussdorf, 28, just opened a new luxury grocery store in Tribeca called Meadow Lane, reportedly offering Siberian caviar for US$625 and gluten-free chicken nuggets for US$12-17 (which he teased online in a video with fellow TikTok chef Meredith Hayden). Its interiors were designed by Sarah Carpenter, per Vogue.
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The gourmet grocery has been in the works for months. Nussdorf has meticulously documented the process on his TikTok – where he goes by the name Brokeback Contessa, after Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa brand.
The store is already being hailed as the “Erewhon of New York” – a reference to the cult LA-based grocery store – and had people lining up for its opening last week. Unlike the elite LA retailer though, Nussdorf claims his swanky new spot is “for everyone” – referencing the US$4 coffees and affordable pastries as proof. Although it was recently criticised for reportedly having a rat problem, Meadow Lane has been a hit so far.
So who is Meadow Lane’s founder and CEO, Sammy Nussdorf?
What’s his background?
Sammy comes from a New York family that once had a reported net worth of US$1.6 billion, per Forbes. His grandparents, Ruth and Bernard Nussdorf, founded the healthcare company Quality King in Queens and his father, Glenn Nussdorf, is now the CEO of the company.
According to New York Magazine’s food blog Grub Street, Sammy grew up in Manhattan, but his family has a not-so-humble abode in the Hamptons – the name Meadow Lane is taken from Hampton’s “Billionaire Row”, where a number of famous names have mansions.
His education and career
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