Any Economic Plan (with numbers) for the NYC Government Grocery Stores?

I continue to be fascinated by the plan for government-owned grocery stores in New York City. I think it unlikely the proposal works, but it's best to be open to studying informed projections about novel proposals. Although this week all focus has been on Dr. Fauci, NYC Mayor Mamdani announced more details on his promised "Mamdani Marts."

The part of his announcement that has gotten the most public notice is the promise to sell a basket of “basic” items at prices 30% lower than the existing market. Not all items in the store. Just certain items (all produce, all meat, and key pantry staples). But so far that’s the only element of the plan I have seen published with a number attached.

Many commentaries have been written this week on how this plan generally makes no economic sense. Most focus on the comparison of the proposed 30% discount with the typical minuscule grocery store profit margin of 2 or 3 %. I am curious about whether an actual economic plan (with numbers) has ever been produced for the NYC grocery stores plan. I could not find any published plan with hard figures.

Mayor Mamdani’s announcement from the city's official website: Mayor Mamdani Unveils 30% Discount — Including All Produce, All Meat and Key Pantry Staples — at New Municipal Grocery Stores

My own experience as a corporate technology lawyer is that before the company publicly announces a new product, it ordinarily performs internal studies to determine that the product is technologically feasible and grounded in economic reality. I would like to think such analyses are similarly completed before publicly announcing a plan for city government to offer groceries for sale, especially when the announcement includes a significant price discount compared to the many existing vendors already competing for customers in the surrounding neighborhoods.

The city’s past announcements have generically noted the city's ability to save costs by using land it already owns, thus forgoing the need to pay rent along with the advantage that city-owned stores will not have to pay taxes that privately owned stores must pay. Leaving aside for a moment the moral and political objections, how large are those expenses and the potential cost savings?

The city’s Request for Proposal (RFP) for private contractors to operate the stores lists a requirement that the operator “will be required to provide family sustaining wages and benefits and commit to a labor peace agreement so that workers who want to organize can do so without interference.” Maybe the New York City market is different from the towns and suburbs in which I have lived, but our local supermarkets have always employed many new-to-the-job-market teens at minimal wages for low- and no-skill jobs like sweeping stockrooms, stocking shelves, running price checks, breaking down shipping boxes, and the like. What does paying “family sustaining wages and benefits” for such minimal skill jobs do to the announced cost-savings model?

Even if the plan depends on taxpayer subsidies, I would expect (before adoption) any plan to include an analysis of how much taxpayer subsidy might be required. Is the city going to have to increase taxes? Will the city have to reduce other government services? Were I a New York taxpayer, I’d expect to see the economic analysis that shows how this plan is expected to work in the name of "government transparency." If this plan were adopted without any numbers-based economic plan, that would be a sign of substantial oversight failure by the city council.

Most of the analyses I have read assume substantial taxpayer subsidies are necessary to keep the operation afloat, but no one seems to have any idea of how much subsidy might be expected.

Mrs. Tabby is, for once, the more cynical of the two of us, and doubts that any quantitative economic analysis has been done. She asserts that Mayor Mamdani (or his masters) simply decided that a “30% discount” would sound good to a public that doesn’t think deeply, and decreed it. No need to determine if it was realistic, or remotely achievable, or based on any actual economic reality.

So, am I missing a published economic analysis of how a government-owned grocery store run by a private contracted operator is supposed to work? Do you think such an analysis has ever been developed?