A Community of Businesses

About the episode

Join Michelle Roberts and her guest, Ari Weinzweig, talk about achieving more by turning your business into a movement. Today, Ari tells his story, from discovering his love for the food business to starting his own with Zingerman’s Delicatessen.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The importance of “Community” in businesses.
• How sharing the same vision brings entrepreneurs and establishments together.
• The power of beliefs in building business ecosystems.
• Ways to deal with sustainability issues in your business caused by the pandemic.
• The benefits of open-book management.
• About Ari Weinzweig:

Ari Weinzweigsoon moved to Ann Arbor from his hometown Chicago to pursue a degree in Russian History at the University of Michigan. But after washing dishes in a local restaurant, Ari Weinzweigsoon discovered his love for the food business. And so, along with his partner Paul Saginaw, he started Zingerman’s Delicatessen in 1982. They had a $20,000 bank loan, a staff of two, a small selection of specialty foods, and a short sandwich menu. Nowadays, Zingerman’s is an Ann Arbor institution, the source of great food and great experiences for over 500,000 visitors every year.

Each day the Deli serves up thousands of made-to-order sandwiches with ingredients like corned beef and pastrami, homemade chopped liver, and chicken salad. Ari and Paul have built Zingerman’s into an organization with 500+ staff and annual sales approaching $40,000,000 a year. Zingerman’s Delicatessen was also instrumental in the founding of Food Gatherers, a perishable food rescue program, and is a significant supporter of the organization. Every year Food Gatherers delivers over a million pounds of food to people in need.

Years later, Ari and Paul received the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County’s first Humanitarian Award for their community contributions. Ari has written over 250 issues of their community newsletter and has contributed to such magazines as Fine Cooking, Specialty Foods, and Gourmet Retailer. Zingerman’s invites you to sign up for their newsletter to learn more about food and business.

You can find Ari Weinzweig on:

Zingermans Community: https://www.zingermanscommunity.com/​

Community Newsletter: https://www.zingermanscommunity.com/c…​

Zingermans Bake House: https://www.zingermansbakehouse.com/​

Zingermans Deli: https://www.zingermansdeli.com/menus/​

Zing Train: https://www.zingtrain.com/blog/the-ma…