Zingerman’s of A
nn Arbor, billed as the “best small business in America,” will handle a four-hour seminar for business owners and volunteers from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday, April 16, at the Windsor Woods Community Room.
Zingerman’s, which opened as a delicatessen in March 1982, now does $45 million worth of business in a year and has earned its lofty accolades from Fortune magazine, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Business Weekly. From its humble beginnings, it now has eight buildings, all within walking distance of each other in Ann Arbor.
Vicki Gless, who is coordinating the event for a committee of theWayland Main Street program, said she was taken aback when she called the company and Zingerman Traing representatives said they’d be delighted to come to Wayland and run an “interactive workshop.”
“People who attend will have to do some writing at the tables where they sit,” Gless explained. She added that the Zingerman people will bring a workbook for each participant.
Gless, coordinator of the Wayland Main Street Economic Restructuring Committee, said the purpose of the seminar is to enhance business visioning and customer service in the downtown community. She noted she already had sold 40 of the 50 tickets available for local business owners at a cost of $10 apiece.
Gless, a retired interior decorator and wife of a retired Wayland teacher, said she has developed a passion for business and economics and would like to help downtown Wayland thrive.
“I really enjoy it,” she said. “It’s the study of how people live their lives.”
“We are trying to assist business owners in downtown Wayland to help them be more competitive and profitable.”
She said he is hugely impressed with Zingerman’s
“They’re not a big corporation,” she insisted. “They’re a small business, a deli, a coffee house, a creamery, candy shop, road house mail, etc. They operate out of a building that you could find here in Wayland. They have never franchised. They’re not corporate, but they’ve done things right.”
The theme of the workshop will be “The Art of Giving Great Service,” and the visiting representatives who will facilitate the interaction are Ann Lofgren and Timo Anderson. The focus of the presentation will be the proposition that “If you do something well and work hard at it, you can be successful.”
“It does work,” Gless commented. “But it takes people and time to make the downtown more viable. We still need a lot of volunteers for technical help, but I think Wayland is moving in the right direction.
“This is going to be a great seminar. I don’t believe I can offer a better program than this. I think it’s really top shelf.”
For more information, contact Gless by e-mail at twentyonecentsolutions@yahoo.com
PHOTO: Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor opened 33 years ago with just this building, but now does $45 million in business annually.
