Innovative Restaurateurs: Zingerman’s Helps Businesses Make Money and Keep Staff

Chefs and restaurant owners have always been collegial – but competitive. They put their own interests first, watching hawk-like to see how others are doing business. But the approach at Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Mich., is different. It has built a multi-million-dollar business, ZingTrain, based on spreading its staff-friendly operating philosophies, in hopes of feeding companies’ bottom-line success. Lately, it has been conducting that work in an atmosphere of #MeToo and the harsh spotlight it has shone on abusive chefs and proprietors. At the same time, economic pressures have never been heavier on restaurants, which are desperate to find and retain good staff members, from managers and servers to cooks and bussers. Ari Weinzweig, a co-founder of Zingerman’s, says training has never been more important for the industry. “There are a lot of jobs where people are required to get a formal education,” he said. But restaurants “are an industry where you can get in without