
I spent the weekend in Ann Arbor, MI visiting some friends, and today I’ll be doing office hours at The Career Center at University of Michigan from 3 – 5 PM (if you’re a UMich student, you should definitely stop by and say hi). I’ve already been to Zingerman’s twice, and I wouldn’t be surprised if my girlfriend forces me to go one more time (not that I’m complaining). In case you’ve never been, Zingerman’s is an Ann Arbor institution. Their flagship store is a deli, but they also have the following businesses: a bakery, a workforce training consulting firm, a caterer, a mail order company, a creamery, a sit-down restaurant, a coffee company, and a confectioner. The whole business generated nearly $40 million in revenue in 2009, and the deli alone generated more than $10 million in revenue. The really remarkable thing is that they’ve stayed local throughout. It’s not about taking the concept and growing it into a chain.
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