This week, Zingerman’s Training (aka, ZingTrain) was profiled in Crain’s Detroit Business Weekly!

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No secrets: Businesses find it pays to open books to employees

Private businesses have traditionally operated from the top down — executives passing along only the information deemed “safe” for employee eyes.

But that’s not the case for the nine companies in Zingerman’s Community of Businesses in Ann Arbor.

Owners Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw practice open-book management, the business practice of sharing financial and decision-making duties among all employees.

“Our employees really get a chance to participate in the business,” Weinzweig said. “They are learning how to manage money and how to run a business.”

It’s the employees who manage expenses, monitor operating margins and develop new products. This opens a new realm of business transparency, one that can eliminate the “us vs. them” mentality between management and employees.

Private companies are known to hide net profits and keep books closed to protect competitive advantage, said David Brophy, finance professor and director of the Center for Venture Capital and Private Equity Finance at the University of Michigan‘s Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

“I think it’s amazing that a company is willing to do this,” he said. “It shows they have tremendous confidence in their ability and have obviously learned the positive gains exceed the potential risk of revealing trade secrets.”

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Read the rest of the article here and, to learn more about ZingTrain and our Fun, Flavorful Finance Seminar, click here.

826 Michigan fundraiser, October 5th at Zingerman’s Deli

100% of the profits from the Deli’s #46 (that’s Stan’s Canadian Hotfoot for those of you keeping track) that are sold October 5 day will go straight to 826 Michigan to support/promote what they do. What do they do? We’ll let them tell you.

“826 Michigan is a nonprofit writing and tutoring center dedicated to helping students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, one of seven such organizations across the country.   Each of our programs, in Washtenaw and surrounding counties, are free to all youth participants which is one of the many reasons this amazing event will be such an extraordinary benefit to our students.”

Jane and Michael Stern were in town a few days ago and snapped some nice shots of dishes at Zingerman’s Roadhouse.

Biscuits & Chocolate Gravy with Bacon!

In a recent blog post on food.theatlantic.com, Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig extols the simple pleasure of the humble fried egg. Read the whole post here.