Ann Arbor, MI—Following a month after the recent move of their roaster to a new space at 3723 Plaza Drive, Zingerman’s Coffee Company reached a new milestone today with the opening of their shop, three doors down from Zingerman’s Bakehouse. “We doing a very soft rollout. There’s a lot to be done to get the space looking great, but we figured since the espresso machines are up and running, we might as well start serving,” said co-managing partner Steve Mangigian. The space features coffee brewed just a few feet from where it is roasted, and guests can watch the roasters do their work through a large picture window. Alongside a full line of espresso drinks, the shop serves coffee brewed in a number of ways. “We’ve got regular drip, French press, Chemex filtered, pour over, Vietnamese style, and Japanese ice drip,” notes shop manager Anya Pomykala. “And, you can select from up to 12 of our roasts which range in origin from Paupua New Guinea to east Africa to South and Central America.” The Coffee Company also caters to the coffee devotee with a large selection of whole beans and home brewing and barista equipment. Says Coffee Company founder Allen Leibowitz, “We have a lot of great tools and lot of knowledge to share. We want to be the source for coffee geeks in the area.”  Future plans include coffee classes and cuppings open to the public.

Zingerman’s Coffee Company: 3723 Plaza Drive, 734.929.6060.

Retail hours: Monday through Friday, 7am to 6pm and Saturday and Sunday, 7am to 4pm.

For further inquiries or to set up an interview, contact Pete Sickman-Garner, [email protected], 734.904.0644.

Sept. 18, 2009
for immediate release
contact Pete Sickman-Garner, 734.904.0644 or [email protected]

2nd Annual Native American Harvest Dinner Explores Anishinaabe Culinary Traditions

Joining Roadhouse Chef Alex Young at this year’s Native American Harvest Dinner will be four University of Michigan professors for a lively and engaging look at dishes of the Anishinaabe, the native peoples of the Michigan Territory. The dinner will take place Tuesday, October 13, at 7pm at Zingerman’s Roadhouse, and the cost is $45 per person. University of Michigan Professors Margaret Noori, Michael Witgen, Howard Kimewon and Philip Deloria will talk about their connections to Native American culture, speak about native foods, and bring the language to life through readings. Guests will even enjoy an Ojibwe language lesson. “We want to build something really special,” notes Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig. “This is something we want to be doing every year, 10, 20 years from now and really build up, in a really fun and engaging way, people’s awareness of and appreciation for the history of where we’re living and for traditions that are still very much alive today.”

Professors Noori and Kimewon, who have worked with local community members and students to create the website, www.ojibwe.net which is a popular resource for speakers and students of the Ojibwe language, says, “I love to see native culture represented as a part of modern American life. It’s nice to see Indians in the Roadhouse. I especially love that Zingerman’s is willing to include Anishinaabemowin and invite detailed extemporaneous discussions rather than reduce native culture to stereotypes and small slices of history.”

James Beard-nominated Chef Young is preparing a five-course meal including starters of Toasted Pumpkin Seeds and Fried Hominy, Rabbit Succotash with Puffed Wild Rice Soup, Roasted Duck, Corn Flour Batter Fried Walleye, and Wild Rice Stuffed Pumpkin.

Reservations for the dinner are available by calling the Roadhouse at 734.663.3663 or in person at 2501 Jackson Road at the corner of Jackson and Maple in the Westgate Mall in Ann Arbor. For more information on the event or to request an interview, please contact Pete Sickman-Garner, Zingerman’s Marketing Manager at 734.904.0644 or [email protected].

* what the Anishinaabe prepared when they harvested

Move Will Allow New Retail Space and Locate Coffee Co. with Zingerman’s Bakehouse and Creamery

Ann Arbor, MI—Beginning in September, Zingerman’s Coffee Company will pack up their beans and their roaster and move the entire operation to a 6,400 sq ft. space in the Airport Plaza development on Plaza Drive. The move has many benefits for the coffee company. Chief among them is the that their new location will allow them the opportunity to sell coffee to retail customers. Plans are in the works to serve a wide range of coffee drinks as well as to sell beans and equipment. The move also gives the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses an even stronger presence on Ann Arbor’s southside as the Coffee Co. joins Zingerman’s other wholesale producers, the Bakehouse and Creamery, in a ‘manufacturer’s row’ on Plaza Drive. “Locating here was a natural for us,” notes Coffee Co. co-managing partner Steve Mangigian. “The Bakehouse has been selling the bread and pastries they bake on site here for 17 years. We’re excited to have that same kind of presence for our customers; letting them seeing the whole process and buy their beans right where they’re roasted.” The Coffee Company is currently located in the Zingerman’s Mail Order warehouse on Phoenix Drive and will begin moving in mid-September with an aim to be set up for roasting in October. The establishment of a retail operation will happen later in the fall.

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Founded in 2003 as part of the Zingerman’s Community of Businesss, Zingerman’s Coffee Co. is a wholesale roaster supplying cafes, restaurants and businesses. It was started by Allen Leibowitz and the founders of Zingerman’s Delicatessen, Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig. In 2008, Steve Mangigian joined Allen as co-Managing Partner of the business.

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for immediate release
Contact Pete Sickman-Garner
[email protected]
734.904.0644

Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon to hit store
shelves July 2009; Published In-house by Zingerman’s Press

Ari Weinzweig launches into a very popular topic in his latest book, Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon: Stories of Pork Bellies, Hush Puppies, Rock ‘n’ Roll Music and Bacon Fat Mayonnaise. As the subtitle suggests, the author digs deep into the history of bacon and also profiles some of the best artisan bacon makers in the United States including Kentucky’s Allan Benton, Virginia’s Sam Edwards, and Wisconsin’s Tanya Nueske. “Bacon is so integral to the culinary history of this country,” notes Weinzweig. “The roots are so deep in our cooking, I think of it as the olive oil of North America.”

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New Training DVD Offers Effective, Real-Life Strategies
for Turning Complaining Customers into Customers for Life

Zingerman’s understands that most customers DON’T complain—they just take their business elsewhere (and tell everyone else about their bad experience). And with the marketplace more competitive than ever, most companies can’t afford to lose a single client. That’s why Zingerman’s is sharing systems for providing exceptional customer service in its highly anticipated second training DVD, “Zingerman’s 5 Steps to Effectively Handling a Complaint.” These are the tried-and-true tools as practiced throughout the organization praised by Saveur (“When it comes to service, few establishments can rival Zingerman’s,”) and Inc. magazine ([Zingerman’s is] “The Coolest Small Company in America”).

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Highlighting the culinary contributions of Jewish immigrants from Salonika, James Beard Award-nominated chef Alex Young and Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig are preparing a special dinner on Tuesday, April 7 at 7pm. Alan Saltiel, the director of the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan, whose family is Greek-Jewish and settled in the United States from Salonika, will share family recipes from his grandmother, aunts and parents.

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