🥪 Leadership Lessons from Zingerman’s Deli

Bonus: Contribute a Recipe to The Culture Kitchen collection by Sept. 15th

Welcome back to second edition of The Culture Kitchen — a Switchboard series on the ways food, restaurants and recipes inspire us at work. Think beyond team lunch, but I may talk about making it better.

In this edition, I’m excited to invite y’all to contribute to a culture community “cookbook” with your “recipes” — instructions for how to plan meaningful or creative culture programs. Perhaps you’ve led or attended these events — Leader Q&As, mentoring series, an internal podcast, a Howl-a-ween show or something else special. Submit your “recipe” to be featured and shared with our community. Tell me about (1) the program (2) goals (3) impact (4) best practices and (5) time commitment. Simply reply to this email or if you prefer a form below, by Sept 15th.

🥪 Leadership Lessons from Zingerman’s Deli

Now, let’s learn from one of the most beloved delis in the world —Zingerman’s. It was founded by two friends, Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw, in 1983 near Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a $20,000 loan. Today, there are 11 businesses (a Bakehouse, Mail Order, ZingTrain(ing) and more) with 800-plus employees and over $80 million in annual revenue. There’s a deep philanthropic commitment to giving back by donating food and money to the community, all anchored in guiding principles. In 2019, I attended a ZingTrain event that was transformational. Here are my top 5 lessons:

1. 🧑‍🍳 How We Welcome People Matters

2. 👋 The 10/4 Rule

3. ⚡Energy Recipe

4. 📩 Customer Feedback

5. 🕸️ Weave a Web of Appreciation

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🧑‍🍳 1. How We Welcome People Matters

When a guest arrives who you know, you are likely to greet them with a hug. But, how will the person behind them feel if greeted with a handshake? The ZingTrain team makes us think carefully about this scenario. As someone who often stood at the front door at events to welcome guests, I had never thought of what message hugging one person and not another might send. Consider asking what types of greetings people prefer.

There’s also the concept of FTG—First Time Guest. How do you feel if someone doesn’t remember meeting you before? Awful. Same with a restaurant experience, if the employees don’t remember you. After multiple research studies, the ZingTrain team concluded the best way to greet someone is to assume they’ve been there before. It’s much more welcoming to say—“When was the last time you were in?” Who wouldn’t want to be thought of as a regular?

How can you apply this to your culture? Consider a similar approach when attendees join an event or visit a new office.

👋 2. The 10/4 Rule

The ZingTeam recommends when you are ten feet away from someone, make eye contact and when you are four feet away, say something to welcome them. Now, this may be best utilized when at a store and for customer service roles, however, I wonder what would happen if we all tried this in our offices. It can also be applied to remote video calls with a creative twist to say hello instead of staring in silence before a call begins.

⚡3. Energy Recipe

According to Zingerman’s, there are three types of energies—physical, emotional and vibrational. Striking the right balance is key to a customer’s experience. Be cognizant of your employees and stop energy vampires before they impact a culture. And of course, remember the platinum rule—"do unto others as they would do unto you."

What’s the energy recipe you bring to a meeting, a project or a deadline? Be mindful everyone has a lot going on at work and in life, but you might only have one interaction with that person in a week — make it memorable, in a good way.

📩 4. Customer Feedback

Zingerman’s asks for feedback all the time. Feedback receives categorization codes: code red—needs to be escalated quickly—or code green. A professional dedicates time to review this feedback and make adjustments accordingly. This reiterates how important it is to review feedback after class and tweak the next experience.

One question on Zingerman’s recommendations is short and powerful—“Based on this Zingerman’s experience, how likely are you to recommend us to a co-worker or colleague?”

How might you apply this question to your feedback surveys or general community-building approach to treat your employees as customers who you want to keep.

🕸️ 5. Weave a Web of Appreciation

Expressing gratitude is a central pillar of Zingerman’s philosophy. In a newsletter sent via e-mail and printed for all team members to access, the Zingerman’s team recognizes the colleagues who go above and beyond as “Extra Mile Files.”

In addition, they honor the people who nominated them. It encourages a culture of celebrating each other’s success. For team members, it’s an honor to win a Service Award as well as to be recognized as a nominator.

How do you weave gratitude into your work days?

Take a virtual tour of Zingerman’s:

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Thanks for reading this edition of The Switchboard. Here’s me in the “Culture Kitchen” dressed as Julia Child. She’s my namesake and a muse.

If you enjoyed this article, let me know what resonated and consider posting a learning on LinkedIn and tagging me. Bon Appétit! Until next time.