Meet the Author - Ari Weinzweig

We’re honored to welcome Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses (Zingerman’s), to Beaverdale Books for a conversation about leadership, dignity and the everyday practice of democracy. Ari’s work has long influenced the way organizations think about culture, hospitality and shared responsibility. His newest pamphlet, “Why Democracy Matters,” explores how principles like trust, transparency and agency can shape not only our communities but our workplaces and daily lives.
Ari Weinzweig is CEO and co-founding partner of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, which includes Zingerman’s Delicatessen, Bakehouse, Creamery, Catering, Mail Order, ZingTrain, Coffee Company, Roadhouse, Candy Manufactory, Events at Cornman Farms, Miss Kim and Zingerman’s Food Tours. Zingerman’s produces, sells and serves all sorts of full flavored, traditional foods in its home of Ann Arbor, Michigan to the tune of $68,000,000 a year in annual sales. Ari was recognized as one of the “Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America” by the 2006 James Beard Foundation and has been awarded a Bon Appetit Lifetime Achievement Award among many recognitions.
Ari is the author of a number of articles and books, including Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating, Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon (Zingerman’s Press), Zingerman’s Guide to Giving Great Service, Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating (Houghton Mifflin), Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, Part 1: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business, and Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, Part 2: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Being a Better Leader. Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, Part 3; A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Managing Ourselves, Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, Part 4; A Lapsed Anarchist’ s Approach to the Power of Beliefs in Business was released in summer of 2016. In 2017 Ari was named one of “The World’s 10 Top CEOs (They Lead in a Totally Unique Way)” by Inc. Magazine. In 2018 he released the pamphlet, “The Art of Business; Why I Want to be an Artist.” Another pamphlet, “Going into Business with Emma Goldman” came out in June, 2019. “Humility; A Humble, Anarchistic Inquiry” came out in October 2020. “Working Through Hard Times; Life and Leadership Learnings from 2020” was published in the first weeks of 2021; “The Story of Visioning at Zingerman’s: Four Visions, Forty Years, and a Positive Look Towards the Future,” in 2022; “A Taste of Zingerman’s Food Philosophy: Forty Years of Mindful Cooking and Eating” in 2023. “A Revolution of Dignity in the Twenty-First Century Workplace” was released in March of 2024. 2025 saw the release is the chapbook, “Life Lessons I Learned from Being a Line Cook.” His newest publication is the pamphlet, “Why Democracy Matters.”
Ari, along with his partner Paul Saginaw, founded Zingerman’s Delicatessen with a $20,000 bank loan, a Russian History degree from the University of Michigan, 4 years of experience washing dishes, cooking and managing in restaurant kitchens and chutzpah from his hometown of Chicago. They opened the doors with 2 employees, a small selection of specialty foods, and exceptional sandwiches.
Today, Zingerman’s Delicatessen is a nationally renowned food icon and the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses has grown to 11 businesses with over 800 employees and over $80 million in annual revenue. Aside from the Delicatessen, these businesses include Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Coffee and Candy Company, Roadhouse, Mail Order, ZingTrain, Cornman Farms, Miss Kim, Food Tours, and Zingerman’s Service Network. No two businesses in the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses are alike, but they all share the same Vision and Guiding Principles and deliver “The Zingerman’s Experience” with passion and commitment.
Ari regularly travels across the country (and world) on behalf of ZingTrain, teaching organizations and businesses about Zingerman’s approach to business. He is a sought-after Keynote speaker, having delivered keynotes for Inc. 500, Microsoft Expo Spring Conference, Great Game of Business Gathering of Games, Positive Business Conference at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the American Cheese Society.
Notwithstanding the awards, being engaged on a daily basis in the work of 10 businesses with 19 partners, writing books on business and in-depth articles on food for the Zingerman’s newsletter, Ari finds time to be a voracious reader. He acquires and reads more books than he can find room for. Ari might soon find himself the owner of the largest collection of Anarchist books in Ann Arbor outside the Labadie collection at the University of Michigan library!
Joining Ari in conversation will be Mike Draper, the founder and owner of RAYGUN, which has been called ‘The Greatest Store in the Universe’ by RAYGUN. In business since 2005, the company has been steadily growing since then, to surprise of just about everyone — Mike included. All in all, he’s been able to do all sorts of neat things and meet all sorts of neat people without ever really leaving Des Moines.”