Henry Ford College is bringing Ann Arbor's ZingTrain to Dearborn for a free workshop on the customer-service methods developed at Zingerman's Delicatessen.
The session, titled "Zingerman's: The Art of Delivering Exceptional Customer Service," runs Thursday, Oct. 15, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the HFC Small Business and Entrepreneurship Hub, Room E-146, on the first floor of the Technology Building on HFC's main campus.
Doors open at 4:30 p.m.
ZingTrain trainer Jenni Yim will lead the presentation. Yim joined ZingTrain in 2022 after working across Zingerman's Community of Businesses, starting as a teenager bussing tables at the Deli's Next Door Café in Ann Arbor, according to her official biography.
What the workshop covers
Zingerman's Delicatessen opened in Ann Arbor in 1982. ZingTrain is the branch that teaches the company's service practices to outside organizations.
Rather than relying on slogans, Zingerman's trains every employee with documented, repeatable steps the company calls "recipes," according to the college's event page. One example: the "10/4 Rule," where staff make eye contact and smile at 10 feet, then greet a customer verbally at four feet.
The workshop is open to students, employees, entrepreneurs, business owners and the general public. A light dinner will be provided, including Zingerman's brownie bites.
How to register
Registration is requested but not required so organizers can plan food. Readers can find the registration link on HFC’s workshop page.
For questions, contact MariAnn Apley at 313-317-4136 or [email protected]. Attendees should enter through the North entrance and park in Lot 4 or 5.
The Oct. 15 session is part of a six-event fall series at the Hub. The Breakthrough Challenge entrepreneurial competition, open only to HFC students, takes place Thursday, Nov. 5, and Thursday, Nov. 12, from 4 to 7 p.m.
A “Protecting Your Small Business” workshop with attorney Joe Morrison of Barnes & Thornburg is scheduled between those dates, on Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. That workshop is open to students, employees and the public.
