Zingerman’s, Dominos and Ann Arbor Land Use Policy
Zingerman's Deli is an Ann Arbor landmark
Ironically the two greatest business icons of Ann Arbor are both about food and at totally different ends of the spectrum. First is Domino’s Pizza, the world’s largest pizza delivery company. From their website, I learned that Domino’s Pizza is number one in customer satisfaction in a 2009 survey of consumers of the U.S. largest limited service restaurants, according to the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index™.
In contrast to the instant gratification model perfected by Dominos, we have the other Ann Arbor business icon, which is all about high quality/high taste, and of late a proponent of the locally sourced locavore movement. This is of course Zingerman’s Deli, the mother ship of the Zingerman’s family of businesses. You can hardly go by a month without reading about them in the New York Times, Bon Appétit, or some other foodie publication. The latest news is Zingerman’s Roadhouse chef Alex Young is a semi finalist for a James Beard award.
So what’s this got to do with local planning issues? Well when Domino’s founder and visionary Tom Monaghan, a Frank Lloyd Wright mega fan, wanted to build his nearly 1 million square foot office and distribution center just outside the northeast city limits of Ann Arbor, let’s say that Ann Arbor Township did not exactly welcome the project with open arms and it took years to get the project approved. Today, the low slung building barely causes a ripple on the landscape along US 23 and the quality of the site and buildings is worlds apart from most other local headquarter buildings.
Currently, the founders of the nearly $40 million Zingerman’s empire, Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig, would like to expand the original deli at the corner of Kingsley and Detroit Street. They were rebuffed two years ago by the local Historic District Commission and are coming back again with a new battle plan. This is a high volume place that literally doesn’t have enough room to Hold the Mayo! A while back I talked to the food service distributor as he was unloading cases of mayonnaise. If I recall correctly, they were taking mayo deliveries twice a week, 12-15 cases at a time. On any given football Saturday or at Graduation time, a 53’ long refrigerated trailer must be parked next to the store to handle additional cooler requirements.
Our downtown is lucky to have this local institution in the Kerrytown area and should do all they can to keep Zingerman’s there. But to save one house, that is barely visible from the street, will cost a cool $750,000, more than the profit of a half million Reuben sandwiches, assuming 10% margins. That’s a lot of lettuce or should I say pickles…
David Kwan is a development consultant working for Midwestern Consulting. David can be reached at 734.646.7109.
Read about the details here at the Ann Arbor Chronicle.