Ari Weinzweig | An Anarchist’s Refreshing Approach to Running a Business

In this donothing podcast episode with Ari Weinzweig, you’ll learn:

  • Why running an organization is more creative than many business owners think

  • How to build a creative, healthy business culture

  • Why our own beliefs shape the entirety of our lives

  • What drives Ari’s desire for success—and it’s not money

  • Why non-conformity is good for business

  • How Ari decided to start Zingerman’s Deli with his partner, Paul Saginaw

  • Why Ari journals every day, and why it’s an integral part of his life

  • How the Jelly Bean Jump Up! fundraiser honors Ari’s beloved corgi and supports a great local cause

  • Ari’s enlightened take on the modern role model

  • Why Zara Creative’s Heather Zara is so inspired by Ari

  • Which books have influenced Ari in various aspects of his life

  • Whether Ari feels nervous that his business ventures might fail despite years of success

  • When Zingerman’s chose to start using open-book management

  • Why having a firm vision and belief system is so important to business

  • When Ari decided to start writing a newsletter, and eventually books and pamphlets

  • Why Ari believes his pamphlets resonate with readers

  • What Ari thinks about incredibly popular companies like Uber and Amazon


Few entrepreneurs inspire quite like Zingerman’s Ari Weinzweig. Ever since starting his first company over thirty-five years ago, Ari has rejected conformity and embraced creativity to achieve success on his own terms. Shake up any traditional notions of what it takes to be an effective business owner as you listen to my chat with Ari on this week’s donothing podcast.

Ari Weinzweig is the CEO and co-founding partner of Zingerman's Community of Businesses, which includes Zingerman's Delicatessen, Bakehouse, Creamery, Catering, ZingTrain, Coffee Company, Roadhouse, Candy Manufactory and Cornman Farms.

Zingerman’s produces and sells all sorts of full-flavored, traditional foods in its Ann Arbor, Michigan home to the tune of $60 million in annual sales. Ari was recognized as a 2006 inductee in the Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America by the James Beard Foundation, and has been awarded a Bon Appetit Lifetime Achievement Award among many other recognitions.

Ari is the author of works including Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon, Zingerman’s Guide to Giving Great Service, Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating, Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, Part 1: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business and A Lapsed Anarchist's Approach to the Power of Beliefs in Business.

In 2017, Ari was named one of The World's 10 Top CEOs by Inc. Magazine. His most recent publication is the pamphlet “The Art of Business: Why I Want to be an Artist”.

Connect with Zingerman’s

Check Out Ari’s Pamphlets Here

Check Out All Available Books from Zingerman’s Press

Learn About the SafeHouse Center

Through the annual Jelly Bean Jump Up!, Zingerman’s supports a fundraiser for Ann Arbor’s SafeHouse Center “whose mission is to provide safety, support, advocacy and resources for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence and their children.”

https://www.safehousecenter.org/

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