Category Archives: Food

Are iPhones, social media, selfies and other societal trends fucking up the restaurant business?

My friend Rhonda Crosson, who left a career as a biochemist in Michigan to become a baker in the big apple, recently shared the following from Craigslist NYC. Personally, I suspect it’s fiction, but, as it raises a number of interesting issues concerning how personal technology is impacting the restaurant business, I thought that I’d […]

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Chef Alex Young of the Roadhouse on his work at Cornman farms and the importance of preserving foodways

In celebration of Zingerman’s making the front page of the New York Times business section this weekend, I thought that I’d post this recent interview I did with Zingerman’s Roadhouse managing partner, and James Beard Award-winning chef, Alex Young. Alex, as you may know, when he’s not serving up “really good American food” at the […]

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Paul Saginaw sets the record straight on employee ownership and participation within an evolving Zingerman’s, contemplates the future without him

As I suspect most of you know, a few days ago the Business Insider posted an article stating that, in the near future, Zingerman’s would be transitioning to a “worker-owned cooperative”. As you may not know, however, the folks at Zingerman’s quickly came out to say this wasn’t the case. While they were indeed planning […]

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Zingerman’s to explore cooperative structure and shared employee ownership

Over the past several months, I’d heard from a few reputable sources that the folks at Zingerman’s were exploring the possibility of transitioning to a business model in which their 600-some employees would share ownership to some degree. And, a few weeks ago, when I’d heard that an unknown person had edited the company’s Wikipedia […]

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The parable of the California sardine collapse

The fishing industry in California was built on sardines. While they lasted, they were abundant, easy to catch, and simple to process. They were ground for fish meal, which was used to feed chickens. They were processed for oil. And, during the war, they were an invaluable source of protein for American soldiers fighting in […]

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