Zingerman's considers expansion into Ypsilanti

The folks at Zingerman's pride themselves on making the most of their little corner of Ann Arbor's Kerrytown district. Now they are looking at the possibility of doing the same thing in Ypsilanti.

Paul Saginaw, one of Zingerman's co-founders, is looking into the idea of setting up an restaurant/cafe in either Depot Town or downtown Ypsilanti. The eatery would focus on local food and services as much as possible.

"Ypsilanti is very exciting to us," Saginaw says, adding Zingerman's has no interest in expanding outside of Washtenaw County. "There seems to be a lot of energy there in the downtown and Depot Town areas. We don't want to be the last one down there."

He also pointed out that a large number of Zingerman's employees live in Ypsilanti, so he sees the rising Bohemian atmosphere as something quite attractive to Zingerman's. However, Saginaw and other organizers behind the effort are still in the crawling stages of the endeavor and definitely aren't running around looking for space for the proposed location yet.

"It's definitely in the pipe dream stage," says Paul Sickman-Garner, marketing manager for Zingerman's.

The Ypsilanti Zingerman's would be a bit different from the existing. It wouldn't be set up like a traditional business where prices are set and everybody pays, instead prices could be set on a sliding scale. That means that if people looking for food can't afford to pay much, they don't have to empty out their pockets. If people who can afford to pay more have the option of doing so.

A small coffee shop in Seattle is using a similar business plan, which is depicted in an NPR story here. The eatery is looking into offering different serving sizes, too.

"I don't think one size fits all," Saginaw says. "Some people are big eaters and some people are littler eaters."

He also reiterates that the idea is still in its infancy and is months, if not years from becoming a reality.

"We don't do many things quickly," Saginaw says. "We don’t think good things happen quickly. Only bad things happen quickly, like earthquakes and lightning strikes."

Source: Paul Saginaw, co-founder of Zingerman's and Pete Sickman-Garner, marketing manager with Zingerman's

Writer: Jon Zemke