Flavorful Fuddle Fun

The Fall Huddle is a seasonal gathering of people from around the ZCoB. We taste new foods, meet people from other Zing businesses, share and discuss topics that make our work easier and more effective.

Here’s but a sampling of what we had to eat…

Zingerman’s Catering espresso bar – Make your own fancy espresso drink with vanilla syrup, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Wow!

Cornbread, Stollen, and Christmas Cookies from the Bakehouse

New Zzang bar called the “Wowza”. It’s got raspberry preserves, marshmallow and dark chocolate. Charlie’s still tweaking the recipe. I think he should just send all his test batches to me.

Tennessee Fried Chicken from the Roadhouse – The batter is spicy. Mmm…

The Deli brought hotdogs with spicy mustard, Landaff cheese (buttery and yummy), and Frantoio and Casados olive oil from Chile. But I ate everything on my plate before I could take a proper picture. Oops!

The Fall Huddle started with an Open Forum where we can ask folks from the different businesses questions about their last quarter numbers and plans for the holidays. Then we learned about a new system that the Training Engineers are working on, namely, “what is the manager’s role in training?” (Answer: 1) provide context for training, 2) reinforce learning 3) help put knowledge to good use.) The Service Group presented on the Zingerman’s Experience Indicator (ZXI), a measure that helps us benchmark the service we provide and shows us how important it is to make sure our customers leave with a stellar experience. Finally, we brainstormed ways to get the word out about the Southside, the area by the A2 airport where the Bakehouse, Creamery, Candy Company, Coffee and ZingNet live. If you want to shop for good food, go to the Deli downtown. Then if you want to meet the people who make the food, come by the Southside!

During the break, there was a T-Shirt Silent Auction to benefit Food Gatherers. Staffers donated their old Zing clothing (some dating back to the 80′s!) and made some neat crafts using old shirts.

We raised over $500 — enough to provide almost a thousand meals through Food Gatherers! Woohoo!

It was a jam-packed session with great people and delicious food. All in a day’s work!