Apple Computer and Zingerman’s: It’s All About the Customer

“…Zingerman’s has grown in a deliberate but purposeful way, expanding in areas where it can control the customer experience. It doesn’t franchise. It doesn’t lend its name to stuff that is not home-grown. It treats its brand like a rare and valuable jewel, pulling it out and sharing it only when its safe and only at appropriate times. It now has a thriving mail-order business. It can control how items are packaged, the presentation, and the consistency of quality of the items delivered. It also opened a restaurant in Ann Arbor, again a venue where they can control the customer experience front-to-back. I am a stickler for customer service. I am willing to pay a premium for excellent service, and get very, very irritated if I am asked to pay a premium price but the service doesn’t hold up its end. When I walk into Zingerman’s I always have a smile on my face because I know that I will get first-class, friendly, intelligent and informed service, every time. Zero variation…”

More here: “Information Arbitrage: Apple Computer and Zingerman’s: It’s All About the Customer”

NYTimes article: “A Corner Deli With International Appeal”

Such a nice code green: “Consistently amazed that a dept. of five people are so on the ball about assisting the many Zingerman’s businesses. We always receive instant extra mile service from them - even for our prehistoric technologies. After saying they were going to send us a whole new heatless laminator, 3M actually sent us a part that we had no idea how to install. Hannah took it down to IT and they proceeded to completely dismantle it, install the new part and reassemble the laminator quickly and immediately. Truly excellent above and beyond service on a technology outside their job descriptions, I’m sure.”

Gode Green from Katie Janky for Craig, Joe:

The Bakeshop POS system and server went down right in the middle of the day Wednesday. Joe G was already working on site and Craig arrived in about 5 minutes. We were able to operate 1 register while the others were coming up.

Craig came back after we closed to adjust our system so that if our server went down again at least 1 POS terminal would be functional.

The service and response time was purely phenomenal and I feel so grateful to work with such a service oriented IT team. Thank you all! — Katie

As thanks and recognition Katie sent this gem over to the IT office:

In creating a new user account I failed to make a user a member of a needed security group. The user called to inquire as to why he was unable to access certain departmental resources after logging on, I sincerely apologized and was able to quickly recognize and fix the problem.

After correcting the issue we realized that making it part of our WRITTEN standard operating procedure for creating new accounts would be a great way to help prevents this from happening in the future.

Code Green from Izaak for Elph:

[Loved the Service] A guest brought a blue Lurisia to the register, then realized she wanted a carbonated one. Before I could switch it for her a mysterious hand came around and grabbed it… It was Elph who was next in line to pay and had overheard. He sprinted to the pop case and switched the bottles… Thanks!