
Brad Hedeman
Zingerman'sBrad Hedeman: Marketing & Product Selection, Zingerman’s Mail Order
Brad is a Michigan boy. Born and bred in mid-Michigan, he made his way to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan when he was seventeen. He’s been here ever since.
Brad started working at Zingerman’s Deli in the fall of 1994 while a freshman in college and kept working for Zingerman’s Community of Businesses throughout his academic career. He graduated with a BA in Creative Writing, making him perfectly qualified for a career in food service (and not much else).
Brad says he’s been professionally reared in Zingerman’s and takes the philosophies, strategies and processes of the organization to heart. He’s been a part of the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses during some very significant systemic changes that have now become intrinsic to the culture and operations of the company – documenting service experiences using Code Reds and Greens, going Open Book and beginning to huddle, working on the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses vision for the year 2020, to name a few.
Brad’s path through Zingerman’s started at Zingerman’s Deli’s – first at its nationally renowned retail counter and then in the back of the house making sandwiches. But talking about the food and building connections with customers was his first love and so he moved on to Zingerman’s Mail Order working in the Service Center for 8 years before stepping into his current role in Marketing and Product Selection.
Today, Brad travels the globe scouting products for Zingerman’s Mail Order as well as to meet producers and learn more of the stories behind the food that he then shares with customers nation wide through Mail Order’s award winning catalog. And he’s excited to be the only Creative Writing major he knows that actually writes for a living.
With Zingerman’s so firmly entrenched in Brad’s DNA, Brad made the logical step towards being a ZingTrain trainer – sharing Zingerman’s culture, systems and values with seminar attendants and consulting clients across the country.
And now he’s off to London to help lead Zingerman’s Food Tour to one of the world’s most historic, important, and delicious cities.