Zingerman's Bakehouse — Restaurant in Pittsfield Charter Township

Good is good, and Zingerman's Bakehouse fresh foods are GREAT!!!

Though tucked away in an industrial building complex, its benefit is ample parking.

Sir Ari - shalom - watching Fox 2 News and crying tears of joy for you and your new book's release.

Winners win!

On Google's "People also ask," there is a question, "Why is Zingerman's so expensive?" As a former UofM MSEE grad school student in 1990-2, I used to ask the same question and have become a loyal fan now in 2021-2022... so let me try to answer in a new way.

In grad school I was always frugal. Ten dollar haircuts were my norm. Living near North Campus, I'd pass Zingerman's Deli every time I'd go to a racquetball club on the south side of Ann Arbor, but their prices made the food a bit out of my league as a teaching assistant... so each time I'd drive by it was with a metaphorical nose pressed against the glass which left me wondering why so many were so loyally ecstatic about their delicacies.

When I graduated and got a good engineering job in LA in 1992, Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive beckoned. Eventually, a girlfriend insisted I get a 1993 haircut at Jose Eber Salon on Rodeo Drive. What an experience! It was a Saturday in September, and a Notre Dame college football game played on TV as the quality and service of Beverly Hills pampering, musing, and fusing showed me what a "Real" haircut & color "really" could be. Was it expensive? You bet. But can one haircut initiate a paradigm shift in why we pay for such Quality? Oh, you betcha. I doubled-down on it and returned on my own for a 2nd $165 Rodeo Drive "experience" in 1994.

So glad I did because in January 1995, I acted as an extra in the fine film "Get Shorty" and appear in the background of 5 scenes shot at LAX.

30 years later, I don't remember any details of all of those $10 haircuts but am grateful for those 2 Beverly Hills haircut "events" and still vividly recall them with no regrets for the prices I paid.

Rarely do my eyes roll to the back of my head when I take a bite of packaged and processed grocery store food, but it happens all of the time when I take a bite of Zingerman's. It's just that good.

A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimension.

Kinda like a little league team versus true professionals of Quality...

I think the saying is "You get what you pay for."

That's why I shop there now in 2021-22.

Now excuse me while I take a bite.

Zing's Magic Brownies beckon!!!

2/13/22, I tasted "Dave's Veggie Sandwich" for the first time. F-Fr-Fre-Fresh! Totally delicious! Also bought a bag of Tellicherry Salt & Pepper Potato Chips. Wow! Blew me away... you really CAN taste the difference of the Tellicherry Pepper that Zingerman's provides via Zingerman's Mail Order (ZMO).

Only wish those salt & pepper potato chips came in bigger bags....

"We're gonna need a bigger boat, err bigger bag." lol :-)

So I guess the quote, "All of that and a bag of chips too!" really DOES apply to Zingerman's Bakehouse. ...

Update 2: Since my last update I've shopped the Bakehouse 4 times. The truth is, the bread is so much better than anything else you can buy locally. My original post and ratings were based more on my expectation of a particular Zingerman's experience, rather than on the actual experience. If I compare the Bakehouse to most other businesses, I must give it 5 stars.

Update: After the owner's response regarding tipping, I've adjusted my rating from 2 to 4 stars. ALL of the food deserves 5 stars. If you're only there because of the food, there's no need to read any further. The two biggest service factors for me are how long I have to wait and whether you have what I stopped in for. I don't mind waiting if the place is busy and all registers are occupied, but it's worse when things are a bit slower and all but one register is open and I'm standing there for a couple of minutes watching multiple employees walk by doing other things. If you run out of Pecan-Raisin, no problem, it's a specialty bread and you don't want to get stuck with 20 loaves at the end of the day. If you run out of baguettes or Rustic Italian, I find that much more annoying because those are staples. Both of these things have happened to me several times in the past few months.

TIPS now "accepted" I've shopped the Bakehouse dozens of times. The bread is just that good. Service has always been spotty due to the high turnover of counter employees, I've been treated very well and with incredible indifference. But again, the bread is so good. The prices are premium, and Zingerman's has made it clear over the years that high quality ingredients and paying employees a living wage is more expensive than supermarket bread, fair enough. So, imagine my surprise when I stopped in to get a couple of baguettes and then was greeted on the credit card machine with an opportunity to tip the well-paid employee on top of the higher product cost for reaching behind them and bagging a couple of baguettes.

I tipped the employee that time because he stood there looking at me, even though I didn't believe it was warranted. However, I have thought a lot about that extra penalty for shopping at the Bakehouse, and I'm going to be thinking about it before I stop in again.

I don't want to give the Bakehouse a poor review. It's clear that everyone involved is trying to provide a quality product. But asking for tips for a simple retail transaction is exceptionally short-sighted and completely...

On an random chance, I bought Christmas Stollen from Zingerman's for my mom in 2011. She loved it; said it was the best she ever had! Since then, I've bought the Zingerman's Stollen each year, and this wasn't going to be any different... except I was buying it later than normal. Zingerman's Deli was sold out, (cue panic on my end) but were kind enough to tell me that the Bakehouse had some left. Bakehouse parking lot was extremely busy, but there was plenty of parking because it was a weekend. They were only allowing a certain number of patrons at a time, and we had to wait outside about 5 minutes, which was fine to get the Stollen. Once inside, the line was wrapped around the store, but there were many cashier's and it went fast. The amount of cakes, cookies, breads, brownies, and everything in between was staggering, and it all looked so delicious! Store was neat and clean so it was easy to find what I was looking for; (no digging around piles of different baked goods like at other stores, especially during the holidays.). Cashier was very friendly and efficient. All in all, we were in and out with what I needed in less than 10 minutes, even with hoping the line had been when we stepped in. Will be coming here for the Christmas Stollen each year going forward! To the staff: thank you all for everything, and...