Kristie Brablec

Managing Partner at Zingerman’s Food Tours

As the managing partner of Zingerman's Food Tours, Kristie Brablec infuses her boundless spirit and passion for learning into culinary adventures around the world. Whether cooking guylas over an open fire in Tokaj, Hungary or waking up before dawn to watch the birth of a new wheel of Parmesan cheese in Tuscany, she finds inspiration in new experiences.

The daughter of an airline pilot and farmer, Kristie developed an early love of travel, an appreciation for different cultures, and a deep love of the land. After stints in Arizona, Colorado, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, she landed in Ann Arbor where she joined the Zingerman's team in 2004.

Kristie has worked across the Zingerman’s organization for over a decades. She has managed the service team for Zingerman’s Mail Order, the ecommerce and fulfillment business. She has held the position of Great Service Steward, a job that leads service efforts across every Zingerman’s business. She is a regular teacher at conferences and seminars with ZingTrain, the company’s consulting and training business.

Beyond her passions for travel, wine and exciting cuisine, Kristie is the owner of Ground Control Wines, a potter, photographer, creative thinker, music lover, and thrower of excellent parties. She will talk about sustainabiliy and succession to anyone who will listen. She loves acquiring new skills and even has her Scuba certification and private pilot's license! She is a woman on the move.



Tabitha was born to be in the hospitality industry. She thinks that growing up in Frankenmuth, Michigan’s Little Bavaria, is what makes her so passionate about Gemütlichkeit (warm hospitality)! With more than 25 years of experience and a true passion for service, Tabitha joined Zingerman’s in 2010 and brings her strong work ethic and drive for excellence to Zingerman’s Cornman Farms every day as managing partner. An award-winning event venue and working farm in Dexter, Michigan, Cornman Farms specializes in weddings, private dining and corporate events with a focus on farm-to-table dining and curated dining experiences. Tabitha has also been a trainer for ZingTrain since 2012. Her passion for customer service, her extensive experience at Zingerman’s and her empathetic and easy-going style make her a particularly effective trainer, leader and natural choice for a food tour guide. Married with a grown daughter as well as two teenage boys at home, Tabitha loves to travel with and without her family and is active in two non-profits with a focus on youth education, Junior Achievement and Fate Detroit.

Tabitha Mason

Managing Partner of Zingerman’s Cornman Farms


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Amy Emberling

Managing Partner at Zingerman’s Bakehouse

Amy has been an avid food lover and baker since her childhood in Nova Scotia, Canada where she especially enjoyed feasting on wild blueberries and freshly steamed lobster. After high school Amy moved to Cambridge, MA, and when she wasn’t enjoying Boston’s bakeries and restaurants she studied American social movements at Harvard College. She then followed her passion for food and studied at L’École de Gastronomie Française at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, France. Besides baking, Amy enjoys the challenge of running a business. To help her achieve her dream of owning her own bakery, she received an MBA from Columbia University in 1999.

Amy was one of the original bakers at Zingerman’s Bakehouse when it opened in 1992 and became a Zingerman’s partner in 2000. She is the co-author of the cookbook Zingerman’s Bakehouse. As well as leading the bakery, Amy teaches seminars with ZingTrain and develops and leads food tours. Amy particularly enjoys engaging with cultures and world history by exploring foreign cuisines. Zingerman’s Food Tours allows her to share her curiosity and knowledge of foreign countries with guests. Delicious food is great, and sharing it with others is even better.

Amy lives in Ann Arbor with her husband Geoff. They have two grown children, Jake and Ruby, and a daughter in-law, Emily.


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Kieron Hales

Managing Partner at Zingerman’s Cornman Farms

A world-class chef whose career began in England at the age of 13 when he was accepted into the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, Kieron has traveled the globe having lived and cooked in 27 different countries. His posts have included the three star Paul Bocuse in France and Dal Pescatore in Italy, as well as cooking for the British Royal family and three U.S. Presidents. In 2008, Kieron emigrated to the States to join Zingerman’s and pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations. After a few years as Executive Chef of the Roadhouse, he penned a vision and opened Zingerman's Cornman Farms, an award-winning event venue and working farm in Dexter, Michigan that specializes in weddings, private dining and corporate events with a focus on farm-to-table dining.


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Sean Hartwig

Retail Manager - Zingerman’s Delicatessen

Sean’s first suitcase was a hand painted banana box - the old version, with a bi-folding lid and real heft! His family, with the help of AAA travel guides, visited the coast of Maine every other summer for the majority of his primary years. It was one of these trips that brought him a short stint as a nautical caregiver for his first pet, a molting crab he found at low tide!

Traveling at an early age gave him a sense of scale and a healthy dose of humility. Since his youth, the mountains and oceans have beckoned to him and continue to lead him in his travels, drawing him around the U.S. and across Western Europe. Sean has studied both formally and informally in places across the globe, obtaining his university degree in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and living and studying in the French Basque Pyrenees. With a student visa running out and no prospects of a French green-card wedding, Sean made his way back to the States and is constantly on the lookout for new inspiration and experiences.

His curiosity and love of learning serve him well at Zingerman's Deli where he has served as our specialty foods manager (with a specific focus on and extensive knowledge of cheese) for over eight years now. His involvement with Zingerman's Food Tours gives him new opportunities to marry his love of esoteric wine varietals and his deep appreciation for traditionally made foods. He continues to share his love of gastronomy and travel with everyone he meets. That enthusiasm will be felt when he is your food tour guide!


Mara Ferguson

Keynote Liaison, Zingerman’s Training

You could say Mara was raised in the service industry. From high school to today, she has worked tirelessly to make people's day!

After graduating from Michigan State University, Mara found herself in Ann Arbor while her fiancé (now husband) was finishing his degree at U of M. During this time, a friend suggested she look for a temporary job at Zingerman's, stating "everyone that works there is super nice." What was supposed to be a short stint working the counter at Zingerman's Bakehouse turned into a career. The rest, as they say, is history.

Mara has worn many hats at ZingTrain over the years. She has gone from planning and executing ZingTrain's 2-Day seminars to her current role as the "Keynote Liaison". Since then, she has managed ZingTrain's Keynote sales and logistics for clients across the country. Tapping into her love of amazing guest experiences, logistics, and problem-solving. Not to mention keeping up with Ari's schedule. This is no easy task; trust me, she is incredible at her job.

Today, Mara is excited to be a part-time Guide for Zingerman's Food Tours and looks forward to ensuring that you have a great time as you feed your curiosity.

Mara's extracurricular interests include (but are not limited to) : Formula 1, volleyball, fashion and styling (she’s a great shopping buddy), basking in the sun with great music, hosting friends, gardening, and snuggling with her 2 dogs. 


Jenny started 25 years ago at Zingerman’s former produce market doing prep work in the kitchen, and within a year moved on to become Administrative Assistant to Ari Weinzweig, Zingerman's CEO. While Ari's assistant, Jenny has held many roles in Zingerman’s Community of Businesses. She was the lead recipe tester and production coordinator for Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating and Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon. While in the role of Service Director at Zingerman’s, Jenny chaired the organization-wide Service Central committee. Jenny is currently the Director of Zingerman’s Press, producing our Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading series, Lapsed Anarchist pamphlets, and Zingerman’s Guide to Giving Great Service. Jenny teaches a broad range of classes, from Service to Visioning to spices.

Jenny has a passion for learning—whether it's a new landscape, a new language, or a new way of cooking. She has an inspiring enthusiasm for combining spices, and is always happy to swap recipes. Musical instruments practically follow her home from the thrift shop. On any given day, you'll find her at the pottery wheel, with a paintbrush, or strumming a banjo.

Jenny lives in Ann Arbor with her husband Craig and their two children, Roan and Ola.

Jenny Tubbs

Zingerman’s Service Network

Director of Zingerman’s Press,


Joe Capuano

Purchasing Manager for Zingerman’s Mail Order

Travel has been part of Joe’s life from a young age. Every summer his family embarked on epic road trips across the US and Canada. Traveling along Route 1 to Key West, the Alaska Highway to Fairbanks and Route 66 to the west he was indoctrinated to go see what is out there and learn things. His love of world travel started when his father’s career took the family to Liberia in Western Africa where they lived for a year and on the way home they did the Grand Tour of Europe.
When he started dating his now wife he took her to Paris for Valentines Day to let her know he loved her and to see how well she traveled. She’s great! After working in corporate America he changed careers to be a stay at home dad. It was then that he introduced his sons to the wonders of the summer road trip. He is proud to say that last summer they did their own trip to the West Coast!
Joe has been at Zingerman’s Mail Order for 18 years starting as a holiday employee. His family have a three year cycle of major trips, Michigan, Out West and Maine and they are halfway to meeting their goal of visiting the 420+ US National Park Units and are avid hikers and campers.
When not working Joe is most likely driving somewhere new to hike somewhere new to set up a tent in the woods. He lives in Ypsilanti Michigan with his wife and two sons.


Toni grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and studied at Youngstown State University, where she received a BBA and served as president for the university chapter of the American Marketing Association. After graduation Toni managed at several retail stores before joining the Zingerman’s team in July of 1996 as Manager/Purchaser in the retail department of Zingerman’s Delicatessen. She has always had a passion for food and business.

Since joining Zingerman’s, Toni’s sights were set on becoming a managing partner in a new Zingerman’s business. In the spring of 1999, she realized that goal when she and her partner, Tom Root, launched Zingermans.com, the Zingerman’s online catalog. In 2002 Zingerman’s Mail Order and Zingermans.com merged and became known simply as Zingerman’s Mail Order, which sells and fulfills orders of traditional and gourmet foods. Zingerman’s Mail Order has annual sales of $15 million and employs 75 year-round and 400 seasonal employees.

Toni has also served many non profits, including the Ann Arbor Education Foundation, Jazzistry, and Ann Arbor Art Center. She is currently 826National’s board president and a board member of the U School. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband and business partner (Tom Root) and two sons, Ian and Henry.

Toni MOrell

Managing Partner

Zingerman’s mail Order


Ji Hye Kim

Managing Partner,

Miss Kim

Ji Hye Kim is the award-winning chef/owner of Miss Kim in Ann Arbor, MI. Named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs of 2021 and a James Beard Award Best Chef National and Great Lakes semifinalist, Ji Hye aims to broaden the understanding of Korean cuisine through her cooking. At her acclaimed restaurant Miss Kim — named one of Ann Arbor’s “Most Essential Restaurants” by Eater — her seasonal menu is inspired by ancient Korean culinary traditions, and adapted with local Midwestern ingredients.

Born and raised in Seoul, Korea, Ji Hye was introduced to cooking by her mother, a talented home cook who would make large batches of kimchi every fall with seasonal vegetables, dumplings for their annual New Year’s parties, and rice cakes for the mid-autumn harvest festivals. When Ji Hye was a teenager, her family immigrated to New Jersey, and Ji Hye went on to study political science and economics at the University of Michigan, before pursuing a successful career in hospital administration. In 2008 at 27 years old, Ji Hye decided to switch to hospitality and immediately immersed herself in the industry, training across the storied Zingerman’s businesses and the Rome Sustainable Food Project. She launched her first business, a Pan-Asian food cart named San Street, which she operated for four years, in partnership with Zingerman’s.


In 2016, Ji Hye opened her first restaurant Miss Kim, which features a menu inspired by ancient Korean recipes and culinary traditions from her family, while highlighting bountiful and seasonal Midwest ingredients. Signature dishes include Royale Style Tteokbokki (rice cake batons with savory soy sauce, sautéed with shiitake mushrooms and seasonal local vegetables); Buddhist Silken Tofu Soup, a deeply flavored soup inspired by Korean Buddhist cuisine; and Fried Caramel Broccolini tossed with anchovy caramel, almonds, fried onions, and cilantro; among others. A reflection of the restaurant’s focus on highlighting the regional diversity of Korean food, Miss Kim also offers three different regional variations of BiBimBob: a pork-heavy version from North Korea that is tossed in rich pork fat and topped with tender pork belly and soy sauce; one from the mountainous region of South Korea, which features rice and potato combining to form a crispy crust as the base for locally foraged mushrooms; and a version of BiBimbob that follows the dietary restrictions of Buddhist monks, incorporating all locally sourced vegetables and no alliums. With Miss Kim’s focus on regional intricacies, ancient histories, and its spotlight on local Midwest producers, the restaurant challenges common perceptions of Korean cuisine.

Additionally, Ji Hye is committed to prioritizing fair wages, benefits and equity in the industry, and has been admitted and completed programs like James Beard Chef Boot Camp for Policy Change and Food Lab Detroit’s Fellowship for Change in Food and Labor.