Zingerman's opens The Greyline in downtown Ann Arbor

Zingerman's is moving forward on plans to build out a special events venue in downtown Ann Arbor called The Greyline.
The 5,000-square-foot space will occupy the first floor of the new Marriott Residence Inn at the corner of Huron and Ashley streets and serve as headquarters for Zingerman's growing catering services.

"It's going to be gorgeous," says Grace Singleton, managing partner of Zingerman's Delicatessen. "With the old bus depot facade and glass turret and all of the glass facing the sidewalk."

There has been a significant demand for Zingerman's to cater its culinary creations for years. Zingerman's Delicatessen, which operates the catering service, took over the old Eve restaurant in Kerrytown in 2011 to help meet the catering demand with better service.

"We cater all over southeast Michigan," Singleton says, adding that equals a lot of schlepping stuff everywhere. "We realized we could do a better job of it we had our own space."

Zingerman's catering doubled its business by its second year and then doubled it again by its third year. That meant it needed to find a bigger, more centralized space. The new Marriott Residence Inn’s commercial space proved too good of an opportunity to pass up to create The Greyline.

The Zingerman's team plans to make The Greyline a versatile urban venue available for private events, meetings, and training sessions operated exclusively by Zingerman's Catering and Events. It will have its own street entrance to the building, and it will also have access to the venue from the lobby of the hotel. About two thirds of its square footage will be utilized for events.

"The size is perfect for what we need," Singleton says. "It will have a large, full kitchen that will allow us to cook very specific menus for this space, things that are currently too much of a challenge to do at an offsite event."

Source: Grace Singleton, managing partner of Zingerman’s Delicatessen
Writer: Jon Zemke

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