English
Jonathan Hartzell is the founder of Detroit Shipping Company, one of Detroit's most-cited food halls: 21 repurposed shipping containers in Midtown housing six to seven independent food vendors, two bars, an art gallery, and a 10,000-square-foot beer garden, all under one roof since 2018. What started as a "soft yes" pledge among a group of childhood friends at a bachelor party has grown into a venue named Detroit's best food hall three years running.
On this episode, Jonathan joins host Adam Howe to talk about what it actually takes to run a multi-vendor venue — a weekly half-hour touchpoint that keeps a handful of small business owners rowing in the same direction, how to "food hall correctly" as a guest, and treating vendors as family instead of tenants.
They also dig into the collaborative hot dog stand that solved one of food hall operations' hardest math problems: staying profitable late at night without hiring a single new employee.
Get a summary of the interview on the GoTab blog at How Detroit Shipping Company Solved Late Night's Hardest Problem — Without Hiring More Staff.