diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index da4a88f8..91339a5e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,4 +13,5 @@
 .DS_Store
 
 bin/
-artifacts/gcloud/
\ No newline at end of file
+artifacts/gcloud/
+.idea
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cmd/flagger/main.go b/cmd/flagger/main.go
index 7b7dd2e3..127e67b5 100644
--- a/cmd/flagger/main.go
+++ b/cmd/flagger/main.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"flag"
+	"go.uber.org/zap"
 	"log"
 	"time"
 
@@ -31,6 +32,9 @@ var (
 	slackURL            string
 	slackUser           string
 	slackChannel        string
+	threadiness         int
+	zapReplaceGlobals   bool
+	zapEncoding         string
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -43,15 +47,22 @@ func init() {
 	flag.StringVar(&slackURL, "slack-url", "", "Slack hook URL.")
 	flag.StringVar(&slackUser, "slack-user", "flagger", "Slack user name.")
 	flag.StringVar(&slackChannel, "slack-channel", "", "Slack channel.")
+	flag.IntVar(&threadiness, "threadiness", 2, "Worker concurrency.")
+	flag.BoolVar(&zapReplaceGlobals, "zap-replace-globals", false, "Whether to change the logging level of the global zap logger.")
+	flag.StringVar(&zapEncoding, "zap-encoding", "json", "Zap logger encoding.")
 }
 
 func main() {
 	flag.Parse()
 
-	logger, err := logging.NewLogger(logLevel)
+	logger, err := logging.NewLoggerWithEncoding(logLevel, zapEncoding)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Error creating logger: %v", err)
 	}
+	if zapReplaceGlobals {
+		zap.ReplaceGlobals(logger.Desugar())
+	}
+
 	defer logger.Sync()
 
 	stopCh := signals.SetupSignalHandler()
@@ -132,7 +143,7 @@ func main() {
 
 	// start controller
 	go func(ctrl *controller.Controller) {
-		if err := ctrl.Run(2, stopCh); err != nil {
+		if err := ctrl.Run(threadiness, stopCh); err != nil {
 			logger.Fatalf("Error running controller: %v", err)
 		}
 	}(c)
diff --git a/cmd/loadtester/main.go b/cmd/loadtester/main.go
index d7ec0feb..9b84d2da 100644
--- a/cmd/loadtester/main.go
+++ b/cmd/loadtester/main.go
@@ -5,16 +5,19 @@ import (
 	"github.com/knative/pkg/signals"
 	"github.com/stefanprodan/flagger/pkg/loadtester"
 	"github.com/stefanprodan/flagger/pkg/logging"
+	"go.uber.org/zap"
 	"log"
 	"time"
 )
 
 var VERSION = "0.1.0"
 var (
-	logLevel     string
-	port         string
-	timeout      time.Duration
-	logCmdOutput bool
+	logLevel          string
+	port              string
+	timeout           time.Duration
+	logCmdOutput      bool
+	zapReplaceGlobals bool
+	zapEncoding       string
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -22,15 +25,21 @@ func init() {
 	flag.StringVar(&port, "port", "9090", "Port to listen on.")
 	flag.DurationVar(&timeout, "timeout", time.Hour, "Command exec timeout.")
 	flag.BoolVar(&logCmdOutput, "log-cmd-output", true, "Log command output to stderr")
+	flag.BoolVar(&zapReplaceGlobals, "zap-replace-globals", false, "Whether to change the logging level of the global zap logger.")
+	flag.StringVar(&zapEncoding, "zap-encoding", "json", "Zap logger encoding.")
 }
 
 func main() {
 	flag.Parse()
 
-	logger, err := logging.NewLogger(logLevel)
+	logger, err := logging.NewLoggerWithEncoding(logLevel, zapEncoding)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Error creating logger: %v", err)
 	}
+	if zapReplaceGlobals {
+		zap.ReplaceGlobals(logger.Desugar())
+	}
+
 	defer logger.Sync()
 
 	stopCh := signals.SetupSignalHandler()
diff --git a/pkg/logging/logger.go b/pkg/logging/logger.go
index 279fbd7a..8c1838e5 100644
--- a/pkg/logging/logger.go
+++ b/pkg/logging/logger.go
@@ -10,6 +10,11 @@ import (
 
 // NewLogger returns a zap sugared logger configured with json format and caller id
 func NewLogger(logLevel string) (*zap.SugaredLogger, error) {
+	return NewLoggerWithEncoding(logLevel, "json")
+}
+
+// NewLoggerWithEncoding returns a zap sugared logger configured with provided format, e.g. console or json, and caller id
+func NewLoggerWithEncoding(logLevel, zapEncoding string) (*zap.SugaredLogger, error) {
 	level := zap.NewAtomicLevelAt(zapcore.InfoLevel)
 	switch logLevel {
 	case "debug":
@@ -47,7 +52,7 @@ func NewLogger(logLevel string) (*zap.SugaredLogger, error) {
 			Initial:    100,
 			Thereafter: 100,
 		},
-		Encoding:         "json",
+		Encoding:         zapEncoding,
 		EncoderConfig:    zapEncoderConfig,
 		OutputPaths:      []string{"stderr"},
 		ErrorOutputPaths: []string{"stderr"},