was wondering how long is your vendor taking to drop his prices mine says it takes them to weeks to catch up to mkt price plus is that normal or is he just trying to get some extra money
When the market price changes they take the weekly averge and thats what vendors base there prices off of, i Believe they are about one week behind.
so if your paying 1.5 this week and next week it falls on the market you will not see the price drop until the week after.
I think thats about how it works but i have been wrong before
Look at the date the cheese was packed. It will be shown on the label. The check the average market price for the week before. That is a pretty good guess on what the food supplie paid.
I’m on a block-plus program and I have a two-week lag, paying off the $1.28083 price this week.
What kind of cheese are you getting? My LMWM came in today at $2/lb
Stebby1,
You’re paying entirely too much! The common/standard lag in time is two weeks, and the last time market price was even close to justifying $2/pound was the week ending 12/12/08 ($1.6845). If that’s the case, you’re paying block plus $.32, which is too high.
At the end of the day…they’re (your distributor) taking profit more than they should be.
I also use LMWM. Paid $1.45 today (17 cents over block.)
I have been paying $.35 for LMPS /WM Blend diced. I assumed that because I was getting it diced I was paying a little more over block. Is $.35 still too much, should I try to get them to lower it?
Wow cheese hit 1.04 on the market today, tommorow im thinking .99 cents
Crusher,
You’re exactly right! The dicing is putting you at the $.35 over block. It certainly would not hurt to ask for $.30 or $.32 instead though. I’m a firm believer that in your case, they have you at $.35 because you’ve paid it; but if you demand a bit lower, they’d probably do it.
I’m no expert, but I have owned two shops and I’ve also sold for one of the big distributors; so I’ve been on both sides of the fence. Believe me, the two sides are completely opposite eachother, in motivation terms anyway.
See what happens.
I use some WM smoked provolone. Should the block + pricing be about the same for my LMPS Mozzarella as my provolone and is the + pricing more for the volume buyers… I only use about 200lbs a week.
Thanks in advance
W00000T! I just paid 1.58 for cheese! Sweeeetness! 
What does the block price represent, as far as quality is concerned? Where is the difference for LMPS vs LMWM in the block price? I am just getting into watching this real closely, but I need to understand how much mark-up is appropriate for a high quality LMWM. (Not Grande, it’s not available to me… I use Gardenia).
The block price doesn’t officially represent anything for mozzarella cheese - it is actually the price of cheddar.
From what I’ve read, the price differential between LMPS and LMWM depends on the price of butter. When butter prices are high dairies will use more cream to produce butter, driving the price of LMWM up and LMPS down (they have less whole-milk and more skim-milk for cheese production.)
With low butter prices there’s more supply of whole-milk which pushes the LMWM price down and LMPS up.
Not sure if this is true, but it’s what I read somewhere.
As far as how much mark up is appropriate, it depends on where you’re at and how much you use. The block-price includes the first 300 miles of freight. If you’re within 300 miles of your manufacturer there shouldn’t be any mark-up for freight. The further you get, the more you’ll pay over block because of freight charges.
Within 300 miles I’d say +12 or +13 cents over block is probably the best you’ll see if you’re using a decent volume.
Anybody here using US Foods? If so, what are you paying right now?
Thanks, Piper! I am going to meet with the VP for our distributor in the next couple of days, and hope to be able to more fully understand what they are charging me. We have never been on a block-plus pricing structure, but armed with the information that I have gotten from this forum, I feel much more confident going into this discussion. Thanks for the info!
This week, $1.38/lb. for LMPS blocks.
We are at 1.32 this week with FSA for LMPS Next week it will be 1.19 cause the weekly average was 1.06 on the market
OK WOW!
What supplier and type of cheese are you all using that you get cheese for $1.38 a pound??? We are in Atlanta, using sysco, using a diced mozz, going through 330 pounds a week and we are paying $2.03 a pound!
Please let us know what type of cheese, supplier, etc…
We us FSA but any supplier should be able to get LMPS to you for 1.50 a pound.
I just paid 1.19 this week.
Next week should be 1.15.
Try sysco or Roma foods