My company is, J&M Provision,LLC, has been in existence since 1969. I am a full service wholesale distributor selling pizza shops and all foodservice establishments.
With prices going so high for my shops I am trying to come up with a great pizza cheese that will give grande a run. Grande just keeps going up and I feel bad for my shops. I do carry vantaggio saputo, 1950 blends, great
lakes(empire) can’t give it a run for the money.
Any suggestions??? Looking for the best for my customers! Thanks.
I use Grande cheese. During COVID, there were a couple times I couldn’t get it. The substitutes I found were inferior.
Even if I were to find a substitute that is equal, Grande has a subsidized marketing program for printed materials. The savings from that program make up for Grande’s higher per pound cost in cheese. Switching to a less expensive cheese would also make me switch to a more expensive print provider, so the net savings would be zero or possibly even an increase in total cost.
I have personally never been a big fan of the Grande Mozzarella. Always felt like outside of the melt that it was always a bit lacking in flavor. I have actually blind cut it multiple times and the preference from the taste testers almost never actually pick Grande. I know people love it, big names use it, and I’m just curious what you, and others, have Grande so well regarded?
I suppose it depends on the blend. We use East Coast Blend which is 50% whole mozz and 50% skim mozz.
When using other cheeses, the the spread and color are different. Also, the interaction with the fat in the pepperoni is different. The Grande pizzas are visually more appealing.
As far as taste testing goes, I have only done it in house with staff and Grande is preferred. However, I think you tend to pick what you are familiar with.
Grande has a pre shredded blend called east coast mix that he is referring to. It comes blended as 50% part skim and 50% whole. It is supposes to have better stretch than just 100% whole.
I am testing diced Grande vs Bacio this week. I have not found what Grande seems to always say that you will use less with their cheese compared to others to be true in the past
My crew loves bacio and grande the same. Bacio is white though. So it gives your pizza a very diffrenet look. so it is not week to week interchangeable. also grande cheese bins are harder to clean. I use grande just because I like the ease of US Foods website. But switching to a house cheese(leprino) is not an opition.