Grande cheese

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
1

A few questions about Grande cheese

  1. Who distributes it (sysco?) I live in Northern WI
  2. What are people currently paying a (lb) today
  3. whats the difference between diced and shredded, besides portion control.
    thankyou
2

I’d like to add an additional question. If Grande cheese is a 10 (on a 1-10 scale), how would you rate Costco’s shredded low moisture vs Grande’s equivalent?

3

Oh good… another Grande thread… I never was a fan.

4

I do think that Grande is a great cheese, I however do not use it. I feel it is priced way over what it is worth. If you try hard enough you can find a cheese that will work as good or better for a good chunk less per pound! Costco cheese out where I am in Az is not really all that great…I would say maybe a 6, 7 at best.

5

i don’t use Grande either, but are you serious about comparing it to Costco cheese?

6

I do use Grande and wish I could find something that would be a suitable replacement, but no luck yet. It’s $2.68/lb here this week :cry: , no fun. You should be able to get it from any decent sized distributor, especially since you’re so close to their facilities. Don’t buy the pitch that you can use less Grande than other cheeses on your pies, it’s absolutely not true. It does reheat much, much better than other cheeses because it doesn’t dehydrate as much as others in the oven.

I’ve never tried the costco cheese, but when I was new at this I tried the Sam’s cheese and it was absolutely terrible on a pizza. I picked up some Supremo Italiano PS/WM at Restaurant depot to play with this week ($2.12/lb). I like the flavor, but it doesn’t hold well enough for me.

I don’t know what real difference there is between diced and shredded. I use the shredded because I put my toppings under the cheese and it drapes over my veggies better.

7

I also use it, and wish I didn’t have to. Anyways, if you do go down that route make sure you use everything they will give you. They will give you stuff if you ask for it. Portion cups, stickers etc. I use the stickers instead of buying tape, every note is held up with a sticker and box tops are put on with them. You are paying for it, might as well use it

8

Here we go again…
Grande is the best. The way it melts, the way it smells, the way it tastes, the way it’s the same 365 days a year, I can the way this and that all night. Grande sends out a news letter every month or so with great recipes, ideas, ingredients, and just interesting reads. Grande also gives you a lot of resources to succeed including marketing materials. They even help pay for your mailer.
In the nicest way I can say this… Take your costco card…throw it on the floor and run over it with your cart a couple of times. Then I would throw it in the garbage. That’s where their cheese belongs. If you choose not to use grande that’s your call, many people are successfull using many different brands. Do yourself a favor. Don’t buy your cheese at costco

This was all opinion

9

Absolutely, you can also get place mats, customer comment cards, punch cards, preprinted fliers that you can put in your printer to customize, employee incentive posters, portion control posters, seasonal window decals. I also have a nice poster sized sign extolling the virtues of the independent pizzeria, as well as, a plaque declaring us to be a “100 percenter”. I have tons of that stuff laying around just because. I wonder how much the price would drop if they would get rid of that stuff…

Found out today that AmEx has a lot of that type of stuff available for free as well. I was told over the phone that I could get free pens, can’t find that option but it’s one of those little things that would be a really nice perk.

10

I must admit, I have never tried costco cheese.

I have, however, tried Grande. They have dropped off samples a number of times over the years. I don’t like the way it sets up for a delivery pie which is my business. I certainly would not pay extra for it. I do not think using it would increase my business, I do not think it would allow me to charge more and I agree with the comment above that the portion is the same.

At this point, the difference of $1.00 a pound in cost might be equal to what I make in a year from the ownership of this business!.

11

I believe most of the Costco mozzarella cheese if part skim milk. We have used it in a pinch but don’t like the way it browns and dries out.

12

Please read my question again, I did not compare Costco cheese to anything. I simply asked if Grande was 10 where would Costco rate in owners opinion? I was just trying to get a gauge on quality. Since I am still practicing and trying different cheese and do not have access to Grande I was trying to get an idea of quality.

13

Using a 1-10 scale gauge is almost always limiting. It is best to break the topic into smaller units and describe/compare each component. Some components are more important to specific proprietors. Regarding cheese, some components are cost, salt content, browning characteristics, maintainance of appearance/texture over time, coverage, stretchability, and taste. Perhaps some others could expand upon characteristics they find important?
In my case, I didn’t like the way the Costco cheese browned. It transitioned from white to a burnt brown color almost instantly. I believe this is characteristic of many part-skim milk cheeses. Since this was the pre-shredded type cheese, the anti-caking agent cellulose may partially been to blame. Perhaps Tom L can weigh in on this browning?
The undesirable browning characteristic was enough to avoid the Costco mozz. cheese.
Being located in Hawaii, are you finding that Costco has much better prices on cheese then other distributors?

14

Different cheese will present differently when using different dough, ovens, sauce preparations and will behave differently for delivery vs table service.

Quality in cheese is not a linear scale. There is no “10” with others falling in line below.

Do not believe anyone’s blather about one cheese or another: TEST IT YOURSELF.

You need to get a bunch of different choices: 100% mozz, whole milk, part skim, blends etc and test them. When you have it narrowed to 3-4 choices, get some neighbors and friends in for a BLIND tast test. Make up simple pizzas like plain cheese or single toppings and have people try them without knowing which cheese it is on each pie or what the source of the cheese is. Only test one thing at a time. i.e. if you are testing cheese, use the same dough and the same sauce on every pie.

If you deliver, put the pizzas in a box and drive them around the block and then test them. You may be very suprised what people actually prefer. One thing for sure, unless 8 or 9 out of 10 people picked the same cheese out of the test, I sure would not pay extra for it.