I’ve been using the whole milk mozzarella exclusively for almost two months now. We were using a good quality cheese before so it was not like we went from the worst to the best. While we really like the company I am just not convinced it is that much better of a product than other quality cheeses. I understand the processes they go through and what that means to quality and consistency but I am just not perceiving the difference on my pizzas. I think I’ve been trying to convince myself it is that much better because it is just in my personality to have and want the best of everything. If we used the same amount of cheese as most others I think I would still go with Grande, but we use significantly more than most. Our portions are what we are known for so we are really not able to cut our portions much, if at all, by going with Grande because it spreads better.
I do, however, perceive a big difference in their provolone, romano. parmesan and to a lessor extent ricotta and will be using those products.
I know others have and are experimenting with Grande right now so I just wanted to see how everyone still feels.
They dropped off five lbs of riccotta and 20 of Mozz for us to test. The riccotta was excellent but not well suited to our use. I could not begin to justify the price on the mozz. I don’t think it was any better at all for a delivery pizza and the price was just silly.
What sold me on Grande was when I baked a half/half pie. One half w/ Grande and one half w/ other mozz. If you want to stick around, you better use portion control. Otherwise, in this environment, you aren’t going to make much money. I use 11 oz. on a 16 inch…that’s the way pizza is supposed to be. I see fellow operators putting 14-16 ounces on a pie and I think…why would anyone want to eat that!
i was skeptical at first too, but in terms of coverage, appearance, and flavor, its tough to beat. portion control is a must! cheese jumped again this week to $90 a case here. i use the 50/50 provolone blend dice and i put 3 oz. for 10", 8 oz. for 14", and 10 oz. for 16". works great!
i also like their fresh mozz. actually cheaper than the stuff i was using and much better quality.
once i told the guys how much cheese is costing each week, they didnt complain once about portioning the cheese. they realize that their raises are dissapearing on those pies when they freehand!
How does Grande compare to Sorrento and Roma? Are there other brands that should be considered when looking for the best dry/non-fresh ingredients? I have not had a chance to try anything but Sorrento and am not impressed by their WM mozz. I would like to try Grande particularly the mozz/prov blend.
I switched about 2 months ago and was getting all the right feed back,
last week we had an event spung on us to feed 250 1st graders and we called our distributor to get a couple more cases they where OUT so he sent my old cheese (supato) wow I can honestly say that yes you can really tell
and the flavor is unequaled…make sure your prices reflect the quality you use!
I think i’d rather go out of business than serve anything but grande…not really but im a huge believer in them…just like i tell everyone else…Use less so it’s not really any differnet in price…and TAKE ADVANTAGE OF WHAT THEY GIVE YOU FOR FREE!!!
Use what they offer . . . but it is far from free. It is part of the higher price you pay. I don’t begrudge them the price or their marketing/service strategy . . . it’s is just not really that free.
I never used any of their “freebies” with the exception of their measuring cups. I considered them a partner of sort-they assisted me in having the best pizza.
I used the Classico cheese on my dinners and grande on my pizza. I was upset when I learned that Classico is imitation cheese. My bill said mozzarella, but the box said “pizza cheese”. Then I found out it was imitation cheese. Just an fyi.
Hi guys, just wanted to share my own personal experience with Grande. We have always used Precious (36years), and towards the end of 2005 I decided to go with Grande in an effort to better our pizza. I honestly believe the price made me like the pizza more than ever! When the price of cheese went through the roof, I took a risk and went back to Precious after about a year or so. Let me say this with complete confidence, not one customer mentioned a single thing. In fact. one of my reviews mentioned that the cheese was average (when I was using Grande) and it pissed me off to no end! I had never been more angry! In fact, another pizzeria who uses Grande got a review from someone else, and they said the pizza was made with cheap american cheese! I laughed and just couldn’t believe what I was reading.
Anyway, I believe now that perhaps the operaters can tell a difference since they’re the ones paying the bills, and that the customers really can’t tell enough of a difference to make it worth throwing all of that money into the product. In short, Grande didn’t help my bottom line on the top end of my P & L, nor did it help the bottom. In fact, it only made my food/cost percentage look bad. Let’s face it, if you’re paying an extra $1,400/month on this cheese, you need to raise your prices to get a $5,500 sales increase in order to keep within the national average of food cost of pizzerias. I tried making my pizzas with the ounces they suggested, and I laughed. That just wouldn’t fly. I honestly think a large quantity of good cheese has alot more flavor than just a little bit of great cheese and besides that, why the hell should I put Grande on my pizzas when not one single customer mentioned how good our cheese was?
That is interesting, especially considering the demographics of your area. I would have thought they would have preferred the Grande. You have to go with what works with your customers. If sales did not improve and you are happy with the Precious, then stick with it. No sense in paying good money if your market does not appreciate it.
That’s exactly how I felt Charles. You really need to see an increase in sales when you switch over, not just for the piece of mind, but also to help offset the increased cost.
I feel Grande is a superior cheese. As mozzarella has very little taste of its own compared to other cheeses, we want Grande for its performance. It melts better, looks better longer (we are a delco), and reheats very nicely for those of us who feel pizza is a breakfast food too! We will add other cheeses to enhance the flavor profile. But we will use Grande WM Mozz because it has great mouthfeel and complements toppings better.
I have to say that one of the reasons we’re going with grande is the reheat value, I really think its superior in that department and who doesn’t like to have pizza the next day??? I love the fact that when a customer reheats our pizza its going to be good then too!!!
