Hey I have an idea for an article. How about CHEESE PRICES. and what I mean is finding out how they are set, REALLY…not some spin that we are told and then what happens when it gets to us in the middle.
Here is one thing that has stuck with me and maybe someone can answer this
I was talking to Roma who tells me they have there own plant and manufacture there own cheese.
why would they be held to the cheese market? and if you are manufacturing your own cheese what relevance does the cheese index play in pricing YOUR product? you would think if anything it would blow them out of the water! no brokers to pay nothing!
That doesn’t necessarily mean that they MAKE their own cheese as in from milk. I suspect that they are ‘milling’ and blending the products at their plants . . . shredding, dicing, mozz/prov blends, grating parmesans, that sort of thing. I could be entirely wrong and they buy milk and rennet and make/age their own cheese.
Nope she (the Roma rep) told me they make it! age and shred and or dice it
Any indication what their production volume is? I’m with you that Roma would have great control over pricing . . . . and also impacted by at least some of the same market trends and pressures the rest of the industry deals with. If they do enough volume, then they could conceivably reduce pricing under market. Does make me wonder.
Roma does make a line of cheese & dough, plus some other items…
But they don’t raise their own cows!!!
Middlemen, fringe suppliers, ingredients etc. all play a part in pricing…
Most good accounts would recommend pricing your outgoing inventory based on current expected cost of ingredients…
Gas, corn, benefits, taxes, salaries, product demand, competition, marketing, health costs, insurance etc. are all forward impacting expenses that need to be built into the formula mix.
Rarely are large industries/products so vertically integrated that you can control costs without taking into account external conditions…
A lotta B.S. on my part, I’m sure, but having been a mfg. and dealing with some of those points, just my 2¢…
Probably like other commodities, Wall Street traders get involved and cause problems…
As do pizzerias . . . they likely charge what the market will bare.