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Bacio vs. Grande

J

Jim

New member
I am about to open a new pizza shop, and I wanted to get some opinions on cheese. Who uses what brand, and what are your opinions when comparing Bacio and Grande? Are there other quality brands out there I should be looking at?
 
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Both brands are overpriced in my opinion. At least they are around here anyway.

I’d sample as many cheeses as you can and decide on one that is priced right and gives you the characteristics that you are looking for.

This week I went from blocked “premium” cheese @ 2.99 to a pre shredded cheese @ 2.45. Very comparable cheese and the price difference and fact that it’s shredded was a no brainier and big money saver at my stores.

These sales people make something out of nothing by throwing a high price tag on a product and calling it premium. Add in some slick marketing, offer other random programs like discounted menu printing, etc etc… Don’t let them fool you. Most of the time you can find a comparable/better product for much less.
 
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Over the years cheese reps have come into our store several times to try to get us to change to “premium” cheese at a cost of at least an extra 50 cents a pound. We have done blind taste tests with employees and neighbor customers. In my opinion the value just is not there. This is especially true once you have some toppings on the pizza. Sauce and toppings are MUCH bigger factors in flavor than cheese… and don’t underestimate the importance of your dough on flavor either… your taste buds are where? On your tongue mostly… and what is first on your tongue when you take a bite? (dough!) Smell is also very important and for the most part, your toppings and dough are going to play a bigger role than cheese in that area too.

Blind test pizzas with some toppings first… If you don’t get a “wow!” difference that nearly everybody agrees on, it is not worth the extra money! My bet is that people will not be able to identify a preferred choice that most people agree on. That was certainly our experience.

With that said, we do save some meaningful $$ buying block over shredded. Same cheese, different price. We chop it up in a VCM rather than shredding which makes portion control and spreading a lot easier too.
 
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Both cheeses are over rated! Both are good but the prices are ridiculous! I have had some cheaper cheese that in a blind taste test does just as well.

Tell your distributor you want to sample a few and cook off some pizza’s and do a blind test with family or staff…
 
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We use the Grande Whole-Milk Mozz,
Compared to other cheeses that I have access to, it can be considered ridiculously overpriced. But I am happy with their product, and it sets us apart from other pizza places in the area. Sure, a few are using Grande, but they are using the various blends, I am the only guy using Whole-Milk Grande and the difference is easily seen in my product

besides the flavor and consistency, I do really appreciate is that it does not create a pool of butterfat on top of my pizzas like some other whole-milk cheeses have a tendency to do
But, For all I know, technology may have created a situation where many do not “Oil Out” as much these days.
 
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I’ve been using Bacio since the early 2000’s. I used to use Grande. Blind taste test showed how good it was. I think it is no more expensive than most of the cheeses out there that Sysco, for example sells. They also give you a cash back depending on how much you order. Its worth it!!Taste is everything in MY restaraunt!
Our restauraunt was #1 on Trip advisor in Oregon and I was the 2021 Workd Champion at International Pizza Championship in Las Vegas.
Cheers, Ed Barbeau, Pisano’s Woodfired
 
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