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Lets discuss pepperoni and mushrooms

W

Warren

New member
First the pepperoni , I have seen pepperoni that states it reduces cupping. I kinda like the bacon tase the edges get when they cup and burn a little. Second Pepperoni thing I had a pizza with pepperoni slices that were maybe as big around as a nickel. They were probably 2.5 times thicker than most and they kinda plumped in cooking, almost like a ball park frank. Does anybody use or know of such a peperoni? Final pepperoni question. Frozen cheap pizzas often use a diced pepperoni. I like the flavor. I was thinking about having standard pepperoni as a topping and having the other two to go on a pizza with 3 kinds of pepperoni. Thoughts?
Now on to mushrooms I am going to use raw beef and raw sausage. None of those precooked crumbles. It takes longer to itemize but the finnished product is far better. As a child I loved the way the juice from beef and sausage affected canned mushrooms. For that reason I would like to carry them, as well as fresh mushrooms. Is anybody offering canned shrooms? Does anybody offer both? If you do whats the mix between the two?
 
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Variety is important, but too much variety of the same thing can and will lead to spoilage that could have easily been avoided. If it starts with pepperoni and mushrooms where does it end?
 
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I think it depends on your demographic but even with older crowd you’d have a pretty niche audience with canned mushrooms. It’s definitely perceived as a lower quality in the majority of people’s minds. Rather than the multiples of one kind of topping i’d rather have choices of unique flavor like herbed goat cheese or pulled pork.
 
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Keep it simple with traditional toppings and do what rgjujitsu is saying with non-traditional toppings
 
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In over ten years of business and over 1/2 million pizzas sold, I have had 2 requests for canned mushrooms. Patrick Cudahay Pepperoni product # 15430 is the all natural casing spicy pepperoni. It cups and is about the size of a nickel when done cooking. Would not change!
 
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Canned shrooms;
We offered a choice of canned or fresh, and not one single person opted for the canned mushrooms for 6 entire months, so when we emptied that case, never reordered them.
I was very surprised by this, I thought I would see a 50/50 split on canned/fresh

There is a pepperoni made to cup and crisp, some here use it, I am in a unique area with foodie tourists in the summer, and philistine locals for the other 51 weeks of the year (last summer was on a wednesday if I remember correctly) so if I used special pepperoni, it would either go unnoticed or people would complain about it. So I choose Hormel’s standard stuff and everyone is happy.
When we started, I used to cure & smoke my own Canadian bacon for pizza, now I get some chopped & formed water-added spooge in a tubular shape, and they love it.
 
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I’ve been in business 16 years and used canned mushrooms the entire time. I am going to guess it depends on the part of the country you are in.
 
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jollypizza said:
I’ve been in business 16 years and used canned mushrooms the entire time. I am going to guess it depends on the part of the country you are in.
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Well, to be fair if you’ve just only offered canned mushrooms you don’t really have enough data to say that they work better in your part of the country… All you are really saying is that people do in fact eat canned mushrooms. What if more customers ordered mushrooms if they were freshly cut? You’d never know because they never had the option thus you have nothing to compare to. Sure, in your case it’s probably an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” situation, but I’d put a wager on more people preferring fresh over canned mushroom hands down.

I really don’t see how anyone would want to eat canned mushrooms over fresh cut mushrooms… Or any vegetable for that matter… Hell, that stuff is popular because of convenience and shelf life, not taste/flavor…

Here’s something to think about to help make your decision. Why don’t you go ahead and put out an opening soon ad… Put something like, “Bobbies pizzeria will be using the finest number 10 canned preservative infused mushrooms money can buy!”. Seems like a bad idea right? Of course it does, because canned mushrooms are the inferior option.

Now try “Bobbies pizzeria will be using locally farmed champignon mushrooms and other freshly cut vegetables because Bobby believes that fresh is better!”

Dunno, I honestly don’t see why it’s a tough decision to make. I mean, I know which one I’d patronize…

But then again, I’m sure a lot of guys on here use canned veggies and that’s fine, it just keeps the guys using freshly cut vegetables one step ahead of the game.
 
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Just out of curiosity, why are canned mushrooms the “inferior option”? A fresh mushroom doesn’t taste as good as a fresh one, my opinion. I have a very good understanding of what my customers like and don’t like, and I have the sales to back it up.
 
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Let’s talk price for mushrooms too. What do canned mushrooms cost per pound? I get fresh mushrooms for $2.20/lb
 
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jollypizza said:
Just out of curiosity, why are canned mushrooms the “inferior option”? A fresh mushroom doesn’t taste as good as a fresh one, my opinion. I have a very good understanding of what my customers like and don’t like, and I have the sales to back it up.
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I guess it all depends on your perspective. A fresh mushroom might not have as MUCH taste, but I think it has a BETTER taste because there is not a bunch of salt added to it, preservatives, etc. Some people might prefer the salty canned mushroom more. We use fresh and have maybe had a handful of people over the years ask if we have canned.
 
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jollypizza said:
Just out of curiosity, why are canned mushrooms the “inferior option”? A fresh mushroom doesn’t taste as good as a fresh one, my opinion. I have a very good understanding of what my customers like and don’t like, and I have the sales to back it up.
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Because they are canned. Because they are “pickled” and rubbery. Because they aren’t fresh and can literally be up to 5 years old and still be used. Because they have a ton of stuff added that you can’t remove yet I can add anything to a freshly sliced mushroom and achieve any taste I’m going for. Because they are slimy and remind me of boogers in a can.

This is just my opinion. Do what works for you. I’m sure you have “sales” but you’re still missing my point. If you’ve never even given the option of fresh mushrooms you have insufficient data to even compare which generates the most sales or which people prefer more in your area.
 
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I love canned mushrooms on any grilled sub (steak or chicken) theyre good on pizza too but fresh defintly looks and tastes more appealing.
But emotional decisions asside here are my pros and cons
Canned mushrooms- you dont have to worry about them so thats great. The bad is, if anyone asks youre always kind of ashamed to say you use canned.
Fresh WHOLE MUSHROOMS allow you to adjust how thick or thin you want them giving you control of how much coverage you need for pizzas. Therefore giving you the oppurtunity to make more money over canned. You never have to be ashamed either. So my choice is fresh allday every day.
The only bad annoying thing about fresh is if youre not a busy enough place yo go through a 10lb case in time gets stressful(I remember those days) and sometimes they (your vendor) tries to pass off older myshrooms on you, shortening your shelf life. But all in all fresh for the win.
 
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I do believe that Fresh Mushrooms are going to be more popular! However when using feesh froind beef and fresh sausage instead of precooked crumbles. There is something wonderful rhat happens to canned mushrooms when they soak up the juices from the meats. Thats why I am concidering it as an option. It was more as a way to get some of the nitch customers since nobody else offers it here. I can get small cans that would be single serve for about .40 each and not have any waste. My heart is not set on canned, but I will have fresh. I guess what I was looking for here was more to see if anybody had found a core group of customers who preferred canned
 
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All decisions about food served here are made by taste and taste only. If someone were to ask me if we served canned mushrooms, I would not be ashamed to say yes. I think they taste better. Warren, if you prefer fresh but want to offer canned, I really don’t think it will be a problem for you, give it a try.
 
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It is all about what one knows as pizza. Here in Reno people ask for more toppings than I ever thought possible, ranch dressing, honey, as pizza sides. We stick to my NJ via Italy roots and put all veggies/sausage on fresh. People will ask for a slice with 4 toppings and all we sell are pep and cheese slice pies. They say just put their topping requests on the slice with the reheat. We tell them the pies have to bake with topping on to create balance in the flavors. We also don’t put any cheese on the tables which is a regular request. We use parm/romano from Italy and they go on the pie when it is made in balance. Once they eat our pizza all but one customer so far left satisfied all others requesting the ranch and non NY stuff have returned many times. I say do what you love and people will love it too. Walter
 
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There was a pizza place in Milwaukee that used canned exclusively, and I loved their product,
My preferences can go either way, that’s why we offered a choice, I am not saying one is superior to the other,
Then I look at “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
 
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I think that pizza place in Milwaukee is called The Calderone Club. Great pizza years ago when Mama Rosa ran the place on Oakland and North.
 
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