Ranch Dressing Recipe request

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NicksPizza

New member
Does anyone out there have a solid recipe from homemade ranch dressing they are willing to share? We have customers who would eat it with a straw if we let them, and I want to find a cost effective version to make myself. We currently use Ken’s in gallons and pay about $8.75 for it at Restaurant Depot. I’d like thecache of sayingI make my own, and the potential cost savings.

We use single-serve, shelf stable pouches for delivery/take-out right now. I may go back to cupping my own if the cost savings is worth it. The labor and storage issues of refigerated dressing just blows. The sheof stable pouches have been a godsend . . . but savings is savings.
 
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I’m one of those ranch people too, I put ranch on almost everything. Can’t say I make it here, but the BEST ranch I’ve ever had in my life is by getting the Hidden Valley powder packets, and adding your own mayo and buttermilk. ITS INSANELY GOOD. Your distributor should have them. Pretty straight forward, but if you have any questions, just ask.
 
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We used the HVR packets and made from scratch for a while, but decided that the time involved didn’t really save us any money.

PS - Nick, I sent you a PM, haven’t heard back from you.

-Scott
 
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Scott Hack:
We used the HVR packets and made from scratch for a while, but decided that the time involved didn’t really save us any money.

PS - Nick, I sent you a PM, haven’t heard back from you.

-Scott
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Its so worth it! It tastes like happy. And 5 minutes isn’t that long… Its not just about saving money, its about putting out a superior product that gets people to come back.
 
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I really don’t mean to sound arrogant, but we have THE BEST RANCH YOU WILL EVER TASTE IN YOUR LIFE! 😃

It is not a cost-saver, but it is delicious! Like Steve said, it’s about putting out a superior product. We also use the HVR packets, use whole buttermilk and mayo, but then add parmesan cheese (Reggiano), coarse cracked black pepper, a little garlic and onion powder, and roasted garlic cloves.

People practically drink the stuff! 😛
 
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mrkona:
I really don’t mean to sound arrogant, but we have THE BEST RANCH YOU WILL EVER TASTE IN YOUR LIFE! 😃

It is not a cost-saver, but it is delicious! Like Steve said, it’s about putting out a superior product. We also use the HVR packets, use whole buttermilk and mayo, but then add parmesan cheese (Reggiano), coarse cracked black pepper, a little garlic and onion powder, and roasted garlic cloves.

People practically drink the stuff! 😛
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Please send me some, I’d love to try it :lol:
 
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steveo922:
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mrkona:
I really don’t mean to sound arrogant, but we have THE BEST RANCH YOU WILL EVER TASTE IN YOUR LIFE! 😃

It is not a cost-saver, but it is delicious! Like Steve said, it’s about putting out a superior product. We also use the HVR packets, use whole buttermilk and mayo, but then add parmesan cheese (Reggiano), coarse cracked black pepper, a little garlic and onion powder, and roasted garlic cloves.

People practically drink the stuff! 😛
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Please send me some, I’d love to try it :lol:
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Trust me, you’d be hooked! 😉
 
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Years back we used to make caesar dressing from scratch…Because of the fast service nature of our lunches, we switched to “Conway Perfect Caesar” and and we did not miss a beat…In my mind it was not as good, however, our customers continued to buy salads as fast as before the switch…Go figure!..
 
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steveo922:
I’m one of those ranch people too, I put ranch on almost everything. Can’t say I make it here, but the BEST ranch I’ve ever had in my life is by getting the Hidden Valley powder packets, and adding your own mayo and buttermilk. ITS INSANELY GOOD. Your distributor should have them. Pretty straight forward, but if you have any questions, just ask.
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This is what we’re doing right now too. I was using the stuff from Sam’s (it’s a little cheaper than the Restaurant Depot FYI) but doing it from scratch makes it so much better and cost about the same. My vendor gave me a rebate coupon this week for buy one get one free.
 
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mrkona:
I really don’t mean to sound arrogant, but we have THE BEST RANCH YOU WILL EVER TASTE IN YOUR LIFE!

It is not a cost-saver, but it is delicious! Like Steve said, it’s about putting out a superior product. We also use the HVR packets, use whole buttermilk and mayo, but then add parmesan cheese (Reggiano), coarse cracked black pepper, a little garlic and onion powder, and roasted garlic cloves.

People practically drink the stuff!
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So, maybe I just have a different view on this… But, do people really come to your restaurant for a condiment? Do you really want people to love your ranch so much, they want to “drink” it? Of course, if you’re charging for it, then it’s a different story.

The Sam’s Club Ranch that I use is pretty darn good right out of the bottle. In fact, I’ve had compliments on it too. But I really don’t want people to love it so much that they want to take more than they’ll use for their purchased food. I’m not saying that excellent products are being compromised. I just don’t think that having excellent Ranch is going to improve my sales and profitability. I may be wrong.
 
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The ranch dressing is one small piece of why people come to my restaurant. We make all sauces in house, all dough in house, we make our own sausage, etc… We use high quality ingredients, and provide a nice atmosphere for our guests.

People can buy their own bottle of grocery store ranch, just as they can buy a fresh T & B pizza from Safeway. You need to provide people a reason to come to your establishment, and every little bit can help.
 
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pizzafanatic:
So, maybe I just have a different view on this… But, do people really come to your restaurant for a condiment? Do you really want people to love your ranch so much, they want to “drink” it? Of course, if you’re charging for it, then it’s a different story.

The Sam’s Club Ranch that I use is pretty darn good right out of the bottle. In fact, I’ve had compliments on it too. But I really don’t want people to love it so much that they want to take more than they’ll use for their purchased food. I’m not saying that excellent products are being compromised. I just don’t think that having excellent Ranch is going to improve my sales and profitability. I may be wrong.
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It;s a phenomanon that I just cannot explain. People are gaga over ranch dressing. We used to buy 4oz bottles of Ken’s Ranch on sale at grocery for $1.00 . . . and resell for $2.00 with ZERO labor or added costs. People eventually stopped buying them as often because they werent as good as the Ken’s Ranch in the pouches! People will buy 4, 5 or 6 pouches for some reason. They will buy it to dip pizza in, to put huge quantities on salads . . . they ask me what brand I use before buying it.

It may not be a huge selling point, but I’d love to be able to say we make our own, and offer in 8 oz and 16 oz take-home quantities. It’s not an added cost . . . it’s a potential revenue stream.
 
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So, maybe I just have a different view on this… But, do people really come to your restaurant for a condiment? Do you really want people to love your ranch so much, they want to “drink” it? Of course, if you’re charging for it, then it’s a different story.

The Sam’s Club Ranch that I use is pretty darn good right out of the bottle. In fact, I’ve had compliments on it too. But I really don’t want people to love it so much that they want to take more than they’ll use for their purchased food. I’m not saying that excellent products are being compromised. I just don’t think that having excellent Ranch is going to improve my sales and profitability. I may be wrong.

I dont want to say you are wrong but you might be surprised at how something as simple as a dip can bring people in to the store. I cant tell you how many people say you have great pizza but the dip just makes it that much better. I kept a tally of the extra dips we sold to day because of all this talk about dip and we sold an extra 65 dip from 4-9pm. We make our own custom dip so that is part of the reason, they cant get anything like it anywhere else.
 
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For those using HVR mix, are you just using el-cheapo mayo and buttermilk/milk? What is your cost per gallon of prepared dressing? I just found a seasoning mix recipe that claims to mimic HVR, so I may tryit this week. Get a small pouch of HVR from grocery store and make some of this mix . . . side by side by side with my current dressing to see who likes which one why. Then see if it is cost effective and practical to adjust to make whichever mixed up one better. I am great at developing recipes and tastes as long as I can find a way to establish the target.

I don’t actually eat or like Ranch, so I don’t know what it supposed to taste like 😦
 
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NicksPizza:
For those using HVR mix, are you just using el-cheapo mayo and buttermilk/milk? What is your cost per gallon of prepared dressing?
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Here’s the thing, I believe the best ranch is made from the cheapest Extra Heavy-Duty mayo you can find. I’ve found the top-end mayo seems to have a vinegary “wang” that screws up the finished flavor of the ranch. We used to buy our mayo from Sam’s Club, but they decided to “upgrade” their Bakers & Chefs brand and man did our customer complain after they did that. We must have sampled a dozen mayos to find a replacement that was as “bad” as before.

Last time I looked, it cost us just over $8.00/gallon (food cost) to make HVR from scratch - so, no substantial savings there. We ladle it into 4 ounce souffle cups and sell the vast majority of it as dip for breadsticks. It takes a bit of labor, but the reaction of our customers makes the effort well worth the cost.

Lose the wang… your customers will thank you!
 
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