Trying to find a Grande replacement

[CJsMatt]

Our pizzeria has used Grande 50/50 since we opened and haven’t ever had to think about changing. With the blow up at PFG, we aren’t going to be able to get our Grande anymore. Does anyone have a suggestion of cheeses that we should look into?

 

[bodegahwy]

Make it your food rep’s problem.

1. Tell them you need sample quantities of cheeses they suggest you consider.
2. Hold a cheese tasting at your store. Make small plain cheese pizzas with the different cheeses. Do it so that only one person (Not you!) knows which is which. We did it by putting a single piece of pepperoni on one, a single piece of sausage on another, a single black olive on a third, a single slice of tomato on a fourth etc.
3. Invite neighbor businesses or use face book to invite customers in for a slice tasting. Cut the small pizzas into very thin slices so people can taste however many you have. Use sauce, but do not overwhelm the pizza with it.

It turned out very interesting for us to see what people actually liked when they could not see the label or know the maker. We did the same thing with sauce not long ago… resulted in a change.

 

[Deacon_V]

I second Bodega’s comments, it’s the only way to find how a given product, despite the hype, will work on your dough, with your sauce, in your ovens.

We’re currently using “Vantiago” sold by Delco Foods in Indy. I have my Sysco rep trying to win our cheese purchases right now, but truthfully his products aren’t making me say “wow”. The mozz/asiago blend we use performs every bit as good, if not better than the Grande we tried.