Bridge Cheese says Cheese!

The pizza and pasta ingredient to make you smile.

So says Monica Chauhan, commercial manager

Inflation may be coming down, but most households are still feeling the pinch of high food and energy costs. With less disposable income this means many consumers are cutting back on affordable luxuries like takeaways so fast food outlets must get creative to ensure they win customers’ business and keep them coming back for more. One way to do this is through considered cheese choices, says Monica Chauhan, commercial manager at Bridge Cheese.

Top toppings

When it comes to pizza cheese, it doesn’t have to be one size fits all. You can pick the exact flavour, melt or browning qualities that you want to make your pizza recipe unique to your outlet. For example, some of our food retail customers like the colour that cheddar gives to pizzas while others prefer a whiter American-style cheese finish; some prefer their cheese to brown once it cooks on the pizza, while others opt for cheese that has a more golden finish. There are endless possibilities and everyone has their own idea of the perfect pizza.

Mozzarella

Mozzarella is a quintessential addition to pizza and pasta dishes, and even cheesy chips, as it melts quickly and offers the stretch that customers love. However, it’s not always the most flavoursome of cheeses. To keep customers coming back for more, we are seeing fast food outlets switching to blending mozzarella with cheese such as a smoked or mature cheddar for additional taste while maintaining the stretch.

American vs Italian mozzarella

Mozzarella comes primarily in two forms – the soft, creamy Italian style, and the more chewy, stretchy American style. Which side of the Atlantic your pizza and pasta dishes hail from will influence which mozzarella you choose, but we’ve seen a notable shift in sales recently to the Italian style.

Flavoured cheese

Flavoured cheese - like smoked or chilli cheese - was all the rage a few years ago, but more recently we’ve seen fast food businesses opting for more subtle changes to the flavour profile of their cheeses for pizza and pasta. They seem to be reluctant to take a risk on something quirky which doesn’t sell, so smaller swaps are in, like blended cheeses which offer a slightly different flavour profile while remaining familiar to customers.

Add a premium offer

You can increase customer spend with premium offers such as stuffed crust pizzas. Simply add a good quality cheese rope to your crust preparation for added flavour and texture with minimal cost. Our award-winning plain cheese rope is a bestseller as it goes with pretty much every pizza flavour combination. We also do a garlic and chive cheese alternative.

Service please!

Different cheese options can also have a positive impact on service which keeps hungry customers happy – no-one wants to wait long for their food! A finer grate of cheese will melt quicker, so if you are stirring it into pasta or sprinkling over the top of a dish to melt, the food will be ready to serve faster.

Cost cutters

When margins are being squeezed by rising ingredients costs, fast food outlets can opt for price fighter products which deliver best value without compromising on taste. Once upon a time, fat filled products were simply fillers. However, things have moved on and our Encore product range, for example, consists of fat filled products which offer stretch, functionality and flavour, at a much lower price point. There are also 100% dairy products out there – such as our Meadow Valley range - where we can still offer dairy solutions but with improved functionality at a competitive price.

To help manage costs, it’s also worth looking at where outlets can consolidate SKUs and costs by using one grated cheese product for multiple menu items – for example, using a mature/mild cheddar blend which can be used for pizzas, pasta, cheesy chips, chicken parmo and hot sandwiches.

For more information about cheese and dairy products for the fast food industry,

visit www.bridgecheese.co.uk