Specialty Cheeses Add Cachet

Additionally, The Melting Pot has a changing specialty selection, currently with a Caribbean beat. For that, Schaibly consulted with the chain’s cheesemaker, Roth Käse USA, Monroe, WI, which developed a Gouda and a gran queso. Both, he says, have Caribbean roots. The Gouda was brought to the islands by sailors and Dutch settlers (as well as a few pirates). The gran queso, he says, lends a bite to the buttery Gouda. Served with Peppadew peppers and a bit of lime, it’s a lively alternative to the traditional blend of Gruyère and Emmenthaler.

In the end, the public’s openness to a wider range of cheeses gives product and menu developers a more-diverse palette to create with—and add renewed interest to the menu.

Kate Harrigan is a freelance writer and editor specializing in food and travel. She lives in Massachusetts.
Food Beat, Inc., based in Wheaton, IL, tracks menu activity at the top-200 U.S. restaurant chains. It provides the industry with in-depth menu analyses and related trend information.

Culturing Renewed Interest

Menu data shows cheeses like Asiago, Gorgonzola and other blues, feta, goat, and Fontina increasingly making their way into items regularly offered at chain restaurants. Even more-common cheeses like Asiago and Parmesan are seeing growth. And sometimes it’s not that these cheeses were previously foreign to chain fare, but that product and menu developers are finding more ways to best put them to use.

“Blue cheese, for example, has always been on the menu to some extent, but chains are now finding more interesting ways to menu it,” says Polly Johnson of PSJ Marketing, marketing strategist for Sartori Foods, Plymouth, WI. “The chains are incorporating specialty cheese into more dishes in order to give everyday favorites a more-specialty feel. Even though Asiago isn’t totally new, it can be used in new applications to give items a more-upscale, premium twist.”

Part of this story is consumers’ ever-evolving desire for new and distinctive flavors. “We’re seeing, across the board, there’s continuously more interest in adding flavor,” says Johnson, “and all of these cheeses typically pack a lot of flavor.

“Many chefs and menu developers are starting to see the value that a specialty cheese can bring to their menus,” Johnson continues, “they’re seeing the overall growth trend of specialty cheese, or how successful Panera has been, as an example, by bringing Asiago onto their menu and adding interest to mainstream sandwiches. So chains are now asking, ‘How can we benefit from this trend, as well?’” (For more on activity at Panera these days, see “Building a Better Breakfast.”)

Menu items that traditionally featured a more-standard cheese have been given new life via specialty types. Johnson suggests sandwiches with melted Fontina or Brie, pizza with Asiago, stuffed-goat-cheese ravioli, and adult-oriented macaroni-and-cheese with Gorgonzola, Gruyère, or Gouda. “Chains are seeing that there are a lot of ways to add interest to comfort foods,” she says. “They want to give their customers something that’s a little more special than what they can make at home every day.” It’s not like operators are throwing French Comté or Spanish Cabrales at their patrons. This new crop of emerging specialty cheeses still retails a sense of familiarity, she notes.

Menu descriptions have also cultivated distinction—even for already-accepted cheeses like Parmesan, Romano or Cheddar. “We see a lot of ‘fresh grated’ or ‘hand-shaved’ menu call-outs, which gives the dish a much-fresher, more-personalized, and more-unique feel.” says Johnson, noting that other terms hitting menus include “premium,” “aged,” “hand crafted,” “artisan” or even flavor combinations, such as cheeses accented with a spicy jalapeño. “Anything that conveys a more artisan feel is a plus.”

—Douglas J. Peckenpaugh, Editor/Associate Publisher