Cheese is a staple in many dishes across every daypart, and for good reason: With roughly 2,000 varieties to choose from, the cheese category truly offers something for everyone.
But balancing consumer expectations and operator profitability in the context of current food and diet trends requires a little imagination—especially if the dairy favorite is at the heart of your business, as it is for Melt Bar and Grilled, a 10-unit restaurant group in northeast Ohio that specializes in gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches.
Melt uses 13 different types of cheese in its sandwiches, but the FSR relies primarily on common cheese types for the sake of cost consciousness. “The other ingredients [in Melt sandwiches] are expensive,” explains owner and founder Matt Fish. “We are a high-volume restaurant, and we want [our offerings] to be affordable to every demographic.” Fish’s customers are seeking “value for the dollar,” he continues, “and to use $9- or $10-a-pound cheese for grilled cheese doesn’t make sense.”
Fortunately, there’s an underexplored world of trendy applications for familiar cheeses.
Mintel data shows that sandwiches (at 84%) are the most common vehicle for cheese consumption. And that’s good news for operators who want to capitalize on the non-meat-protein trend. One protein sandwich play is to grill a chunky slice of less-familiar cheeses like paneer or halloumi as a meat replacement. Common cheese varieties also can pack a protein punch, says Nikki Trzeciak, executive chef and senior manager of culinary and sensory for Saputo. For consumers seeking meat-free alternatives, try smearing a toasted baguette with a combination of herb-and-garlic-seasoned goat cheese and cream cheese and topping it with arugula. For a non-vegetarian version, add pulled chicken and onions.
Melt offers several vegetarian sandwiches that pair cheese with creative ingredients and preparations. Its Big Popper sandwich, for example, combines fresh jalapeño peppers with cheddar and herb cream cheese. The sandwich is crispy battered and deep fried, dusted with powdered sugar, and served with berry preserves for dipping.
The appetizer menu is another versatile playground for clever cheese applications. Some 34% of consumers have eaten cheese in an appetizer in the past three months, according to Mintel.
Cottage cheese is especially flexible, delivering high protein value at a reasonable price. “Cottage cheese has more protein than anything in the retail section of the store,” Trzeciak says, noting that “70% of those going into the dairy section are looking for protein.”
To capitalize on superfoods’ continued popularity, Trzeciak suggests whipping up a guacamole using avocados, protein-packed cottage cheese, pomegranate seeds and toasted pepitas.
Goat cheese croquettes also can be made economically (and without sacrificing flavor) using a 50/50 ratio of goat cheese to cottage cheese, Trzeciak continues. She adds tarragon, chives, basil, dill and garlic. The cottage cheese tempers the punch of the goat cheese and gives the croquette a less-pasty texture than goat cheese alone would provide.
Brie cheese can enliven appetizer menus as well. “Brie is a forgotten gooey, melty cheese,” Trzeciak says. “Most [people] eat it cold, but if you throw brie and fruit in the oven in a baking dish, it becomes gooey, melty and luxurious.”
And, finally, there’s bread: the perfect vehicle for cheesy experimentation. Trzeciak likes to whip ricotta in the blender “for a full-fat, sexy build on bruschetta,” she explains. Smear the ricotta whip on top and top it off with a tomato.
The menu at Dallas-based Toasted Coffee+Kitchen, meanwhile, features Ricotta Be Kidding—a toast concoction comprised of ricotta-basil spread, strawberries and honey drizzle on toasted Milano Italian bread. Another offering, the Toast Ma Goats, combines sweet goat cheese, pear slices, pecans and honey drizzle on toasted Milano.
Different cheese varieties feature different flavor profiles and compositions, of course, but many of them will shine when dunked into the deep fryer. Pimento cheese, with its popular Southern roots, can become a fritter, for example. Combine it with cream cheese, add bread crumbs to tighten, and then batter and fry it. These pimento cheese fritters “come out gooey and bubbly”—and really pop when drizzled with fresh ranch dressing, Trzeciak says.
Melt’s top-selling appetizer, Mac & Cheese Bites, takes decadence to a whole new level. Kitchen staff cover a sheet tray with the restaurant’s homemade mac and cheese and then chill the tray before cutting it into wedges that they batter-dip and deep-fry. “Cheese sauce goes on the bottom of the plate, and the cheese bites stick to that,” Fish explains. The finishing touch: a Romano cheese topping.
Few dairy staples are as versatile as cheese, and with that versatility comes a world of application options. Trzeciak encourages operators of all types to buy interesting cheeses, taste them and get creative.
“Cheese is a blank canvas,” she says. “Any cheese with any bread is good. Add meat, and you have a trifecta of deliciousness.”
Every year, Saputo processes more than 2.9 billion gallons of milk into a variety of cheeses. Learn about them at Saputo.com.
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