So chef, just because you decided to set up shop in rural Michigan doesn't mean you should be deprived the pleasures of fine cheese. Sysco, the leading US broadline foodservice distributor (with USD $27.5B in sales in 2003 and over 420,000 accounts nationwide), has partnered with Murray's Cheese in dear ole Manhattan to offer some of the -ah- less delicate cheeses to the chef who may not know his Romano from his Roomano.
Through Sysco's Chef Ex program, chefs can order from a narrow, but geographically diverse, set of cheeses. From Pierre Robert to Parmigiano-Reggiano, Manchego to Mozzarella, the list reads like a 'best hits' of the currently-available-in-the-US international cheeseworld. The domestic side of the equation is covered by a small range of high-production artisan and "farmhouse" cheesemakers -- Great Hill, Bingham Hill, Vermont Butter and Cheese, etc. I guess the average Chef Ex shopper is looking for the lower-priced war horses rather than the jewels of the cheeseworld that may not be so readily available. Menus can be so confining!
Sysco takes each order and sends it to the production facility at Murray's (or to any of the other companies who are partnering with Sysco), who in turn packages the cheeses (in fairly high minimum quantities) and ships them off to the customer via Fed Ex Standard Overnight.
Come on, chefs -- if you really want to blow away your customers with your excellent taste and cheese knowledge, bring in something truly original -- get on the American Cheese Society website and order yourself some cheeses from the list of previous award winners. For about the same price you will have some truly staggering cheese, not just cheese with the Murray's -- and Sysco -- seal of approval. Plus you will be giving 100% of what you pay to the cheesemaker (oh yeah, and to Fed Ex), not siphoning off a chunk to a huge foodservice company that doesn't need your money quite as badly as the small producers do. Doesn't that make you feel good?
Count on Sysco to mainstream cheese in foodservice. A tip of the old hat for getting into the cheese game. People who know Sysco know that they don't jump into a business unless they can win. And no doubt the margins look good. Real good.
Posted by Wade at September 28, 2004 03:36 PM | TrackBack