Photo courtesy of nopalitosf.com
Due to COVID-19, with dining rooms either closed or at limited capacity, restaurants are challenged to find new ways to stay afloat. Adapting quickly, many restaurants have pivoted to take-out and delivery only business models, and some are including grocery items and meal kits in their off-premise offerings.
Restaurants have the opportunity to fill a very real need for consumers who are limiting their trips to the grocery stores and, in some cases, unable to find certain food items once they get there. According to the research firm Technomic, 23% of consumers have ordered groceries or kitchen staples from a restaurant during the COVID-19 pandemic and 44% of consumers are seeking restaurant meals that can feed the whole family (Technomic Foodservice Impact Monitor 5th Edition—Week Ending April 17, 2020).
San Francisco restaurateur, Chef Gonzalo Guzman, of Nopalito, says of his restaurant’s recent recalibration, “When we saw what was happening, it took us about 48 hours to plan our approach. We had to do it quickly, because we were sitting on some inventory. We simplified and shrunk the menu so that it could be executed by fewer people and turned the whole restaurant into a prep area, reusing the dining room space as a take-out and delivery bagging area.”
Operators who are looking for ways to simplify preparation and avoid spoilage, while ensuring the overall appeal of their off-premise menus, may want to broaden their use of cheese. There are more than 250 California cow’s milk cheeses available year-round, delivering tremendous flavor variety, and have a longer shelf life compared to some other protein-rich ingredients, such as chicken or fish.
Chef Guzman, who has made meal kits a core part of his current offering, says, “Every day, we offer a really delicious Totopos meal kit with salsa de Arbol that’s made with queso fresco from California dairy. With the volume we're doing, we appreciate that we haven’t had any supply chain issues with any California dairy products.”
California’s size and unique climate contributes to a diverse and robust dairy industry, which means an abundant supply of quality milk to make cheese and other dairy products. It’s not surprising that California is the largest US producer of Hispanic-style cheeses, making it an important supplier for Mexican and Cal-Mex restaurants looking for authentic flavors and consistent quality and availability.
By using a variety of cheeses, operators can deliver the special flavors that consumers often can’t replicate in their own cooking. Just as “Mexican chiles” have advanced in the American culinary imagination from jalapeños and habaneros to chipotles, pasillas, ghost peppers and more, Hispanic-style dairy has extended beyond the “smothered in melted jack” approach to encompass a growing variety of cheeses and other products, from Oaxaca and Cotija to Queso Fresco, Panela, Queso Blanco, Requeson, Asadero and crema.
Cheeses made with California milk offer customers the rich flavors they know and love, providing comfort in difficult times through chef-quality food. By offering these authentic cheeses as part of prepared dishes as well as in other formats, operators can feel confident that they’re giving their diners what they want: great-tasting, authentic food that make every meal taste that much better.
To learn more about the variety of real California cheeses and dairy products available for restaurants, visit realcaliforniamilk.com/foodservice.