Fried, grilled, on top of a burger, mixed with macaroni or sandwiched into a toastie, cheese has mythical properties that make us feel better – making it the perfect savoury comfort food.
Research shows that in the UK alone, we get through around 700,000tonnes of cheese a year – that’s the same weight as around 5,000 blue whales (or around 7,000,000,000 wedges of blue cheese). And lockdown only boosted our love for cheese with the number of “cheese and wine nights” hosted tripling in popularity.
Some foods simply stand the test of time and cheese is up there as one of the UKs firm favourites so if cheese isn’t a frequent feature on your menu, now is a gouda time as any to make it one.
Nacho ordinary cheese sauces
With outdoor dining options keeping us well fed during hospitality restrictions, street food concepts grew ever more in popularity. Instagrammable, picky food plays the perfect partner for catch-ups with friends or family and the street food trend offers both light or more indulgent sharing options as well as individual dishes that can be enjoyed by those that don’t do sharing.
Dirty fries are proving popular and with the use of different toppings, you can offer a full range of flavours which can be served as a meal, a side, a snack or sharing platter. Keep it simple with Macphie Cheddar Cheese or go fully loaded with a topping of macaroni cheese. To make things more exotic, you could try our Nacho Cheese Sauce for a burst of colour and mildy-spiced cheese. Add chopped chillies, red onion and coriander for a further pop of vibrancy and the opportunity to command a more premium price.
Whether it lands on a printed menu, your online ordering app or that of a delivery company, the vibrancy of Nacho Cheese Sauce makes dishes stand out. And it’ll have your awaiting customers heads turning back to their menu to work out, “Ooh, what did they order?!”
With stadium events back in action, loaded fries are a great grab-and-go snack to enjoy at sporting events and festivals. However proving it’s good for more than just nachos, our Nacho Cheese Sauce can also be used on a variety of other street-food-inspired or fast-food dishes including hot dogs, chilli, burgers, smoked bacon mac ‘n’ cheese, fajitas, quesadilla or filled flatbreads. This one ambient product – now available in 12 x 1-litre cartons [link to news article] – does it all, saving space, and skills required, in your kitchen.
Make it vegan
When planning your menus, catering for current or potential vegan customers is critical. The number of Brits opting for a plant-based diet has rocketed and the vegan market is predicted to hit £1.1bn by 20231.
Vegan doesn’t mean it can’t be indulgent, dirty or delicious and with Macphie Plant-based Cheese Sauce, you can create a number of vegan-friendly cheesy options, previously not available by vegan eaters. This ambient, ready-to-use sauce can make macaroni sauce in minutes, loaded fries, heart-warming ravioli dishes, burrito wraps and more.
So in queso emergency, it’s always good to have some cheese sauce stashed in your store cupboard. And unlike our outdated cheese puns, it won’t be going out of fashion any time soon.
1Mintel, 2020