At a glance
- Cheese consistency drives customer satisfaction and brand credibility.
- Choose foodservice-grade cheese for reliable melt, flavour, and slice thickness.
- Standardise procurement and handling across all locations.
- Train staff and run regular checks to maintain uniform burger presentation.
In restaurant operations, consistency should be a standard rather than a goal. Customers expect the same quality, taste, and presentation every time, regardless of the location. Whether you run a busy fast-food chain or a growing restaurant group with multiple locations, the dining experience should be the same everywhere.
The ingredient’s consistency plays a vital role in maintaining the consistency of the dish you serve. That’s especially true for something as visually and tastefully impactful as cheese on a burger.
When the customer looks at the burger, the first thing they are likely to notice is the cheese. Is it melted to perfection? Is the coverage even? Is it the way it was last time? If the answer is no to any of the three, you risk failing the customer experience and damaging your brand.
For multi-unit restaurants or fast food chains, maintaining the uniformity of cheese slices can be more difficult than it sounds. Many things can go wrong. Each location operates with different staff and equipment setups. So, even a slight change in product or procedure can lead to inconsistent results.
In this blog, we will learn how to maintain consistency in cheese slices across different restaurant locations.
Choose a Commercial-Grade Cheese Designed for Foodservice
If you’re sourcing block cheese from a supermarket or a generic supplier, it may be wise to switch to a supplier that specialises in cheese products for the foodservice industry.
Supermarket cheese or generic store bulk products are not developed for high-volume kitchen use. They might vary in thickness, size and even flavour and texture. Moreover, the melting performance of these generic cheeses might not be consistent.
Rather, opt for foodservice-specific cheese slices made for restaurants. For instance, if you’re in the burger business, you can use Hi-Melt Burger Cheese Slices, as they are made to deliver a uniform melt with shape retention every time. These are the kinds of products numerous multi-site restaurant groups rely on to streamline operations and maintain standards, especially in high-volume kitchens.
Standardise Product and Supplier Across All Locations
Inconsistency often begins in the procurement process. If you have outlets in different parts of the country and lack a standard procurement procedure, there’s a good chance that they might buy varying brands, sizes, or slice thicknesses based on availability. In this case, inconsistent dishes are bound to show up on the plate somewhere.
The best way to eliminate this issue is to have one supplier and a proper procurement process with product specifications for all outlets to work with. Opt for a supplier that serves multiple places to streamline supply. For instance, reliable suppliers like The Burger Cheese deliver products across Australia.
By having foodservice cheese products with uniform slice thickness, flavour, and melt profile delivered from a reliable partner, you’re ensuring every kitchen serves the same consistent burger in all the locations.
Focus on Proper Storage and Handling
Even the best product can fail if it’s not handled properly. That said, cheese slices are especially sensitive to moisture and temperature. This is more important in businesses that operate in a wider area, as the differences in temperature and humidity at different locations can affect the shelf life and taste of the cheese.
Kitchens must store cheese at consistent refrigeration temperatures of below 4°c to keep it fresh and yield consistent results every time.
Likewise, the chefs and workers can use FIFO (First In, First Out) stock rotation to track and ensure freshness. These little but crucial handling practices go a long way toward guaranteeing the integrity and functionality of your cheese slices everywhere.
Train for Build Timing and Melt Control
Cheese consistency does not depend entirely on the product, but also on how and when it’s added to the cooking process. To ensure consistent results from location to location, it’s crucial to provide clear direction on the optimal time to add cheese when cooking burgers or any other dish.
Cooktop type, patty size, and hold times can all affect how the cheese melts, so these factors need to be considered in your kitchen protocols. Workers also need to be trained to visually inspect the melting performance of the cheese and make adjustments as needed.
Having a standard cooking procedure and training staff in all locations accordingly ensures that every burger has the same quality and presentation, regardless of who is working the grill.
Schedule Regular Quality Checks Across Stores
Finally, it is highly suggested that you regularly conduct quality checks across all the locations to deliver consistency and quality. A simple checklist or audit process, led by managers or senior kitchen staff, ensures that everyone evaluates quality by the same standards and encourages team accountability.
Weekly or monthly checks on how burgers are prepared help quickly identify presentation inconsistencies and rectify them before they affect customer experience.
Also, gathering customer feedback can reveal problems that are not always apparent during service, enabling you to make data-driven improvements and uphold a high standard in each outlet.
All in all, in a competitive food service market, inconsistent cheese slices shouldn’t be the reason your burgers fall short. When scale, consistency, and quality are at stake, it’s wise to use suppliers and products built to meet commercial standards.
That’s why chefs and procurement teams turn to foodservice-specific cheese solutions designed to deliver the same result, every time.
The Burger Cheese offers award-winning burger cheese slices in bulk, used by some of Australia’s busiest burger restaurants. Contact us today to know more about our products and see how a small ingredient can have a big impact on your brand.
