{"id":25804,"date":"2017-12-26T16:12:52","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T21:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-gordon-food-service-canada.pantheonsite.io\/ideas\/why-you-should-feature-a-restaurant-grilled-cheese-menu\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T12:12:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T16:12:06","slug":"why-you-should-feature-a-restaurant-grilled-cheese-menu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/why-you-should-feature-a-restaurant-grilled-cheese-menu\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Feature a Restaurant Grilled Cheese Menu"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><\/h2>\n<p>Two of the most evocative words in the language of comfort food&nbsp;are \u201cgrilled cheese.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However discerning their adult palates may be, diners who loved the toasty, gooey cheese bombs as kids still melt at the mention of grilled cheese. And now\u2014to their delight\u2014grilled cheese itself has grown up. Reimagined, reinvented, chef-driven inspirations prepared with upscale and unexpected ingredients on the menus of restaurants, food trucks, and stand-alone grilled cheese shops are drawing in diners by the droves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChefs and operators have been answering their demands for bigger and bolder flavors\u2014which include more boldly flavored and creative grilled cheese,\u201d says Gordon Food Service Corporate Consulting Chef Gerry Ludwig, CEC. \u201cGrilled cheese is such a beloved dish in America. We\u2019re seeing it going mainstream across the country. This is a prime sales-building opportunity from mid-scale through upscale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Grilled cheese is a familiar favourite one that guests know what to expect and is reminiscent to their childhood. Today\u2019s varieties of flavorful cheeses make it easy for chefs and operators to customize their own offerings. By adding ingredients such as wine braised leeks or shaved Brussels sprouts adds a new flavor dimension to a classic sandwich.<\/p>\n<h2>Not Your Mom\u2019s Grilled Cheese: Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches<\/h2>\n<p>The \u201cbones\u201d of grilled cheese\u2014 cheese, butter, bread\u2014endure, but creative spinoffs offer satisfying flavor and variety. \u201cToday\u2019s consumer expects greater customization and broader sandwich options,\u201d notes Darren Tristano, Executive Vice President of the Chicago research firm Technomic Inc.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Change up the cheese.<\/strong>&nbsp;Replace American with fontina, Comt\u00e9, Bel Paese, raclette, pimiento-cheese spread, local and\/or artisan cheeses, etc. Layer flavor with a three-cheese approach. Combine cheddar with a boldly flavored cheese (e.g., aged goat or blue, such as Gorgonzola or Roquefort), and a soft, melty cheese (e.g., Muenster, Havarti, young Gouda, fresh or aged mozzarella, plain or flavored cream cheese, Boursin, and even processed American, Swiss, or a Cheez Whiz-type cheese).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Add more cheese to the outside.<\/strong>&nbsp;Butter and crust the outside of the bread with shredded Parmesan or Romano for added crunch and flavor. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely dynamite and creates huge differentiation,\u201d Ludwig says. \u201cThis sandwich will play anywhere.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use innovative fillings.<\/strong>&nbsp;Anything is fair game, but, Ludwig cautions, \u201cdon\u2019t use so much of the additional ingredients that the sandwich loses its focus as a grilled cheese.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><strong>Spice things up.<\/strong>&nbsp;Create signature, plus-one condiments. Go global with chutney, Sriracha, or salsa. Enhance flavor with fruit jam, onion marmalade, relish, vinaigrettes, truffle oil, etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Break away from ordinary bread.<\/strong>&nbsp;Use artisan bread, Dutch crunch roll, Bianca bread, ciabatta, challah, Texas toast, buttermilk biscuits, waffles, foccacia, baguette, or tortillas. Trendy breads such as sliced brioche, Hawaiian or piadina are soon becoming more prevalent on menus across all styles of operations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Restaurant Grilled Cheese Preparation Tips<\/h2>\n<p>Cheese expert Laura Werlin, author of two books on grilled cheese, offers these best practices for great grilled cheese:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Grate cheese for more rapid, even melting.<\/li>\n<li>Use salted butter for fuller flavor.<\/li>\n<li>Substitute plain or flavored oil for butter.<\/li>\n<li>Butter the bread, not the pan, to reduce the greasiness effect.<\/li>\n<li>Cover and cook to lock in heat.<\/li>\n<li>Press and flip at least twice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Heat Up Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwich Sales<\/h2>\n<p>Build grilled-cheese sales in the following ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Create signature grilled-cheese sandwiches.&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cThe way to determine your strategy is to see what your competition is doing,\u201d Ludwig advises. Break away from the traditional pan and flat top grilling and try creating your signature sandwich on a char grill or wood fired oven for more flavor impact.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Run limited-time offers&nbsp;(LTOs) and daily specials.<\/strong>&nbsp;Update with seasonal ingredients, or tie specials to themes\u2014e.g., National Grilled Cheese Month (April). Be sure to let your staff sample your grilled cheese at pre-shift meetings so they know how to sell your product. Engage the staff to solicit comments from your guests and make changes if need be.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Menu flavorful accompaniments.<\/strong>&nbsp;Dips for dunking, tiny \u201cshots\u201d of tomato or other soups, and flavorful preserves or syrups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However you craft these sandwiches, offer customers a shot at revisiting the familiar comforting experience of childhood, but with a flavorful and memorable twist that sets your operation apart from the crowd. For a new and interesting tip,&nbsp;prepare your grilled cheese and use a pastry cutter to make small circles in the sandwich. Then use as a \u201ctopper\u201d for soups, such as tomato or cheese or as a salad crouton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two of the most evocative words in the language of comfort food&nbsp;are \u201cgrilled cheese.\u201d However discerning their adult palates may be, diners who loved the toasty, gooey cheese bombs as kids still melt at the mention of grilled cheese. And now\u2014to their delight\u2014grilled cheese itself has grown up. Reimagined, reinvented, chef-driven inspirations prepared with upscale [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":4001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,68,112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catering-small-business","category-culinary-ideas","category-restaurant-bars"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.9 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why You Should Feature a Restaurant Grilled Cheese Menu | Gordon Food Service<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/why-you-should-feature-a-restaurant-grilled-cheese-menu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why You Should Feature a Restaurant Grilled Cheese Menu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two of the most evocative words in the language of comfort food&nbsp;are \u201cgrilled cheese.\u201d However discerning their adult palates may be, diners who loved the toasty, gooey cheese bombs as kids still melt at the mention of grilled cheese. 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And now\u2014to their delight\u2014grilled cheese itself has grown up. Reimagined, reinvented, chef-driven inspirations prepared with upscale [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/why-you-should-feature-a-restaurant-grilled-cheese-menu\/","og_site_name":"Gordon Food Service","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/","article_published_time":"2017-12-26T21:12:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-01T16:12:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":760,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/grilled-cheese-menu-trends.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cody Rivers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cody.rivers@gfs.com","twitter_site":"@GFSDelivers","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cody Rivers","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/ideas\/why-you-should-feature-a-restaurant-grilled-cheese-menu\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/ideas\/why-you-should-feature-a-restaurant-grilled-cheese-menu\/"},"author":{"name":"Cody Rivers","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/person\/ac2dd585b10d08ce15daca230d897374"},"headline":"Why You Should Feature a Restaurant Grilled Cheese Menu","datePublished":"2017-12-26T21:12:52+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-01T16:12:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/ideas\/why-you-should-feature-a-restaurant-grilled-cheese-menu\/"},"wordCount":760,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/ideas\/why-you-should-feature-a-restaurant-grilled-cheese-menu\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/grilled-cheese-menu-trends.jpg","articleSection":["Catering &amp; 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