‘The finest Italian cheeses money can buy’

Rich Palzewic

Staff

December 2, 2024

FOND DU LAC – There’s nothing “cheesy” about Grande Cheese Company’s recent partnership with World Pizza Champions.

As a self-proclaimed “advocate of the independent pizzeria,” Deb Ponath, senior director, operator business development and marketing, said with each partnership, it’s Grande’s mission to work with pizzerias around the country in a deeper way.

“My role is to help our customers market their business,” she said. “If you’re an independent pizzeria and buy Grande cheese, my goal is to help you with your business. My team’s job is to support independent pizzerias in the business, in their business development and marketing.”

With World Pizza Champions, Ponath said the nonprofit is an example of the types of organizations Grande Cheese wants to work with.

“World Pizza Champions is a first-class nonprofit organization made of leading pizza professionals, and Grande Cheese is proud to support the team in demonstration of our mutual mission of supporting the independent pizza industry,” she said. “This partnership allows us to expand our reach into the industry, elevating the craft of creating great pizza.”

Additionally, Ponath said World Pizza Champions is about “the hard-working guy who comes in at 8 a.m. to make dough for dinner either that night or the next night.”

“They are there every day, working in the shop, and we’re there to help him succeed,” she said. “We’re going to do it by providing the best cheese, giving them the best tools and helping them be the best businessman they can be.”

Ponath said World Pizza Champion is also very philanthropic – “something Grande looks for in its partnerships.”

“It’s how they position themselves and what they’re in it to do,” she said. “If you look at its website, they want to elevate the pizza industry to a higher level and work for the common good of the craft. They also do work with Slice Out Hunger. At Grande, we talk a lot about a purpose greater than ourselves, doing something better. When we can find a team – an independent operator – to connect with and work together to elevate pizza, then it’s a win for all of us.”

At Grande, Ponath said all of its associates understand “that’s it more than just pizza.”

“When we can find an organization like World Pizza Champions – who are simply incredible – it’s so easy to work with them,” she said. “They are independent pizza industry leaders who go out and educate. Because they are so well known, people might think, ‘Oh my gosh, if you’re a competitor to me, I don’t want to teach you what I know.’ They are not like that. They will help elevate everyone. They know if they make others do better, they make the industry better. They’re about education, and they’re about helping others see the success that a lot of these really big leaders have seen.”

Grande Cheese and World Pizza Champions kicked off their partnership with the industry at PizzaCon, 2024.

“Grande is known by many pizzerias across the country for making the highest-quality cheeses,” Nick Bogacz, president of World Pizza Champions, said. “We look forward to having Grande as our cheese partner. It showcases that we have great pizza-making partners in our corner.”

More on Grande

Based in Fond du Lac, Ponath said Grande works with independent pizzerias nationwide.

She said the company is beginning to explore the international market as well.

“Our focus is to help independents operate by giving them the finest Italian cheese money can buy, so they can produce the best product available,” she said. “We really don’t work with chain pizza places – it’s more about the independents. That’s always been our philosophy.”

First in the cheese-making process, Ponath said Grande works with dedicated local farmers for the ingredients it needs.

“We work with only the best (farmers) because great milk makes great cheese,” she said. “That milk is collected daily and then sent to one of our cheese production facilities in Wisconsin.”

Those facilities, Ponath said, are located in Fond du Lac, Brownsville, Friendship, Juda, Lomira, Rubicon and Wyocena.

A little history

According to its website (grande.com), Grande’s story began in 1891 in the small Sicilian village of Montelepre, Italy, where founder Filippo Candela was born.

It was in this warm, agriculturally rich region where he learned the art of making fine Italian cheese.

In 1925, shortly after marrying his wife, Provvidenza, Filippo moved from the economic instability of post-war Italy to America in search of better opportunities.

Initially purchasing a small dairy farm and orchard, he moved to Wisconsin to pursue his passion for cheese making.

Speaking only a few words of English, he met an Italian cheese buyer from the Old World.

This meeting sowed the seeds of a new cheese company formed by Filippo and a handful of family and friends.

They named it Grande – the Italian word for “greatness” – and its cheeses soon became favorites with Italian immigrant families across the United States.

Grande’s products are used coast-to-coast in some of the best independently owned pizzerias and Italian restaurants.

In the early years, Grande crafted aged Italian cheeses, such as provolone and Romano.

Today, it manufactures mozzarella, parmesan, burrata, asiago and more.