Cheese History Question

[Glutenboy]

My first pizza exposure was in the NY/NJ area in the early 70s.  The pizza was the NY-slice variety, probably done a little better than it is today (on the whole), but it was well after the coal oven and fresh mozzarella era.  I know the cheese was grated because I used to watch them spread it on the pie.  The cheese was great.  Creamy and stretchy with a good amount of orange runoff.  Here's my question:  Was the cheese probably Grande way back then?  How long have they held their position (deserved or not) as the premier supplier of aged mozzarella cheese to the pizza industry?  This was close to 40 years ago.  Have they been around and big for that long?  And if it wasn't Grande, who was the likely manufacturer at that time?  Polly-O, perhaps?  I know they've existed for a very long time, and they are also a big player in the industry.  Does anyone have any historical expertise they'd like to share on this matter?

- GB 

[Pete-zza]

GB,

Grande has been in business since 1941: http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4258483.

Polly-O was started in 1899: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly-O. You can see the date 1899 in the logo at http://www.kraftbrands.com/pollyo/.

Peter

[Glutenboy]

Was Grande already positioned as the premiere supplier at that time?  I guess that's my big question.

[scott123]

I can't speak for all of NY/NJ, but, in 1980, the two top places that I was going to, in my area, were using either Grande or a Grande clone. I can sort of picture white-ish poorly melted cheese at some of the lesser pizzerias- cheese that could easily be Polly-O or a Polly-O analog, so perhaps Grande didn't have the market penetration then as it does now, but I think it was still pretty popular.