WHY WORK WITH ATLANTE?
Motivated by passion for our work and the ability to innovate, we brainstorm side by side with our partners to create winning products that interpret market trends and satisfy customer needs.
Atlante is unique as we are neither an agent nor broker. We see ourselves as a value-adding link between retailers and producers.
We do not represent producers and, being totally independent, use our expertise to identify the producers best suited to meet a customer’s standards, requirements and expectations.
Our customers receive a tailor-made, hassle-free, time-saving and cost-efficient package of products and supporting services.
The experience we have gained from working with highly professional, structured and demanding organisations, such as a leading UK supermarket chain, is an invaluable asset when it comes to assessing the strengths and weaknesses of producers.
CHEESES WE SUPPLY
Pecorino Romano
This hard cheese is made with fresh whole sheep's milk and comes with a thin crust the colour of pale ivory or straw. The cheese has a dense consistency with a limited number of holes and can vary in colour from white to a shade of straw. The taste of the table cheese is aromatic, lightly spicy and tangy, while the grated cheese is intensely spicy.
Grana Padano
This best-selling PDO cheese is made in northern Italy. A hard cheese, it has a delicate aroma and three ripening stages: creamy Grana Padano (9 to 16 months), Grana Padano oltre mesi (over 16 months) with a crumblier texture and pronounced taste, Grana Padano Riserva (over 20 months) which is crumbly and full flavoured.
Mozzarella PDO
Mozzarella di Bufala Campana is the only mozzarella with a PDO designation. With its delicate flavour, it is produced using fresh whole buffalo milk from dairies that pass a strict certification process to obtain the PDO mark. The term mozzarella comes from the Italian verb 'mozzare' which describes detatching the single mozzarella balls by hand.
Ricota Romana
Ricotta Romana PDO is white and lumpy with a characteristic sweet milky taste. It is produced from the whey formed during the making of cheese from the milk of the most common sheep breeds in Lazio: Sarda, Cmisana, Sopravissana, Massese and related cross-breeds, The whey is heated to produce flakes that is separated from the liquid and further drained in straw moulds.
Taleggio
A soft cheese made with raw or pasterised whole cow's milk, Taleggio is described as having an aromatic flavour, sometimes with a truffle after taste. The cheese had a light colour ranging from white to pale yellow, and has a soft thin rind with a slightly pink colour. Produced in northern Itlay, PDO Taleggio cheese must be aged for at least 35 days.
Gorgonzola
This is a straw-white, creamy soft cheese with greenish mold streaks produced through process called "erborinatura" in Italian. It is sold in 2 styles: the slightly spicy Gorgonzola (matured 50 to 150 days). Both types of Gorgonzola are produced with pasturized cows' milk.
HOW ATLANTE WILL WORK WITH YOU TO SUPPLY A PRODUCT
1.Understand
We work with customers to develop a cross-functional brief incorporating product quality, volumes, supply chain and ethical considerations.
2. Find
We look at our existing producers and consider potential producers who could meet the brief.
3. Assess
We study and assess the capabilities, strengths and weaknesses of the producers for achieving the objectives in the brief.
4. Develop
We work with the producer to develop products to the sample stage, or develop projects to the business case stage.
5. Select
We benchmark producer capability and then select suitable producers or projects to propose to the customer.
6. Cost
We will work with the customer and producer to submit delivered costs.
7.Manage
We will manage the project at all stages through to launch.
8. Forecast
We collaborate with the customer to identify a joint forecast and order profile.
9. Launch
We will provide dedicated resource to support the launch at point of change.
10. Review
We complete a post- implementation review to identify issues and future improvements.
THE CHEESE SUPPLY CHAIN
- Atlante works with many producers to supply a full cheese selection including Mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, GranaPadano, Gorgonzola, Taleggio, Ricotta,Mascarpone, Buffalo Mozzarella and Burrata.
- Many of our producers get milk through contributing members of cooperatives orconsortia that are part of the company,even in summer when there is a shortage of raw milk.
- A quarterly update enables us to follow dairy market price trends and always offer our customer the more competitive cost prices, aligned with the existing market conditions.
- Many of our cheeses are Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) so need to be produced according to the relative rules and requirements.
- All our other cheeses are produced to agreed specifications. Our product technologists regularly audit the producers’ sites to conduct panel tests and analysis toguarantee product quality consistency.
- All Italian cheeses need to be transported and kept refrigerated at a constant temperature of between 0 and 4°C.
ENSURING QUALITY AND SAFETY
Italian cheeses offer an amazing selection of flavour profiles and Atlante will help you find the ones most suitable to your customers.
And our role goes far beyond that.
While Italian producers already have high safety standards and procedures, our experts will help to ensure they meet the demands of overseas markets.
For example, most PDO Italian cheeses are made with unpasteurised milk and Atlante will work with the cheese maker to ensure they and their products meet UK safety standards and the requirements of your business.
Atlante will also ensure quality and consistency is maintained by collecting samples and testing for attributes including taste, appearance and aroma.
Rather than use an external lab, these tests are undertaken by our in-house team of highly skilled technicians. This enables us to ensure the process remains consistent and is carried out by technicians with experience of the products being tested.
An opportunity to expand the UK market
There are many Italian PDO cheeses that are relatively unknown in the UK, presenting an opportunity to grow the category. Among these are:
Castelmagno
Castelmagno PDO is a semi-hard cheese produced using raw whole cow’s milk with a small amount of sheep or goat’s milk. Castelmagno is very crumbly and ranges in colour from ivory white to yellow-ochre. Ithas a delicate flavour if the cheese is slightly ripened, while the mature variety has a much fuller flavour.
Asiago
Made with cow’s milk, Asiago PDO is produced in two types, Pressato andd’Allevo. Pressato is made with whole milk and is pressed with manual or hydraulic presses, while d’Allev is made with skimmed milk. Pressato is white orstraw-coloured and has a soft, sweet and delicate flavour. Asiago d’Allevo rangesfrom yellow to amber and has a savoury flavour with a characteristic aroma.
Fontina
Fontina is traditionally made from unpasteurised cow’s milk, with a texture and flavour dependent on aging time. The texture can vary from semi-soft to firm and the flavours from mild to intense. During the first month of ripening, Fontina is turned daily to develop the characteristic thin rind, alternating between one day of salting and one day of brushing.
Montasio
A semi-soft cheese with a creamy texture, Montasio is made with unpasteurised cows’ milk from the Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto provinces of Italy. During production the cheese is placed in moulds that imprint the mark of origin and date of production on theproduct. The flavour of Montasio can vary from delicate when fresh to stronger and aromatic when more mature.
