Perhaps following on from the success of McDonalds “Angus” strategy, Domino’s has launched a “Wagyu Pizza” for our indulgence.
I like a pizza as much as the next bloke, but it is not one of the major food groups, just an occasional easy cholesterol hit. Being asked to pay 3 times the going rate is asking a bit, even if a bit of a Wagyu does inhabit the topping somewhere, and the packaging is a bit fancy.
Wagyu is a term used to describe a small number of Japanese cattle breeds that deliver a high level of fat marbling, creating a soft, juicy and flavoursome steak. In addition there is the banding mystique that comes from the stories of individual animals being looked after like kings, massaged, fed specific diets including beer, and generally leading an exercise free and indulged life, until the chop.
In Australia, Wagyu cattle are usually grass fed and just finished on grain, but are increasingly just grass fed, keeping costs down, but compromising the marbling, and I presume the tenderness and flavour.
But the “Wagyu” brand remains strong, and combined with the scarcity, attracts a premium in fine dining locations.
However, I wonder what a pizza does to the Wagyu brand story? Not much I suspect.
Is anyone getting a Royalty? Is this the beginning of the end for exclusive Wagyu?
