Galati Cheese: The Windsor Cheesemaker Behind Windsor-Style Pizza

Why one cheesemaker matters to a whole city’s pizza

Ask a Windsor pizzeria what makes its pizza Windsor-style and, after shredded pepperoni, the answer is usually one word: Galati. The Galati Cheese Company on Tecumseh Road West has supplied the mozzarella on most of the city’s pizzas for decades, and the Windsor Public Library’s history of the style puts it plainly: it isn’t true Windsor pizza without it. This guide explains who Galati is, what makes its mozzarella different, which pizzerias use it and say so, and where you can buy it yourself.

Who Galati Cheese Company is

Galati was founded in Windsor in 1967 by Italian immigrant families, first the Manninas and then the Galatis, with Giuseppe “Joe” Galati as the name on the door. The plant is at 931 Tecumseh Road West, with a retail store across the parking lot at 925 Tecumseh Road West. The company is now backed by Kirtland Capital Partners, an Ohio private-equity firm that says it partners with Giuseppe and his family, and it distributes to grocers and delis across Southwestern Ontario, into London and Sarnia, and into the United States.

One note of honesty on the dates: Galati’s own site says 1967; a 2015 Belt Magazine feature says the company began making cheese in 1998 after nearly thirty years as a distributor and importer. Both can be true. The business is nearly sixty years old; the cheesemaking in its current form is a few decades younger.

What Galati makes

Mozzarella is the business, and Galati sells it in three grades by milk fat: 17 percent, 20 percent, and the 25 percent premium sold under the name Uniondale. All of it is made from 100 percent Canadian milk with no artificial preservatives, colours or flavours. Around the mozzarella sits a proper Italian cheese counter: hand-scooped ricotta, hand-braided twist cheese, scamorza, caciocavallo, bocconcini, an aged zoncolan ripened on site, and imported parmesan and reggiano.

The awards back up the reputation. At the 2025 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Uniondale mozzarella placed first in its class and Galati’s scamorza, bocconcini and zoncolan each placed second.

Why it works on a Windsor-style pizza

A Windsor-style pizza is a medium-thick cornmeal-dusted crust baked hot in a deck oven with shredded pepperoni across the top. That combination punishes ordinary pizza cheese: low-fat mozzarella goes rubbery and browns in patches before the pepperoni crisps. Galati’s higher-fat mozzarella, made from whole milk without added protein solids, melts softer and more evenly and tastes gentler, which is why the cheese pull on a Windsor pizza is a thing people photograph. Galati’s Peter Piazza described it to Belt Magazine simply: “We just use pure milk.” Joe Galati told the CBC the same thing years earlier, that it is only 100 percent milk, all of it locally produced.

That fat content is also why the Volcano Pizzeria family recipe, the 1957 origin of the style, specifies Uniondale by name. Read the Volcano Pizzeria story for the full history.

Pizzerias that use Galati and say so

• Antonino’s Original Pizza lists Galati whole-milk mozzarella as an ingredient of its Windsor-style pie and carries the Galati logo on its website.
• Armando’s Pizza names Galati mozzarella on its Detroit-style pies, sells “Galati mozzarella sticks,” and has a specialty pizza called The Galati.
• Capri Pizza has a Galati Pizza on the menu: mozzarella, feta, sun-dried tomato, roasted garlic, artichoke and hot peppers.
• Arcata Pizzeria‘s Bob Abumeeiz told the CBC the shop only buys local, from Galati.
• Many other Windsor pizzerias stamp their boxes “Our pizzas are made with Galati,” a practice the CBC reported on when Galati took out billboards in 2012 after a scare about contraband cheese in the local market.

If a Windsor pizzeria does not use Galati, it usually says nothing at all. The ones that do use it tend to advertise it.

Where to buy Galati cheese

• The retail store: 925 Tecumseh Road West, Windsor. Monday to Friday 9 am to 4 pm, Saturday 8:30 am to 1 pm, closed Sunday.
• Grocers and delis across Windsor-Essex and Southwestern Ontario carry the mozzarella, ricotta and bocconcini; look for the Galati label in the deli case.
• Online: specialty retailers such as That Cheese Place sell Uniondale 25 percent mozzarella by mail, which is how expats making Windsor pizza in Alberta or BC get the right cheese.

For a home Windsor-style pizza, buy the Uniondale, shred it yourself, and pair it with shredded pepperoni and canned mushrooms. Our Super pizza guide has the topping order.

Frequently asked questions

What is Galati cheese?

Mozzarella and other Italian cheeses made by the Galati Cheese Company at 931 Tecumseh Road West in Windsor, Ontario. Its high-fat whole-milk mozzarella is the cheese most Windsor pizzerias use on Windsor-style pizza.

Where is Galati Cheese located?

The plant is at 931 Tecumseh Road West and the retail store at 925 Tecumseh Road West, Windsor, Ontario.

Why do Windsor pizzerias use Galati mozzarella?

Its higher milk-fat content (17, 20 or 25 percent) melts softer and more evenly in a hot deck oven than standard pizza cheese, which suits the thin, hot-baked Windsor-style crust and shredded pepperoni. It is also local, and the style grew up around it.

Can I buy Galati cheese for home use?

Yes, at the retail store on Tecumseh Road West (weekday and Saturday morning hours), at grocers and delis across Windsor-Essex, and by mail from specialty cheese retailers.

What is Uniondale mozzarella?

Galati’s premium 25 percent milk-fat mozzarella, the grade named in the original Volcano Pizzeria recipe and the one that placed first at the 2025 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

Which pizzerias use Galati cheese?

Antonino’s, Armando’s, Capri and Arcata all say so publicly, and many other Windsor pizzerias mark their boxes with the Galati name.

Sources

• Galati Cheese Company: About, Our Cheeses, Retail Store pages (galaticheese.com)
• Windsor Public Library, “History of Windsor-style pizza”; PMQ Pizza Magazine, “Windsor-style pizza”
• CBC Windsor, “Contraband cheese sold in Windsor, pizzeria says” (2012) and “Volcano Pizzeria” (2016)
• Belt Magazine, “Cheese, please: how did pizza become one of Windsor, Ontario’s hottest exports?” (2015)
• Kirtland Capital Partners portfolio page; Royal Agricultural Winter Fair 2025 results (assistexpo.ca); Tourism Windsor Essex listing
• Official menus of Antonino’s, Armando’s and Capri (September 2026)

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