Rising food costs, labor challenges and operational complexity are putting pressure on restaurant brands to do more with less. For Experiential Brands, the answer has been finding smarter ways to simplify execution while continuing to innovate across its portfolio of quick-service and fast-casual concepts.

We caught up with Joe Cavaliere, SVP of Operations at Experiential Brands, to hear how his team is working with Entegra as a trusted restaurant procurement partner to control costs, streamline operations and develop new concepts, all without adding in-house staff. His experience shows what can happen when purchasing, culinary expertise and operational strategy work together.

What KPI matters most right now?

Joe Cavaliere: What's most important to us right now is working with our licensees and their concerns around food cost and their concerns around labor costs. Just like everybody else, we're trying to optimize products through innovation to keep prep levels down, keep execution and body counts down on the labor side, while maintaining stability on the food cost side.

Watch now: How Experiential Brands added expertise without headcount with Entegra

Where are you seeing the most pressure: labor, food costs or complexity?

Cavaliere: We see the most pressure for our licensees around food costs, labor costs and the complex issues around executing recipes and the operations on a day-to-day basis. Entegra helped us develop recipes and find products that are both high quality and ready-to-use. This is keeping complexity down and reducing labor costs. And it is also stabilizing food costs across the board for our licensees.

Read more: 7 cost trends operators should watch for in 2027

What's one change that improved performance without adding headcount?

Cavaliere: Just recently, we developed our new Asian concept, Duck, Duck Dragon. We couldn't have done that without the Entegra Culinary Consulting team. They helped us with the R&D in the test kitchen. They supported the menu development. They also sourced all of the products we needed to test. 

We were able to develop this concept in roughly one month. And we've already started selling the new concept to our licensees, which has been a huge win for us. The Entegra Culinary Consulting team is like an extension of our R&D and our executive team. They bring so much value — I can't reiterate that enough — and we did not have to add any headcount.

Read more: Q&A: How to build your best menu with culinary consulting

Where do you need better visibility?

Cavaliere: We definitely need more visibility on sourcing products. Sourcing a whole menu of products, whether it's with Sysco or other food purveyors, is a major challenge. My top goal is to make sure our operations are sourcing the correct products at the right prices. 

Working with my reps here at Entegra is where the value really comes in. Now we’re able to really penetrate the market and find the best value products, ensuring Experiential Brands can make a healthy profit and our licensees can maintain their food costs.

Read more: Who's watching your back? How a GPO can help you reduce costs

From an SVP Ops lens, what's hardest to scale: buy-in, consistency, or supplier execution?

Cavaliere: The hardest thing to scale is supplier execution and the management of that whole process. As we all know, it’s very complex. It's very intricate.

But leveraging the Entegra team has really taken a lot of that hassle and confusion out of the process, especially for me. I'm an operations guy trying to do purchasing, and that means I’m working in a world that I don't necessarily know everything about. 
The process of working with the Entegra team has really helped me out a lot, offering both insights and efficiency.

Related: [Client success story] Getting started with Entegra

Build more capacity without adding complexity

For Experiential Brands, working with Entegra has become about more than sourcing products or managing food costs. By augmenting and extending their R&D and executive teams by partnering with Entegra, Experiential Brands can now access the culinary, sourcing and operational support needed to move ideas forward without adding headcount.

That approach helped Experiential Brands develop, test and bring a new restaurant concept to market in a month. And the collaboration is continuing, with additional concepts and menu refreshes already in the works.

Learn how Entegra Culinary Consulting can help your operation scale culinary innovation without adding headcount.

About Experiential Brands

Experiential Brands is a portfolio of quick-service and fast-casual restaurant concepts, including Duck, Duck Dragon; The Original Hot Chicken; Inked Tacos; and Pinsa Roman Pizza. The company works with licensees to build scalable restaurant concepts with a focus on strong unit-level economics, efficient operations and consistent execution.

Frequently asked questions

These are the top questions operators ask about the client onboarding process at Entegra.

What happens during Entegra client onboarding?

Entegra onboarding is a structured process designed to help you transition smoothly with minimal disruption to your daily operations. The onboarding team manages account setup for you, including supplier and distributor alignment, program activation, digital platform access, training and performance tracking to ensure you are ready for a successful launch.  

How long does the Entegra onboarding process take?

The onboarding timeline varies based on factors such as the number of locations, categories in scope and supplier readiness. The Entegra team follows a milestone-based onboarding approach that includes planning, account setup, activation, training, go-live support and ongoing optimization to help ensure a seamless transition.

Will I have a dedicated contact during onboarding?

Yes. With Entegra’s dedicated Help Center, support is a phone call or email away. Depending on your needs, clients also have access to cross-functional experts across supply management, digital solutions, field support and client services.

How does Entegra provide personalized support during onboarding?

Entegra tailors onboarding to each client's goals, operational needs and business structure. Clients receive a customized transition plan, dedicated onboarding leadership, field support resources, tailored training and ongoing guidance from experts who help align procurement programs with business objectives. This high-touch approach ensures clients receive personalized attention from kickoff through long-term success.  

What training and tools will I receive as a new Entegra client?

New clients receive access to Entegra's digital solutions, including Entegra PurchasingIQ, along with role-based training and onboarding support. Training covers platform usage, purchasing workflows, reporting capabilities and best practices to help teams adopt new processes quickly and confidently.