When you’re on a mission to find a supplier that ensures both quality and savings, where do you go? For Forum Purchasing, the answer was simple: Entegra’s Performance Kitchen, part of Entegra Culinary Consulting. 

Here’s how the story begins: 

How do you find a supplier that boosts quality and savings? 

Forum Purchasing had a mission-critical goal: deliver the quality its members expect while managing costs. But with macroeconomic pressures impacting purchasing across all industries, finding the right supplier to support this goal was a challenge. 

With Entegra as its group purchasing organization (GPO), Forum found a supplier partner in McCain Foods. Robust enough to provide significant savings, McCain also offered in-demand foodservice products that increased member spending for Forum. 

What happens when you partner with Entegra Culinary Consulting? 

Fast forward to Connect, Entegra’s exclusive annual conference. It’s an invite-only event where Entegra clients and suppliers have the chance to meet face-to-face, discover opportunities and achieve their goals. At this conference, Forum met with McCain Foods, an Entegra supplier and major player in the global crispy fry market.

“McCain and Forum came together to identify the best opportunity for our members,” said Yasmin Santiago, Manager of Food Contracting Optimization and Analytics at Forum. 

After the conference, Forum and McCain engaged in a product cutting at the Entegra Performance Kitchen. Lining up competitor products, the Entegra Culinary Consulting team tested and analyzed the top products. The goal was to find a product that was right for Forum members from a cost-perspective, but also a fit for the consumers they serve: senior living residents. 

How do you know you’ve found the right supplier? 

The results were clear: Offering both high quality and extensive savings, the McCain product was the perfect fit for Forum members. “The crispy fries were a strong-performing product,” Santiago told Entegra. 

With the right supplier chosen, Forum and Entegra Marketing teamed up to promote the new crispy fries. And that effort quickly paid off. 

What happens after a product cutting? 

With Entegra’s guidance, Forum engaged McCain Foods as a strategic crispy fry supplier, and the relationship is growing. 

Through this partnership, Forum has increased its contract utilization rate, boosting savings for its members by 28%, who have increased their crispy fry spend by $1.9 million. For McCain, this growth has translated to 19% higher sales on all products. 

“This initiative is a great example of how collaboration and a clear value story can positively shift purchasing behavior,” said Eric Sinsigalli, Director of Sales at McCain Foods. “We’re proud of the results and look forward to continuing our work together.” 

Read the full case study. 

Sources: 
1. “19% in total McCain sales.” McCain sales data. 
2. “$1.9 million in increased crispy fry spend.” Entegra performance data. 
3. “28% savings for Forum members.” Forum performance data.