From the Grocerant Guru® Stage, Why 2025 Was the Tipping Point: Convenience Stores Became True Meal Destinations

 

When I stood on stage at the Convenience Store News Exchange in Denver last May, I told this audience something that felt provocative to some and obvious to others: the future of food is not about channels — it is about occasions. Grubhub’s 2025 Delivered Report now validates that assertion with hard data and real consumer behavior.

Let me be clear: 2025 was not simply a good year for c-store foodservice. It was the year convenience stores crossed the psychological threshold from “emergency food” to intentional meal destination. That shift did not happen by accident. It happened because the industry leaned directly into what I have defined for years as the Grocerant niche — fresh food, prepared on demand or ready-to-eat, optimized for speed, value, and relevance.

Protein, Heat, and Handhelds Win the Occasion

Grubhub’s data shows that consumers moved decisively away from passive snack items and toward hot, protein-forward, grab-and-go foods — taquitos, chicken rollers, and hot dogs leading the charge. That mirrors exactly what I highlighted in Denver: consumers are no longer “snacking up,” they are mealing down — replacing traditional QSR visits with faster, closer, more controllable solutions.

In 2024, bananas and sodas still ranked among top c-store delivery items. By 2025, the consumer sent a clear signal: bring me heat, bring me protein, bring me immediacy. Convenience, as Grubhub accurately stated, “got strategic.” What that really means is that c-stores stopped imitating restaurants and instead outperformed them on friction, speed, and price-value perception.

At CSN Exchange, I cited the rise of handheld protein platforms as the most scalable foodservice opportunity in the channel — rollers, wraps, breakfast sandwiches, tacos, and global street-food formats that travel well, eat cleanly, and satisfy quickly. Grubhub’s order data confirms that thesis at scale.

Made-to-Order Is No Longer Optional

The statistic that should stop every operator in their tracks: 85% of consumers have tried made-to-order food from a convenience store. That is not trial; that is adoption.

Retailers that understood this earlier — Casey’s, 7-Eleven, Weigel’s — did not treat foodservice as an add-on. They treated it as infrastructure. I referenced this exact evolution in Denver when discussing commissary-enabled consistency, noting that Weigel’s investment in a centralized commissary was not a cost center but a growth engine. Casey’s continued strength in prepared food and dispensed beverages further proves that when execution improves, velocity follows.

7-Eleven’s commitment to a food-forward design in its 1,300 new U.S. stores underscores what I said on stage: the box must now be designed around food, not fuel. Fuel brings traffic. Food builds loyalty.

Foodmaxxing: Function Meets Flavor Meets Shareability

Grubhub’s concept of “foodmaxxing” aligns directly with what I described in Denver as functional indulgence — food that satisfies hunger, supports wellness goals, and looks good enough to share socially.

The surge in gut-healthy bean salads, a 135% increase in grocery bean orders, and the proliferation of protein-labeled items in unexpected categories all point to a consumer who is no longer choosing between health and convenience. They expect both. Protein cookies, popcorn, cinnamon rolls — these are not fads; they are signals of permission. Consumers are telling retailers: solve more needs in one stop.

Beverage behavior reinforces this shift. Cold foam growth of 75%, matcha up 34%, and tens of thousands of electrolyte drinks delivered monthly all speak to liquid functionality — beverages as tools, not treats. This is exactly why I told the Denver audience that beverage programs must evolve from fountain-centric to purpose-driven platforms.

2026 Insight: Fresh Food Fast Is the Only Path Forward

Looking ahead to 2026, the path is clear. The winners will not be the stores with the biggest menus, but the ones with the clearest food identity.

Three forward-looking realities every operator should internalize:

1.       Fresh Food Fast Will Define Competitive Advantage
Speed alone is no longer enough. Freshness must be visible, credible, and consistent. Consumers now equate freshness with trust — and trust with repeat visits.

2.       Protein Will Remain the Anchor, Not the Accent
Whether animal-based or plant-forward, protein is the currency of modern meals. The most successful c-stores will build modular platforms that allow protein to flex across dayparts and cuisines.

3.       Delivery Data Will Shape Store Design
Platforms like Grubhub are not just distribution channels; they are insight engines. The data clearly shows which items travel, which satisfy, and which convert. Smart operators will design menus — and kitchens — backward from that reality.

The takeaway is simple but profound: convenience stores did not steal share from restaurants by becoming better restaurants. They won by becoming better grocerants — places where fresh food, prepared food, and immediate consumption converge.

2025 was the proof year.
2026 will be the execution year.

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideas look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how our Grocerant Guru® can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit: us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Everytable Cut from a different Cloth but Building a Table for Everyone

Consumers are dynamic not static and one company regular readers of this know is just as dynamic as consumers, that company is Everytable a favorite of our own Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson. At Everytable “quality and equality” are top of mind.  It’s Everytable’s goal to offer healthy, made-from-scratch meals that everyone can afford. Differentiation does not mean different it means familiar but with a twist, and Everytable is doing that better than most.

Everytable began focusing on grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh better for you food back in 2015.  It was seen as a revolutionary grab-and-go restaurant concept with delicious, high-quality, made-from-scratch meals priced according to what a specific neighborhood can afford (variable / index location pricing).

Today, Everytable is now a multi-channel, fresh-prepared food business blending markets, SmartFridges, and subscription delivery (and pickup) throughout Los Angeles and Orange County, California. Meals are prepared by chefs at a single central kitchen to reduce costs, and those savings are passed on to guests — meal prices start at $4.95 in underserved neighborhoods, and $6.95 in middle-income or affluent communities.

Everytable, is seeking to end food inequality by making healthy food affordable, convenient and accessible for all, has received a total of $2.5 million in program-related investments (PRI) from Annenberg Foundation and The California Wellness Foundation (Cal Wellness) to support the development and implementation of a pioneering social equity franchise program.

Get this Everytable, a fresh food retailer will use “The $1.5 million in funding from Cal Wellness and $1 million from the Annenberg Foundation to foster economic empowerment among entrepreneurs from marginalized communities. Everytable plans to open 25 franchises owned by entrepreneurs of color from underserved neighborhoods in Southern California over the next five years.”

Sam Polk, co-founder and CEO, Everytable  stated “At Everytable, our core mission is to push against structural inequality, first through the pricing and accessibility of our healthy food offerings, and second by hiring from the low-to-moderate income communities we serve,” … “Now, with this extraordinary and meaningful funding from Annenberg Foundation and Cal Wellness, we can expand our socio-economic impact through the development of a franchise training and education program to empower disenfranchised entrepreneurs, who ordinarily might not be able to access capital, to bring affordable and nutritious food into their communities and participate in the profits and capital gains from the success of their businesses.”

Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization? Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

Innovation Grocerants offer Different Choices and Consumer Like the new Options

What brings customers into you location with the desire to buy more and more?  Innovation; simply put doing whatever you do better, faster, and doing it with Braggability, as Braggability inspires word of mouth advertising, empowers personal endorsements, setting the stage for an ongoing dialogue according to our Grocerant Guru®. 

While Millennials are seeking food discovery, others are simply tired of the same old same old. Foodservice retail customer migration has been most difficult for legacy foodservice chains lacking differentiation.   Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson says “Differentiation does not mean different rather it means familiar with a twist and today that twist must be clearly defined and noticeable.” I ask does your foodservice retail outlet have “Braggability’? Grocerants niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food is different, much has ‘Braggability”.

When you think about it very little has changes since Henry Ford’s 1922 autobiography “My Life and Work” he famously remarked, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” In this statement, Ford the pioneer of the assembly line was stating that mass producing the same product in large numbers was the secret to keeping prices low.

All things being equal, people like to have things that are custom made just for them or allow for customization and personalization. Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® continually reminds us that the consumer is dynamic not static. That helps explain the evolving retail demand for a food platform that includes convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization that platform has become the Grocerant niche.  

Consumers like ‘eating-out while eating-in’ (eating-at-home) according to our Grocerant Guru®., means take-out food has become the food of choice, and meal component bundling is how most foodservice retailers can garner the attention of new customers. Mix and Match meal component bundling is the best way which retailers can differentiate themselves, from other retail outlets while garnering new customers with an increased frequency of purchasing

Back in the day that is to say prior to 2005 no one would have thought that the future of food was not a chain restaurant.  Streets were lined with Look-a-Like Menu-a-Like steakhouses, fern bars and grills, Quick Service Restaurants and food courts in every mall and city in the United States.

Not any longer today the Grocerant Niche fresh prepared food has caught on fire. Once considered uniquely American the grocerant niche is booming in Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa of late.  Universal commonalities of time saving, lack of cooking skill-set, meal component bundling have taken root.  Many of us at Foodservice Solutions® have been helping drive success in the Grocerant niche since 1991. 

Grocerant Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food is about discovery, simplicity, and transparency fresh food fast without the labels of ingredients that no one wants to pronounce let alone understand. New unique venues and menus are two of the biggest drives companies the ilk of Pinkies Liquor stores, Wawa is much more than a C-store, Hello-Fresh is a global Meal Kit success story driving new trends. Each has ‘braggability, they are different, notable driving non-traditional meals outlets and occasions to social consumption acceptance.

These new non-traditional food retailer’s of which many serve great food in unusual surroundings, each offer a side of ‘braggability’ while creating a social buzz that is becoming a roar.  More and more that ‘braggability’ is in the form of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food. The retail foodservice and restaurant business is famously Look-a-Like Menu-a-Like outlet design alike platform. Simply put that has become boring for consumers.  What do you give your customers to talk about? Boast about?

So think about it. Does your retail foodservice outlet have ‘braggability’? How do you package your food? How do you package a meal?  Is the meal you offer today the same as it was ten years ago? If so them maybe your restaurant is running more like yesterday that today.  Create ‘braggability’ it’s simple it will make you noticed by new customers and notable by your current customers.

Foodservice Solutions FIVE P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization and braggability?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information.

Is Taco Bell Pricing-Out the Competition?

Fast Casual chains were the talk of the industry trade magazines back in the day.  It seemed as if every restaurant chain wanted to be a fast casual chain.  There is a little suggestion out there today that fast casual is still the platform for growth.  Taco Bell has even started its own fast casual concept.

Regular readers of this blog know that all the while Taco Bell was testing the waters with fast casual the ‘big data’ was point to growth and profit potential with its core fast food followers.  Part of it was the fact that 50% of US consumers over the age of 18 are single according to the US Census Bureau and single consumers continue to fuel drive thru visits.

At Taco Bell it’s continued top line growth can be traced back to 2017 in a bold brand positioning choice that Taco Bell’s Chief Brand Officer made.  That brand positioning was a commitment to cater to its base consumers expanding the number of $ 1 menu items that they offer for $ 1 or less. 

If year over year same sale numbers are an indication of success and the food industry says they are Taco Bell’s numbers prove out that positioning price as a key driver of growth works.  This past week Taco Bell innovative menu development team rolled out their latest addition of a Triple Melt Burrito and Triple Melt Nachos combine these two new items puts Taco Bell very close to having 20 items for only $ 1 or less.

Small meals, snacks,  late-nite snacking, or ‘forth meal’ customer traffic counts are  more important  brand building than sales increased that are a result of menu price increases according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Johnson continued building brand value requires evolving with your consumer and at times it requires leadership that can buck industry norms and reduce check averages to build customer frequency and that is just what Taco Bell has done.  Now they did that while simultaneously edifying flavor craveability, improving service times, and improving cleanliness. 

So just what is your New Electricity? Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed a Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us