The
next big battleground in foodservice may not be the restaurant, the grocery
store or even the convenience store according to Steven Johnson
Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.
It
may be the footprint between them.
That
is what makes Murphy
USA’s rollout of an autonomous foodservice platform particularly
interesting. The company is testing Automated Retail Technologies’ Just Baked
platform in select larger-format stores, with White Castle as the launch food
brand. Customers can order branded hot food through a touchscreen and receive
it in approximately two minutes, while the preparation, heating and delivery
process happens inside a self-contained automated system.
This
is more than another convenience-store foodservice announcement.
It
is a signal that the food industry is moving into the age of the
micro-footprint grocerant.
Murphy USA
operates more than 1,800 stores and serves an estimated 2 million customers a
day. The company says the autonomous platform can add hot, branded food without
requiring the space, labor, infrastructure or complexity of a conventional
restaurant kitchen.
That
proposition should get the attention of every restaurant, convenience-store,
grocery and foodservice executive in America.
Because
the consumer does not care how big the kitchen is.
The
consumer cares how quickly good food can get into their hands.
And
increasingly, consumers are willing to get that food from almost anywhere.
Foodservice Is No Longer an Add-On
The
data tells us that convenience-store foodservice has already moved well beyond
the traditional image of a roller grill, coffee station and packaged sandwich.
According
to the National Association of Convenience Stores, foodservice represented
28.5% of U.S. convenience-store inside sales in 2025 but generated 38.9% of
inside gross-profit dollars. Prepared food alone represented 73.9% of
convenience-store foodservice sales.
Think
about that.
Foodservice
is producing a disproportionately large share of the profit.
In
fact, NACS data shows just how dramatically the business has changed.
Foodservice represented only 11.9% of convenience-store inside sales in 2005.
Today it represents more than twice that share.
And
prepared food would rank as the No. 1 in-store category overall when measured
against the major convenience-store categories, according to NACS.
That
is not a side business.
That
is a business model transformation.
The Restaurant Is No Longer Defined by Its Four Walls
This
is where Murphy USA, ART and White Castle are pushing the industry forward.
White
Castle already understands that its brand does not have to live exclusively
inside a traditional restaurant. In April 2026, White Castle announced a
national relationship with ART to deploy its Crave & Go automated kiosks,
initially targeting 1,000 locations. The company specifically identified
campuses, hospitals and workplaces as potential locations.
That
is channel blurring in action.
A
White Castle meal can now potentially be purchased:
·
At a traditional restaurant
·
Through grocery frozen-food
distribution
·
Through an automated kiosk
·
Inside a convenience store
·
In a workplace
·
At a healthcare facility
·
At a transportation hub
The
brand footprint is expanding while the physical restaurant footprint does not
necessarily have to expand at the same rate.
That
is a powerful equation.
The Grocery Industry Is Playing the Same Game
Convenience
stores aren't the only retailers discovering that prepared food can steal
occasions from restaurants.
FMI's
2025 Power of Foodservice at Retail research found that the share of
consumers choosing deli-prepared food instead of a restaurant meal more than
doubled, from 12% in 2017 to 28% in 2025. More than half of Americans—53%—are
now creating hybrid meals by combining deli-prepared foods with items from
their own kitchens.
Retail
foodservice dollar sales reached $52.1 billion, according to FMI, while its
broader fresh-food research reported foodservice sales of approximately $56
billion in 2024. FMI also reported that 87% of retailers were using
fresh-prepared foodservice programs.
The
message is clear:
Consumers
aren't asking whether food came from a restaurant. They're asking whether it
solves tonight's meal problem.
That
distinction changes everything.
Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat Are Becoming the New Retail Real
Estate
The
traditional foodservice question has been:
"How
much space do we need?"
The
better question is:
"How
much foodservice can we produce and sell from the space we already have?"
That
is a very different question.
A
conventional restaurant kitchen can consume hundreds or thousands of square
feet, require substantial labor and demand significant equipment, ventilation,
utilities, cleaning and management.
An
autonomous foodservice unit potentially compresses much of that infrastructure
into a dramatically smaller footprint.
That
means a retailer can begin asking questions that would have been economically
difficult only a few years ago:
Can
we put a restaurant inside a convenience store without building a restaurant?
Can
we put branded food inside a grocery store without building a QSR?
Can
we put a hot meal inside a hospital, college or office building without
constructing a commercial kitchen?
Can
we turn 100 square feet into a food destination?
Now
the answer increasingly appears to be yes.
The "Footprint" Is Becoming a Foodservice Weapon
This
may ultimately be the most important part of the Murphy USA announcement.
The
competitive advantage isn't simply automation.
It
is footprint efficiency.
A
traditional restaurant competes for consumers with another restaurant.
A
micro-foodservice platform can compete for consumers with virtually every food
occasion.
Fuel
stop.
Morning
coffee.
Lunch.
Afternoon
hunger.
Dinner
solution.
Late-night
craving.
Road-trip
meal.
Emergency
meal.
And
because the consumer is already inside the store, the foodservice operation
doesn't necessarily have to create the trip by itself.
The
retailer already owns the real estate.
It
already has the traffic.
It
already has the parking.
It
already has the customer relationship.
Now
it can potentially add hot, branded, fresh food to the equation.
That
is a very different economic proposition.
Convenience Is Winning Because Time Has Become a Food
Ingredient
The
consumer's definition of value has changed.
Value
isn't simply paying less.
Value
increasingly means:
good
food + acceptable price + little waiting + little effort.
FMI's
research reinforces this shift. Consumers increasingly view retail-prepared
foods as alternatives to restaurant dining because they deliver quality,
variety, time savings and value.
That
is precisely where Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat foods become strategically
important.
They
collapse the distance between "I'm hungry" and "I'm
eating."
The
winning retailer may not be the one with the largest kitchen.
It
may be the one that removes the most friction.
Two Minutes Changes the Competitive Equation
If
a customer can order a branded hot meal and receive it in roughly two minutes,
the foodservice proposition changes dramatically.
That
speed puts the offer into the same consumer consideration set as the fuel
transaction itself.
And
it creates an interesting marketing proposition for brands like White Castle.
The
brand doesn't necessarily need another traditional restaurant location.
It
needs another opportunity to satisfy the craving.
White
Castle itself describes the ART relationship as a way to reach consumers where
traditional restaurants may not be available.
That
is the future of foodservice channel strategy.
Distribution
is becoming as important as location.
The Grocerant Isn't a Place—It's a Behavior
I've
been arguing for years that the grocerant is not simply a grocery-store deli.
It
is a consumer behavior.
The
consumer wants Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh food wherever that consumer
happens to be.
That
might be a grocery store.
It
might be a convenience store.
It
might be a restaurant.
It
might be a gas station.
It
might be a workplace.
It
might be an airport.
It
might be a hospital.
Or,
increasingly, it might be a machine sitting in a few dozen square feet of
retail real estate.
That
is why the Murphy USA experiment matters.
It
isn't just about White Castle.
It
is about proving that foodservice can be detached from the traditional
foodservice footprint.
And That Could Be Disruptive
NACS
reports that the U.S. convenience industry generated $341.2 billion in in-store
sales in 2025, up 1.7%, while total industry sales including fuel reached
$817.5 billion.
But
the bigger story isn't the size of the industry.
It
is where the growth and profitability are coming from.
Foodservice
is increasingly carrying the economics of the convenience store.
And
retailers are learning that prepared food can drive the visit, increase the
basket and create a reason to enter the store rather than simply pump gas.
The
next evolution is taking that strategy and shrinking the footprint.
Less
square footage. More food occasions.
That
is a compelling retail formula.
The Real Opportunity Is Not Automation
Here's
where I would caution foodservice executives.
Don't
fall in love with the technology.
Consumers
don't care that the food was produced by automation.
They
care about:
Taste.
Temperature.
Freshness.
Price.
Speed.
Availability.
Brand
trust.
Automation
is simply the delivery mechanism.
The
opportunity is to use technology to make fresh food economically viable in
places where a traditional restaurant kitchen isn't.
That
is much bigger.
The Grocerant Guru® Bottom Line
Murphy
USA and White Castle are not simply experimenting with a new piece of
equipment.
They
are experimenting with a new definition of foodservice real estate.
The
restaurant of the future may not require a dining room.
The
convenience-store foodservice operation may not require a kitchen.
The
grocery store may not need a bigger deli.
And
the consumer may not care where the food was made—as long as it is fresh, hot,
good and ready when they are.
That
is why I believe the next competitive battle in foodservice will be fought over
footprint productivity rather than footprint size.
Three Insights From the Grocerant Guru®
1.
Smaller Footprints Can Create Bigger Foodservice Opportunities.
The foodservice industry has spent decades believing that more food requires
more square footage. Autonomous platforms challenge that assumption. The
opportunity is not necessarily to build bigger kitchens—it is to make every
square foot capable of generating a food occasion.
2.
Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat Fresh Food Are Becoming the Common Currency Across
Channels.
Grocery, convenience, restaurants and other retailers are increasingly
competing for the same meal occasions. FMI's finding that 28% of consumers now
substitute deli-prepared foods for restaurant meals—and that 53% create hybrid
meals—shows how quickly the walls between channels are disappearing.
3.
The Winning "Footprint" Is the One Closest to the Consumer's Craving.
The future isn't about putting consumers into a bigger foodservice box. It is
about putting desirable food into more of the places consumers already go.
White Castle through automated kiosks, grocery-store prepared meals and
convenience-store fresh food are all versions of the same strategy: put
Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food where the consumer is—not where the foodservice
industry thinks the consumer should be.
The
Grocerant Guru® prediction: Watch the square footage.
The
next generation of foodservice growth may come from retailers discovering that
they don't need a larger footprint.
They
need a smarter one.
Success Leaves Clues—Are You Ready to Find Yours?
One
key insight that continues to drive success is this: "The consumer is
dynamic, not static." This principle is the foundation of our work at Foodservice
Solutions®, where Steven Johnson, the Grocerant Guru®, has been
helping brands stay relevant in an ever-evolving market.
Want
to strengthen your brand’s connection with today’s consumers? Let’s talk.
Call 253-759-7869 for more information.
