The biggest mistake a food brand can make in 2026 may be thinking that consumers still care very much about where a food product was supposed to be purchased, how it was traditionally used, or which channel has historically owned the consumer relationship according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA-based Foodservice Solutions®.
They
don't.
Consumers
increasingly care about one thing: Can you help me create the meal I want, when
I want it, at a price I can justify?
That
is the real opportunity behind what I call Grocerant Meal Component Discovery.
Today's
consumer may purchase a rotisserie chicken from a grocery deli, a refrigerated
side dish from the perimeter, a sauce from the center store, a beverage from a
convenience store and dessert from a restaurant. They may eat all of it at
home—and never think twice about the fact that those products came from
different channels.
That
is not channel cannibalization.
That
is consumer-driven meal assembly.
And
it is creating a new battleground for food brands.
Circana's
August 2026 Eating Patterns in America report provides a powerful snapshot of
this changing environment. It analyzed more than $1.8 trillion in spending and
618 billion eating and drinking occasions and found that convenience and
protein are major forces reshaping how Americans eat. Circana reports that half
of all meals now take less than five minutes to prepare, including 56% of
lunches and 35% of dinners.
That
changes everything.
The Consumer Is No Longer Buying Dinner—They're Building It
For
decades, food marketers were trained to think in terms of categories:
Breakfast.
Lunch.
Dinner.
Snacks.
Frozen
food.
Grocery.
Restaurant.
Convenience
store.
Those
boundaries are increasingly artificial.
The
consumer sees occasions, not organizational charts.
A
parent working from home may buy a prepared entrée, add a fresh salad, heat a
frozen side dish and finish the meal with something purchased from a
restaurant.
A
single consumer may eat breakfast from a convenience store, lunch from a
restaurant, grab a snack from a grocery store and assemble dinner at home.
The
meal has become modular.
This
is why meal components are becoming so important.
The
question for food companies is no longer simply:
"How
do we sell our product?"
The
better question is:
"What
other foods can our product help the consumer create?"
That
is a dramatically larger marketing opportunity.
Millennials Didn't Create Food-Channel Blurring—They
Accelerated It
Millennials
were among the first generations to aggressively embrace restaurant delivery,
grocery pickup, prepared foods, meal kits, food apps and digital discovery.
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But
by 2026, this behavior is no longer limited to Millennials.
It
has become mainstream.
Circana
reports that consumers are balancing nutrition, convenience, cost and
connection, while foodservice is responding to consumers seeking satisfying
food, memorable experiences, convenience and value. Circana also projects
continued growth in both on-premises dining and delivery through 2028.
Meanwhile,
grocery is increasingly behaving like foodservice.
FMI
reported in 2025 that the percentage of consumers choosing deli-prepared foods
instead of restaurant meals had more than doubled—from 12% in 2017 to 28% in
2025. Even more revealing, 53% of Americans now use a hybrid approach,
combining deli-prepared foods with items prepared in their own kitchens.
Think
about what that means.
The
grocery deli isn't simply competing with the restaurant.
It
is becoming part of the restaurant occasion.
And
the consumer isn't necessarily replacing one with the other.
They
are combining them.
The C-Store Is Another Warning Shot
Convenience
stores provide perhaps the clearest evidence that traditional channel
definitions are breaking down.
According
to NACS, foodservice represented 28.5% of convenience-store in-store sales and
38.9% of in-store gross profit dollars in 2025. Prepared food alone represented
73.9% of c-store foodservice sales.
In
2005, foodservice represented only 11.9% of c-store inside sales.
That's
not a small change.
That's
a transformation of the business model.
And
the transformation is continuing.
Convenience
stores are selling food that increasingly competes with traditional QSRs, while
restaurants are adding drive-thru, pickup, packaged products, retail
merchandise and grocery-like solutions.
Everybody
is moving toward everybody else's customer.
That
is why protecting an old channel definition can become a dangerous strategy.
It's Time to Abandon Brand Protectionism
Brand
protection once made sense.
Manufacturers
protected their distribution channels, retailers protected their categories and
restaurants protected their menus.
But
excessive protectionism can eventually become marketplace isolation.
If
your brand says:
"We
only sell this product this way, in this package, through this channel, for
this occasion,"
the
consumer may simply find another brand that says:
"Here
are five ways you can use this product."
That
second brand has a much bigger opportunity to participate in the consumer's
life.
Look
at the current restaurant environment.
Circana
found that perceived value-menu traffic increased 1% in the quarter ending June
2025, even while overall restaurant traffic declined 1%. Half of consumers who
had not recently dined out said lower prices would encourage them to visit
restaurants, rising to 54% among households earning under $75,000.
But
value isn't simply about price.
It
is about what the consumer gets for the money.
That
same principle applies to grocery and c-store food.
A
$9.99 entrée may be expensive.
But
if that entrée feeds a family, eliminates 30 minutes of preparation and becomes
the centerpiece of dinner, the consumer may perceive it as a tremendous value.
Price
is a number. Value is an experience.
Limited-Time Offers Should Become Discovery Engines
This
is where Limited-Time Offers can become much more powerful.
An
LTO shouldn't merely be:
"Try
our new sandwich."
Instead,
it can become:
"Discover
Korean-inspired flavors."
Or:
"Build
a restaurant-quality dinner at home."
Or:
"Three
ways to turn one ingredient into dinner."
Or:
"Your
15-minute taco night starts here."
The
product becomes the starting point for a meal experience.
Technomic
has already identified consumers' continuing interest in global flavors, spicy
profiles, hot honey and sauces such as gochujang and harissa. Its research also
points toward consumers shifting away from expensive delivery occasions toward
carryout, curbside and drive-thru because of delivery fees.
That
creates an opportunity for brands to package discovery + convenience + value
together.
Consumers Are Looking for Personalization
The
next step beyond convenience is individualization.
Consumers
don't necessarily want the exact same meal.
They
want a platform that allows them to create their meal.
Consider
the possibilities:
One
base protein.
Three
sauces.
Four
sides.
Two
spice levels.
Multiple
toppings.
Different
portion sizes.
Different
preparation methods.
Now
the brand isn't selling one meal.
It's
selling a meal-building platform.
That
is particularly relevant as consumers increasingly focus on protein and
nutrition. Circana's August 2026 research found that 12% of commercial
foodservice meals are now described as high-protein, with those occasions
growing 11% year over year.
The
opportunity is not simply to put "high protein" on a package.
It
is to show consumers how that protein fits into the meal they are trying to
create.
The New Competition Is for the Consumer's Meal Occasion
This
is perhaps the biggest strategic change.
Food
companies have traditionally competed for:
·
Shelf space
·
Menu space
·
Share of stomach
·
Distribution
·
Search results
·
Promotional space
Now
they increasingly compete for the meal occasion.
Who
owns Tuesday-night dinner?
Who
owns the five-minute lunch?
Who
owns the post-workout meal?
Who
owns the Sunday family meal?
Who
owns the "I'm too tired to cook" occasion?
Who
owns the "I want something different tonight" occasion?
The
brands that answer those questions will have more opportunities to grow.
The Future Belongs to Brands That Help Consumers Assemble
Meals
This
is why I believe Grocerant Meal Component Discovery is more important today
than when I first wrote about the concept.
The
consumer doesn't need another brand telling them what to buy.
They
need brands showing them what they can do with what they buy.
That
means food manufacturers, grocery retailers, C-stores and restaurants should be
thinking beyond individual SKUs.
Think:
Ingredient
→ Component → Meal → Occasion → Experience.
A
sauce isn't just a sauce.
It
can be the beginning of dinner.
A
rotisserie chicken isn't just a chicken.
It
can become tacos, sandwiches, salads, bowls or soup.
A
prepared side isn't just a side.
It
can become part of a restaurant-quality meal at home.
A
restaurant entrée doesn't necessarily have to end at the restaurant.
It
can inspire a retail product, a packaged sauce, a frozen entrée or a grocery
meal solution.
The
walls between food channels are coming down because consumers keep walking
through them.
The
question is whether food marketers will walk through them too.
Three New Insights from the Grocerant Guru®
1. Stop Marketing Products. Start Marketing Meal
Possibilities.
The
SKU is what the company sells.
The
meal is what the consumer buys.
The
strongest brands in the next phase of food marketing will demonstrate multiple
ways their products can participate in breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacking and
entertaining.
If
consumers can immediately see three or four meal possibilities, the product
becomes more valuable without necessarily becoming more expensive.
2. Convenience Is No Longer a Feature—It Is a Competitive
Platform.
Circana's
latest data shows just how quickly convenience is becoming embedded in everyday
eating: half of meals now take less than five minutes to prepare.
That
means convenience should no longer be buried on the back of a package.
Convenience
belongs in the headline.
Show
consumers the time saved.
Show
them how to assemble the meal.
Show
them what else to add.
Show
them the finished plate.
Make
convenience visible.
3. The Biggest Growth Opportunity May Be Outside Your
Traditional Channel.
Grocery
is moving into foodservice.
C-stores
are moving into prepared meals.
Restaurants
are moving into retail.
Manufacturers
are creating foodservice-inspired products.
Consumers
are mixing everything together.
The
strategic question for 2026 isn't:
"Who
is our competitor?"
It
is:
"Who
else is trying to own the same meal occasion?"
That
is the question that can unlock the next wave of Grocerant growth.
The
future of food isn't about protecting the box.
It's
about helping consumers think outside the box—and giving them more ways to
build the meal they want.
Do
your food marketing ideas look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in
learning how the Grocerant Guru®
can help your brand create consumer-driven platforms for convenient meal
participation, differentiation and individualization? Contact Steve Johnson at
Foodservice Solutions®.
