Restaurants That Build, Measure, Learn, Repeat Continue to Win

 

Why the Grocerant Mindset Is Now a Requirement, Not a Differentiator

Restaurant success has never been accidental. It is the outcome of disciplined iteration grounded in consumer behavior. According to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson, enduring success in today’s food industry follows a deceptively simple but relentlessly executed cycle: Build, Measure, Learn, Repeat.

That four-step operating system has only grown more relevant as consumers evolve faster than the restaurant, grocery, and convenience store sectors designed to serve them.

Consumer Choice Is the Only KPI That Matters

The modern consumer no longer distinguishes between “restaurants,” “grocery,” or “convenience.” They distinguish between solutions and friction. Every meal occasion is evaluated through the lens of:

·       Time scarcity

·       Perceived freshness

·       Health halo and ingredient transparency

·       Price–value balance

·       Customization and control

Data consistently confirms this shift. Today, more than 70% of U.S. consumers replace at least one restaurant visit per week with a prepared food alternative sourced from grocery, food halls, or hybrid concepts. At the same time, over 60% say they want meals that feel “restaurant-quality” but fit into home routines, not dining rooms.

This convergence is the Grocerant niche—and it continues to expand.

Papa Murphy’s: A Case Study in Relentless Relevance

Long before “take-and-bake” became a strategic talking point, Papa Murphy’s recognized a fundamental consumer truth: families wanted fresh, customizable, better-for-you meals without sacrificing control over timing, preparation, or price.

By blending:

·       Ready-to-Eat fresh salads,

·       Heat-N-Eat pizzas made from scratch,

·       Limited indulgent desserts,

Papa Murphy’s created menu equilibrium—a balance of health, indulgence, convenience, and value. Their success was never about novelty; it was about measurement.

They continuously tested:

·       Price elasticity at the household level

·       Ingredient transparency as a trust driver

·       Portion flexibility for multi-generational households

The result was sustained leadership in consumer recommendation metrics for years. Even today, the takeaway remains clear: brands that win are brands that operationalize listening.

Build, Measure, Learn, Repeat Is Now a Technology Stack—Not a Slogan

What was once intuition is now infrastructure. Winning operators embed the four-step cycle into:

·       POS-linked menu analytics

·       Loyalty-driven preference tracking

·       Dynamic pricing and limited-time testing

·       Real-time feedback loops via apps and digital ordering

Brands that fail to institutionalize learning fall into stagnation. Brands that do not repeat what works efficiently get outpaced by those who do.

Consumers are dynamic, not static. Your brand must move at their speed—or faster.

 

The Format Shift: Where Food Is Sold Matters Less Than How It Solves Life

As grocery stores and convenience retailers aggressively expand Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat assortments, restaurants face competition from every direction. Yet the most disruptive growth is not coming from legacy chains—it is coming from format innovation.

Food Halls and Marketplaces: Grocerants in Disguise

The early success of concepts like Eataly foreshadowed what is now mainstream. Today’s food halls function as curated consumption ecosystems, blending retail, restaurant, education, and entertainment.

Modern examples across the U.S. regularly generate:

·       $1,500–$2,500 in sales per square foot

·       Average dwell times exceeding traditional restaurants

·       Multi-daypart relevance without menu bloat

These spaces thrive because they deliver choice without compromise—multiple cuisines, portion sizes, and price points under one roof.

Restaurateurs Who Followed the Consumer—Not the Category

Operators like Tom Douglas were early to recognize that urban consumers wanted:

·       High-quality meals for home

·       Minimal friction

·       Trust in sourcing and preparation

By extending restaurant credibility into retail-ready formats, these operators captured incremental occasions without diluting brand equity.

Today, that strategy is being replicated nationwide by chefs, regional chains, and even QSR brands launching micro-markets, subscription meal bundles, and hybrid pickup models.

 

Why Legacy Brands Are Losing Relevance

The largest demographic cohorts—Millennials and Gen Z—are not loyal to formats. They are loyal to fit.

Research shows:

·       Over 50% of Gen Z consumers prefer eating at home but want restaurant-level food

·       Nearly 65% say traditional chain restaurants feel “undifferentiated”

·       Speed, transparency, and customization outweigh ambiance

Legacy brands that rely on brand protectionism instead of brand evolution are creating the very void that grocerants, food halls, and fresh-prepared retail are filling.

Success leaves clues. The market is broadcasting them loudly.

 

New Ideations from the Grocerant Guru®

1.       Meal Participation Will Replace Menu Design
Winning brands will stop designing menus and start designing participation systems—modular components that flex across dayparts, diets, and households.

2.       Prepared Food Will Become the Primary Traffic Driver Across Channels
Grocery, c-store, and restaurant growth will increasingly be measured by fresh-prepared penetration, not SKU count or dining room capacity.

3.       Brands That Learn Faster Than Consumers Change Will Own the Future
The competitive advantage is no longer scale—it is learning velocity. Build, Measure, Learn, Repeat is not optional; it is survival.

 

Consumers are dynamic. Formats are fluid. Success belongs to those willing to evolve.

Since 1991, Foodservice Solutions® has helped global food brands navigate and lead the Grocerant niche by aligning food, format, and consumer behavior.

For strategic insight on how the 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your brand and unlock new growth platforms, connect with the Grocerant Guru® at:
www.FoodserviceSolutions.us
LinkedIn: /in/grocerant
Twitter: @grocerant

Restaurants and Retailers Win by Letting Customers Build the Meal

 

Why Mix-and-Match Components Are Defining the Next Era of Foodservice Growth According to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®

Alice May Brock once famously said, “Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian, wine and tarragon make it French, sour cream makes it Russian, lemon and cinnamon make it Greek, soy sauce makes it Chinese, garlic makes it good.”

That insight, offered decades ago, perfectly frames today’s most powerful foodservice growth strategy: modular meal components that empower the consumer.

In 2025, success in food retail is no longer about fixed menus or rigid dayparts. It is about convenient meal participation, differentiation, and individualization—the same three pillars that have defined the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food space, also known as the Grocerant Niche, for more than a decade.

What has changed is not the consumer’s desire for convenience—it is their expectation of control.

 

The New American Meal Is Not a Recipe—It’s a Platform

The modern American meal is no longer anchored to a single cuisine, a single brand, or even a single retailer. It is a composite—assembled from mix-and-match components sourced across grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, drugstores, and digital marketplaces.

A protein from one place.
A sauce from another.
A side that reheats in three minutes.

Consumers now expect to curate meals the way they curate playlists.

This is not cultural dilution; it is cultural acceleration.

The United States has always been a melting pot of people, traditions, and flavors. Today, the meal itself mirrors that diversity. Italian meets Korean. Tex-Mex meets Mediterranean. Comfort food meets global spice—often on the same plate.

Retailers that design interoperable meal components—items that travel well, reheat cleanly, and pair flexibly—are no longer just selling food. They are selling optionality.

 

Food Is Everywhere—So Where Will It Be Eaten?

Fresh prepared, portable, Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat foods are now ubiquitous. Consumers can find them in:

·       Grocery stores

·       Convenience stores

·       Drugstores

·       Restaurants

·       Ghost kitchens

·       Food trucks

·       Subscription and delivery platforms

The critical strategic question for menu development is no longer “What do we serve?” but rather:

“Where will this food be consumed—and under what constraints?”

At a desk.
In a car.
Between meetings.
At home, but not cooked.

Food that succeeds today is designed backward from the moment of consumption, not forward from the kitchen.

 

The Consumer Is Evolving Faster Than the Food Industry

Consumers have been exposed to more flavors than any generation in history—through travel, media, social platforms, and multicultural communities. Yet they have less time and less interest in mastering complex cooking skills.

The Grocerant Niche fills that gap.

It empowers consumers to:

·       Eat better without cooking from scratch

·       Explore global flavors without culinary risk

·       Establish new eating rituals that fit modern life

This is not about replacing restaurants or grocery stores. It is about blurring the line between them.

 

Three Consumer Forces Still Driving Growth—Now with More Impact

1. Aging Consumers Are Buying Time, Not Ingredients

Adults 65+ continue to grow as a share of the population, but the key insight is behavioral, not demographic:
This group is increasingly done with cooking—but not with eating well.

They value:

·       Familiar flavors

·       Trusted brands

·       Portion control

·       Simplicity

Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat meals from non-traditional locations—grocery, drug, and hybrid retailers—fit seamlessly into their routines. Brand equity and reliability matter, and this cohort has both the willingness and the ability to spend.

2. Multicultural Consumers Are Redefining “Mainstream” Flavor

Latino, Asian, and multicultural consumers are no longer niche influencers—they are core drivers of flavor normalization.

What was once “ethnic” is now everyday.
What was once “adventurous” is now expected.

At the same time, many consumers:

·       Grew up with traditional meals

·       Lack the desire or time to cook them today

·       Seek authenticity without complexity

This creates enormous opportunity for componentized global flavors—sauces, proteins, grains, and sides that can be recombined at home.

3. Women Continue to Set the Food Agenda

Women remain the dominant force shaping food purchasing, flavor acceptance, and household food strategy.

With greater workforce participation, purchasing power, and decision authority, women are driving demand for:

·       Efficiency without compromise

·       Health without sacrifice

·       Value defined by time saved, not price alone

Retailers that ignore this reality fall behind—quickly.

 

Retail Must Now Move at the Speed of the Consumer

Every food retailer looking “a customer ahead” must recognize a hard truth:

The consumer is evolving faster than the restaurant sector, the grocery sector, and the convenience sector.

Maintaining—or gaining—market share now requires evolving as fast or faster than the customer, especially in:

·       Flavor flexibility

·       Portion logic

·       Price–value–service equilibrium

·       Cross-channel usability

 

Four Insights from the Grocerant Guru®

1.       Menus Will Be Replaced by Modular Systems
The future is not a bigger menu—it is a smarter architecture. Winning brands will design food components that can live across dayparts, channels, and consumption occasions with minimal friction.

2.       Convenience Will Be Measured in Cognitive Load
Speed alone is no longer enough. The next competitive advantage is reducing decision fatigue—making it easy for consumers to assemble a meal that “just works.”

3.       Flavor Is the New Loyalty Program
Points and discounts matter less than consistent, craveable flavor that fits into real life. If your food integrates seamlessly into the consumer’s routine, you earn repeat business without incentives.

4.       The Grocerant Is No Longer a Niche—It Is the Operating System
Retailers still treating Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat as an add-on will lose relevance. Those who treat it as the core growth engine will define the next decade of food retail.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development, leveraging outside eyes for inside profits. We help identify, quantify, and qualify emerging food retail opportunities, menu strategies, and Grocerant integration models designed for today’s rapidly evolving consumer.

Steve Johnson
Grocerant Guru®
Foodservice Solutions®
www.FoodserviceSolutions.us