The Grocery Aisle Is Not One Demographic: Baby Boomers Put the Wrench in the Favorite-Grocer List

 

Why Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z Can Walk Into the Same Grocery Store Looking for Four Different Things. Leave it to Baby Boomers to say, “Ah, not so fast.”

A new look at grocery-store preferences by generation demonstrates something food marketers have known for years but too often forget: there is no such thing as the American grocery shopper. There are American grocery shoppers according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

And they are not necessarily shopping for the same reasons, responding to the same messages, discovering food in the same places or defining value the same way.

The latest YouGov grocery research provides an excellent example. Overall, Aldi ranked No. 1 in the referenced study, while the generations disagreed about their favorite grocers. Millennials and Generation X put Aldi at the top, while Baby Boomers selected Trader Joe's.

That difference is not a footnote.

It is the story.

Food retailers and food marketers that lump four generations into one demographic are potentially marketing to an imaginary consumer.

The four major generations—Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z—may share the same grocery aisle, but they don't necessarily share the same shopping journey.

And the data from 2024, 2025 and 2026 makes that increasingly clear.

1. BABY BOOMERS: TRUST, VALUE AND THE POWER OF THE FAMILIAR

Baby Boomers deserve to go first because they are the demographic that most clearly demonstrates why brand trust still matters.

In YouGov's 2025 grocery research, Baby Boomers were particularly responsive to special offers: 84.7% said they are always on the lookout for special offers, compared with 80.5% of consumers overall. At the same time, 74.7% said they are usually looking for the lowest prices.

But Boomers aren't simply "cheap shoppers."

In fact, the same research showed that Boomers were more loyal to their primary store than younger consumers. Research from RRD found 61% of Baby Boomers said they tend to stay loyal to the store they shop at most often, compared with 55% overall.

That is important.

Price matters. Value matters. But trust can turn value into loyalty.

The 2026 YouGov research on brand values makes that even more compelling. Among Baby Boomers, 84% said honesty is the most important brand value, compared with 66% of Gen Z. Across all Americans, honesty and trustworthiness ranked as the two most important brand values.

And Boomers aren't technologically disconnected shoppers, either.

FMI reported in 2024 that 57% of Boomers use smartphones to look for grocery deals, while 52% use digital coupons.

So the stereotype of the Boomer who simply walks into the neighborhood supermarket and buys the same brands every week is increasingly outdated.

The better description is:

A value-conscious, trust-sensitive shopper who is perfectly willing to use technology—but doesn't necessarily need technology to discover everything.

FMI's 2026 beverage research found that 41% of Boomers discover new beverages through in-store shelf signage and 35% simply notice products while shopping.

For Boomers, the store itself remains a media channel.

That helps explain why Trader Joe's can resonate differently with Boomers than Aldi does with younger generations. The issue isn't simply price. It can be the combination of familiarity, perceived authenticity, discovery, product uniqueness and trust.

 

2. GENERATION X: THE VALUE-HUNTING BRIDGE GENERATION

Generation X may be the most interesting demographic sitting between the traditional supermarket shopper and the digitally enabled consumer.

YouGov's 2025 data found 78% of Gen X shoppers said they are usually looking for the lowest prices, the highest percentage among the four generations in that measurement. And 82.1% said they are always on the lookout for special offers.

Gen X also isn't waiting for the retailer to tell them where the deal is.

FMI's 2024 research found 67% of Gen X shoppers use smartphones to look for deals, while 66% use digital coupons.

That creates an important marketing lesson:

Gen X can be reached digitally, but the message still has to make economic sense.

They are also highly capable of switching among channels.

The 2025 grocery research showed consumers increasingly shop multiple retailers to optimize value, while FMI reported that 44% of shoppers were shopping at multiple stores to obtain the best value.

For Gen X, the grocery store is less likely to be a single destination and more likely to be part of a shopping portfolio.

 

3. MILLENNIALS: PRICE IS IMPORTANT, BUT VALUE HAS MORE DIMENSIONS

Millennials are where traditional food marketing gets particularly complicated.

They are highly price-conscious—but price isn't necessarily the entire definition of value.

The 2024 FMI research found that shoppers increasingly define value beyond price and quality to include relevance, convenience and experience.

And Millennials are particularly open to switching.

RRD's 2024 research found 50% of Millennials were willing to change stores for greater savings, compared with 45% overall.

That matters enormously to legacy brands.

A 30-year relationship with a retailer or food brand doesn't automatically protect it when consumers can discover another product, another retailer or another price with a few taps.

The 2025 EY Future Consumer Index found that U.S. consumers were increasingly prioritizing price and quality over brand familiarity. The same research found that 55% of consumers who try private-label products eventually switch back to national brands—but nearly half of those returning cite better quality, taste or performance.

That tells food marketers something important:

Private label isn't merely a cheap substitute anymore.

It can become a legitimate competitor to the national brand on the very dimensions—quality, taste and performance—that legacy brands traditionally used to defend their premium.

 

4. GENERATION Z: DISCOVERY HAS LEFT THE AISLE

If Baby Boomers demonstrate the continuing power of trust and in-store discovery, Gen Z demonstrates what happens when discovery begins before the shopping trip.

FMI's 2024 research found Gen Z shoppers were significantly more likely than average to seek additional information about products and stores before shopping. Forty-five percent of Gen Z used their phones to make grocery lists, compared with 29% overall.

By 2026, the behavior had accelerated.

FMI reported that 92% of Gen Z beverage shoppers use social media to discover new beverages, with 58% using TikTok and 55% Instagram.

And FMI's broader 2026 grocery research found that Gen Z shoppers visit an average of 6.7 retailers per month, more than any other generation. Nine out of 10 use at least one digital tool to plan grocery trips.

That is not traditional brand loyalty.

That is continuous discovery.

The product doesn't necessarily have to be discovered on the shelf. It can be discovered through a recipe, creator, social video, search result, AI tool, friend, review or digital promotion—and then purchased somewhere else.

The implications for legacy food brands are enormous.

 

BUT HERE IS THE BIG DEMOGRAPHIC COMMON DENOMINATOR: PRICE MATTERS TO EVERYBODY

This is where the data gets particularly interesting.

Food marketers sometimes talk about younger shoppers as though they are driven by experiences while older shoppers are driven by price.

The data doesn't support such a simple division.

Price matters across generations.

YouGov's 2025 grocery research found that 75.9% of U.S. consumers said they are usually looking for the lowest prices. The generational numbers were:

·       Gen X: 78.0%

·       Millennials: 75.7%

·       Gen Z: 76.4%

·       Baby Boomers: 74.7%

That's remarkably close.

And FMI's 2026 research reinforces the point: low pricing was the most frequently cited influential factor in choosing a grocery store, at 71%. Seventy-three percent of consumers reported adopting new shopping habits during the previous year to cope with rising costs, while 42% regularly visited multiple grocery stores to find lower prices.

So, yes:

Food discovery matters to every generation.

Price matters to every generation.

But how consumers discover and how they define value can be radically different.

That is the demographic opportunity.

 

FOOD DISCOVERY IS UNIVERSAL—THE DISCOVERY ENGINE IS NOT

This may be one of the most important findings for food marketers.

The consumer wants discovery.

But the discovery mechanism changes with age.

Boomer discovery:
Shelf signage, in-store merchandising, familiarity, trusted recommendations and the physical shopping experience.

Gen X discovery:
In-store merchandising combined with digital coupons, smartphone research, promotions and practical value.

Millennial discovery:
Digital information, social media, convenience, recommendations, price comparison, new products and experiences.

Gen Z discovery:
Social media, TikTok, Instagram, creators, digital communities, recipes, reviews, AI and peer recommendations.

FMI's 2026 research says shoppers still visit stores because they want to select products themselves: 48% said that is what they would miss most if they couldn't grocery shop in person. Discovery itself was cited by 17%.

So the physical store isn't dead.

Digital discovery simply means the shopping journey starts earlier.

 

TRUST MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT WORD IN FOOD MARKETING IN 2026

Now comes the bigger issue.

TRUST.

YouGov's 2026 research found that 74% of Americans consider honesty an important brand value and 71% cite trustworthiness, while 60% value consistency between what a brand says and what it does.

For Baby Boomers, trust is even more powerful.

But trust isn't simply an emotional concept.

In food marketing, trust can mean:

Is the price honest?

Is the package honest?

Is the portion honest?

Is the promotion honest?

Is the food what the brand says it is?

Is the quality consistent?

Is the retailer treating the shopper fairly?

And in today's economic environment, consumers are scrutinizing those questions more closely.

FMI's 2025 research found 70% of shoppers were extremely or very worried about rising grocery prices, while 44% were shopping multiple stores to find better value. Another FMI report said 90% of shoppers expressed concern about rising food prices and 78% were concerned about the impact of tariffs.

That is where economic uncertainty and government-policy uncertainty intersect with brand value.

Consumers don't need a political lecture from a food brand.

They need something much more basic:

Tell me what it costs. Tell me what I'm getting. Give me a fair value. And then deliver what you promised.

That is trust.

 

LEGACY BRANDS: THE REAL RISK ISN'T THAT CONSUMERS HATE YOU

The real risk is that consumers no longer need you.

For decades, legacy food brands benefited from familiarity.

Consumers knew the name.

They knew the package.

They knew where to find it.

They knew what it tasted like.

They trusted it.

But today's consumer has dramatically more opportunities to discover alternatives.

FMI's 2026 private-brand research found that 92% of U.S. grocery shoppers currently have store-brand products in their homes, while private-brand dollar sales increased 2.8% year over year, ahead of national-brand growth. Nearly half of shoppers increased their private-brand purchases during the previous year.

That changes the competitive equation.

The question for a legacy brand is no longer:

"Does the consumer know us?"

The consumer probably does.

The better question is:

"Why should the consumer choose us today?"

That's a very different marketing question.

And the answer can't simply be:

"Because we've been around for 75 years."

 

THE GROCERANT GURU® VIEW: THERE ARE NO DEMOGRAPHIC SILOS IN THE CONSUMER'S MIND

From my perspective as the Grocerant Guru®, the biggest mistake food marketers can make is assuming that demographic differences mean consumers live in separate marketing silos.

They don't.

A 72-year-old Baby Boomer may buy a prepared meal at a grocery store.

A 45-year-old Gen Xer may grab dinner at a convenience store.

A 34-year-old Millennial may order restaurant delivery and pick up groceries on the same trip.

A 22-year-old Gen Zer may discover a food product on TikTok, compare its price online and buy it at a mass retailer.

That's the Grocerant consumer.

The consumer doesn't care which organizational silo produced the food.

They care about price, quality, taste, convenience, portability, discovery, trust and the experience.

And that means the real competition isn't simply Kroger versus Aldi or Trader Joe's versus Whole Foods.

It is every food occasion competing for the consumer's next food dollar.

Three Insights from the Grocerant Guru®

1. DEMOGRAPHICS MATTER—BUT CONSUMER OCCASIONS MATTER MORE.

Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z clearly behave differently. But they can all want the same thing at 6:00 p.m.: "What's for dinner?"

The winning retailer or foodservice operator will understand the demographic without allowing the demographic to become a silo.

2. PRICE GETS YOU INTO THE CONSIDERATION SET. TRUST KEEPS YOU THERE.

The data shows that price matters across generations. But price alone is not a sustainable brand strategy.

Consumers increasingly want proof that the value equation is fair: price + quality + convenience + experience + trust.

3. LEGACY FOOD BRANDS SHOULD STOP MARKETING TO THEIR HISTORY AND START MARKETING TO THE CONSUMER'S PRESENT.

Your brand's history may explain why consumers know you.

It doesn't necessarily explain why they should buy you tomorrow.

In an environment of economic uncertainty, expanding private label, digital discovery, AI-assisted shopping and increasingly sophisticated consumers, trust has to be earned at every transaction.

The grocery consumer isn't disappearing.

The old definition of the grocery consumer is.

And that may be the most important demographic fact in food marketing today.

 

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.

Stay Ahead of the Competition with Fresh Ideas

Is your food marketing keeping up with tomorrow’s trends—or stuck in yesterday’s playbook? If you're ready for fresh ideations that set your brand apart, we’re here to help.

At Foodservice Solutions®, we specialize in consumer-driven retail food strategies that enhance convenience, differentiation, and individualization—key factors in driving growth.

Email us at Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Connect with us on social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

Wonder Gets the Consumer. Why Are Restaurant Chains Still Stuck in Brand Silos?

 

There is something almost amusing about the restaurant industry's relationship with innovation according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Give a restaurant chain a new piece of technology and executives will proudly announce that they are transforming the customer experience.

Give consumers the ability to order exactly what they want from multiple restaurant concepts in one transaction—and suddenly the old restaurant industry playbook starts looking very old.

That is what makes Wonder so interesting.

At FSTEC, Wonder executives described a future involving AI-generated meal planning, robotic food preparation, sophisticated sequencing software and drone delivery. The company says that, beginning as soon as next year, a Wonder location outside Dallas could combine its bowl-making robotics with Zipline drone delivery.

But from the perspective of the Grocerant Guru®, the robot isn't the biggest story.

The biggest story is that Wonder appears to understand something many legacy restaurant chains still don't: The consumer doesn't live in a restaurant-brand silo.

Restaurant Chains: The Consumer Has Left Your Building

For decades, restaurant chains have built their businesses around a simple proposition:

Pick our brand. Eat our menu. Buy our experience. Come back.

That worked beautifully when restaurant choice was relatively limited.

But today's consumer lives in a much more complicated food world.

The same consumer can buy breakfast at a convenience store, lunch from a restaurant, dinner from a grocery store's prepared-food department, snacks from a dollar store and groceries through an online platform—all in the same day or week.

And then the restaurant industry wonders why consumers aren't behaving according to the brand loyalty models created decades ago.

The consumer isn't confused. The industry is.

Wonder's Seven Grocerant Moves

1. Wonder lets consumers mix and match restaurant concepts

Wonder locations can offer as many as 30 restaurant concepts under one roof.

Think about how radical that is compared with the traditional chain restaurant model.

A consumer doesn't have to decide:

“Which restaurant am I going to?”

The consumer can essentially decide:

“What do I want?”

That is Grocerant thinking.

2. Wonder puts the meal ahead of the logo

Traditional chains spend enormous amounts of money building brand identity.

But the consumer doesn't necessarily want a brand.

Sometimes the consumer wants a burger.

Sometimes noodles.

Sometimes a salad.

Sometimes wings.

Sometimes a bowl.

Sometimes something completely different.

Wonder's model recognizes that the consumer's appetite can change faster than the consumer's brand loyalty.

3. Wonder is attacking the restaurant industry's sacred “one brand, one menu” model

For years, restaurant executives have optimized individual brands.

Wonder is asking a different question:

Why can't one physical location efficiently produce food from multiple concepts?

That is precisely the kind of question that traditional restaurant organizations have historically been reluctant to ask.

Why?

Because restaurant companies are structured around brands.

Consumers are structured around occasions.

That's a problem.

4. Wonder understands that families don't necessarily want the same food

This may be one of the most important parts of the model.

Families frequently disagree about what to eat.

One person wants Mexican.

Another wants Asian.

Someone else wants a burger.

Someone else wants a salad.

The traditional restaurant model says:

Pick one restaurant and compromise.

Wonder says:

Why compromise?

That is an extraordinarily simple consumer proposition.

And it is exactly the type of thinking that helped create the Grocerant niche.

5. Wonder connects “food for now” with “food for later”

Wonder owns Blue Apron and describes the businesses as “food for now” and “food for later.”

Traditional restaurant chains have spent years defining themselves by individual dayparts and restaurant occasions.

Wonder is thinking more broadly about the consumer's food life.

Breakfast.

Lunch.

Dinner.

Snacking.

Meal planning.

Prepared food.

Meal kits.

Potentially groceries.

That isn't a restaurant strategy.

That's a food-consumption strategy.

6. Wonder is trying to make variety economically manageable

Wonder says it has approximately 700 menu items and 1,000 SKUs and is developing automation to help manage that complexity.

That's where the robotics become strategically interesting.

The goal isn't simply:

“Let's replace a worker with a robot.”

The bigger goal is:

“Can technology allow us to offer consumers enormous variety without enormous operating costs?”

If Wonder can accomplish that, it attacks one of the biggest problems with restaurant variety:

Complexity costs money.

7. Wonder wants to own the “What's for dinner?” decision

This may ultimately be Wonder's biggest ambition.

The company has talked about using AI to create meal plans around consumers' tastes and dietary needs.

In other words, Wonder isn't simply waiting for the consumer to place an order.

It wants to potentially participate in deciding what the consumer should eat.

That is a fundamentally different relationship.

The restaurant industry has historically fought over the transaction.

Wonder appears to be thinking about the decision before the transaction.

And that is where the Grocerant Guru® has been watching the industry for decades.

Meanwhile, Back at the Legacy Restaurant Chains...

Here's where things get uncomfortable.

Restaurant companies continue to talk about brand equity, restaurant identity, loyalty programs, digital engagement and same-store sales.

All important.

But consumers aren't sitting around thinking about the organizational structure of Restaurant Brand X.

They are thinking:

“What's for dinner?”

And sometimes the answer is:

“I want something from three different places.”

The grocery industry figured this out.

Convenience stores figured this out.

Delivery platforms figured this out.

Virtual restaurants figured this out.

And now Wonder is attempting to build the entire operating system around it.

The Restaurant Industry's Great Contradiction

Restaurant chains say they are obsessed with the consumer.

Yet many still organize their businesses around the needs of the brand.

The consumer wants choice.

The brand wants consistency.

The consumer wants personalization.

The brand wants standardization.

The consumer wants multiple cuisines.

The brand wants one menu.

The consumer wants convenience.

The brand wants the consumer to enter its particular funnel.

See the problem?

The industry keeps asking consumers to behave like brands.

Consumers keep behaving like consumers.

Are Legacy Brand Managers the Neanderthals of the 1800s?

Here's the deliberately provocative question:

Are some legacy restaurant brand managers becoming the Neanderthal brand managers of the 1800s?

Not because they lack intelligence.

Because they may still be operating from an industrial-era assumption:

Control the product. Control the distribution. Control the customer. Control the brand.

But the modern consumer doesn't necessarily want to be controlled by a brand.

The consumer wants to be served.

There is a profound difference.

The old model says:

“Come to us because we are Brand X.”

The emerging model says:

“Tell us what you want, and we'll figure out how to deliver it.”

That is a much more consumer-centric proposition.

Four Questions Every Major Restaurant Chain Should Answer

1. Why does the consumer have to choose only one of your brands?

If a family wants four different meals, why should the consumer have to make four separate decisions, four separate orders and potentially pay four separate delivery charges?

2. Why are restaurant companies still protecting brand silos that consumers never created?

The consumer doesn't see your corporate organizational chart.

Why should the consumer experience it?

3. If Wonder can put 30 restaurant concepts under one roof, why can't the major chains rethink what a restaurant actually is?

Is a restaurant still a 3,500-square-foot box dedicated to one brand?

Or is it becoming a food-production and fulfillment platform?

4. What happens when the consumer becomes more loyal to convenience and choice than to your logo?

That may be the question restaurant executives should fear most.

Because a consumer can love your brand and still order something else.

Brand loyalty does not eliminate hunger.

Wonder's Biggest Threat Isn't Its Robots

McDonald's doesn't have to lose customers because Wonder has better robots.

Starbucks doesn't have to lose customers because Wonder has drones.

Subway doesn't have to lose customers because Wonder has 30 concepts under one roof.

The threat is more fundamental.

Wonder is challenging the assumption that the restaurant brand should be the center of the consumer's food decision.

That is a much bigger threat.

Because once the consumer becomes the center, everything changes.

The menu changes.

The kitchen changes.

The location changes.

The labor model changes.

The technology changes.

The delivery model changes.

And perhaps most importantly:

the brand's role changes.

The Grocerant Guru® View

The restaurant industry's greatest competitive mistake may be assuming that its biggest competitors are other restaurants.

They aren't.

The consumer has already demonstrated that the competitive set includes:

restaurants + grocery stores + C-stores + delivery + meal kits + prepared foods + virtual restaurants + increasingly automated food platforms.

There are no silos in the consumer's mind.

There are only eating occasions.

Wonder appears to understand that.

The question is why so many legacy restaurant companies still don't.

Three Insights From the Grocerant Guru®

1. STOP ASKING “WHICH RESTAURANT?”

The better question is:

“What does the consumer want to eat?”

The company that can answer that question most effectively may have an advantage over the company with the biggest logo.

2. THE RESTAURANT BOX IS NOT THE BUSINESS

A restaurant is increasingly becoming a food-production, merchandising, fulfillment and consumer-engagement platform.

The smartest operators won't ask how to protect the traditional restaurant.

They will ask how to make the restaurant more useful to the consumer.

3. THE NEXT COMPETITION IS NOT BRAND VS. BRAND—IT'S SILO VS. CONSUMER

Legacy restaurant companies built enormous businesses by creating powerful brands.

Now those same brands may become constraints if management begins protecting the brand architecture instead of following consumer behavior.

Wonder's most important innovation may not be the robot.

It may be recognizing that the consumer should sit at the center of the food ecosystem—not the restaurant brand.

The Grocerant Guru® has been saying for years:

There are no silos in the consumer's mind.

Wonder appears to be building a business around that idea.

The question for legacy restaurant chains is simple:

Are you going to follow the consumer—or continue asking the consumer to follow your brand?

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