Why the Time Is Now — And Why the Concept Is Consumer Driven

 

Let me give credit where credit is due: Danielle Romano and Convenience Store News provide the foundation for this discussion with their excellent look at the return of Swiss Farms and its plan to evolve America's drive-thru grocer.

But from the perspective of Steven Johnson, the Grocerant Guru®, at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® the bigger story is not simply that Swiss Farms is coming back.

The bigger story is why the timing makes sense now.

Swiss Farms is showing what happens when a retail food concept starts with a consumer behavior and then builds the business around it.

That distinction matters.

Too many retailers begin with a facility, a menu, a format, a technology platform or an internal operating model and then ask consumers to adapt.

The Grocerant Niche works in the opposite direction.

Start with the consumer. Identify the friction. Solve the food occasion. Then build the format around the solution.

That is exactly what makes Swiss Farms interesting.

The Consumer Is Already Telling Us What Comes Next

For nearly six decades, Swiss Farms has built its identity around a simple proposition: consumers can get food and everyday essentials without leaving the vehicle. The company's current strategy keeps that drive-thru DNA while expanding fresh food, made-to-order food and beverages, grocery essentials, loyalty and eventually fuel.

That is not a random assortment of new ideas.

It reflects a consumer reality that has been accelerating across restaurants, grocery stores and convenience stores:

Consumers increasingly want the food they want, when they want it, in the easiest format available.

The National Restaurant Association's 2025 Off-Premises Restaurant Trends found that 47% of adults pick up takeout at least weekly and 42% use the drive-thru weekly. The same research identifies speed, customer service, technology, value and loyalty as basic requirements for repeat off-premises business.

That is important because it changes the competitive set.

Swiss Farms is not simply competing with another grocery store.

It is competing for the consumer's time.

And time may be one of the most valuable commodities in the modern food marketplace.

The Opportunity Is Not "More Food." It Is Less Friction.

Swiss Farms' leadership describes the problem with remarkable clarity.

Traditional grocery shopping can require parking, unloading children, walking through a large store and spending substantial time shopping for only a few products. Swiss Farms' answer is essentially: pull up, provide the list and open the trunk.

That is a Grocerant proposition.

The consumer isn't necessarily saying:

"I want another grocery store."

The consumer is saying:

"I need milk, breakfast, coffee, dinner, snacks and maybe gas — and I don't want to spend an hour accomplishing it."

That is a very different business proposition.

The National Restaurant Association's 2025 research reinforces the point. Consumers increasingly judge off-premises experiences on speed, value and ease, while younger adults report using takeout, drive-thru and delivery more often than the previous year.

The winning question is therefore not:

How do we get consumers to spend more time with us?

It is:

How do we give consumers more value for the time they give us?

Why the Time Is Now

The economic environment makes this even more relevant.

The National Restaurant Association reported in June 2026 that 36% of consumers said they were spending less at restaurants than the previous quarter, while more consumers were trading down, ordering fewer add-ons and choosing less expensive options.

At the same time, the Association reported in August 2026 that consumers continue to value convenience while household budgets remain under pressure.

This creates a fascinating intersection.

Consumers still want foodservice.

They still want fresh food.

They still want convenience.

But they are becoming increasingly deliberate about where their dollars go.

That is the environment in which hybrid concepts become especially interesting.

A consumer may not view a Swiss Farms purchase as "grocery" or "restaurant" or "convenience."

They simply see dinner.

They see breakfast.

They see something to eat now.

They see something to take home for later.

The consumer does not live inside industry silos.

Why should the operator?

Retail Foodservice Is Already Breaking Down the Silos

FMI's 2025 research found that consumers are increasingly treating grocery foodservice as an alternative to restaurant dining. The share of consumers choosing deli-prepared foods instead of restaurant meals more than doubled from 12% in 2017 to 28% in 2025. More than half of Americans now take a hybrid approach to meals, combining prepared foods with items from their own kitchens.

Read that again.

Hybrid is becoming normal.

That is the Grocerant Niche in action.

The meal doesn't have to come from one place.

Consumers can buy a prepared entrée, add a side from home, purchase a beverage at a convenience store and finish the meal with something already in the pantry.

The consumer creates the meal.

The retailer's job is to make that creation easier.

That is why Swiss Farms' plan for a curated grocery assortment is so intriguing. Instead of trying to reproduce a supermarket's thousands of SKUs, the strategy calls for carrying the top products in major grocery categories.

That is not about offering everything.

It is about offering enough of the right things.

The Consumer-Driven Concept Is Mix-and-Match

This is where the Grocerant Niche becomes particularly powerful.

I have long argued that consumers are increasingly comfortable with Mix-and-Match Meal Component Bundling.

The consumer does not necessarily want a conventional restaurant meal.

The consumer may want:

A breakfast sandwich and coffee now.

A take-home dinner later.

A Stromboli for one family member.

A milkshake for another.

Fresh groceries for tomorrow.

Snacks for the car.

Fuel while already making the trip.

Swiss Farms' evolving model touches each of those occasions. Its planned foodservice program includes breakfast sandwiches, coffee, Stromboli, refreshers, milkshakes and take-home meal options, while its broader strategy adds grocery essentials and fuel at new locations.

That is not simply an expanded convenience store.

It is a consumer-controlled meal ecosystem.

Convenience Is No Longer Enough

There is an important warning here.

Convenience by itself is becoming table stakes.

Consumers also want value, quality, freshness, variety and personalization.

Technomic's 2026 retail foodservice research identifies evolving expectations around value, quality and freshness, while also highlighting interest in made-to-order food, grab-and-go options, customization, breakfast sandwiches and other cross-category foodservice offerings.

That fits Swiss Farms' strategy surprisingly well.

The concept is not saying:

"We are fast, therefore we win."

It is saying:

"We are fast, while becoming more relevant."

That is a much stronger proposition.

Consumer Choice Is Becoming the Format

Swiss Farms plans to preserve its drive-thru while also adding a walk-in option at new locations.

That may be one of the most important details in the entire story.

Why?

Because the company is not forcing every consumer into one behavior.

The consumer who wants speed can use the drive-thru.

The consumer who wants to browse can walk inside.

The consumer who wants digital engagement can use the app and loyalty program.

The consumer who wants nostalgia can engage with the brand through merchandise and familiar visual cues.

That is consumer-driven retail.

The brand is adapting to the consumer rather than demanding that the consumer adapt to the brand.

And that distinction is increasingly important.

Why Restaurants Should Pay Attention

Restaurants should pay attention because Swiss Farms represents something larger than one company's growth strategy.

The competitive battlefield is increasingly moving from restaurant versus restaurant to food occasion versus food occasion.

FMI reported in 2024 that 29% of consumers said they were pulling back from restaurants and turning to grocery stores for convenient meal solutions, with prepared foods becoming increasingly relevant across breakfast, lunch and dinner.

That means a restaurant dinner can lose the occasion before a consumer ever thinks about visiting another restaurant.

The replacement might be:

A grocery deli meal.

A convenience-store dinner.

A drive-thru purchase.

A meal kit.

A prepared entrée.

A combination of several retailers.

Or some combination of all of them.

The consumer doesn't care which industry classification wins.

The consumer cares which solution wins.

And This Is Where "What's for Dinner?" Becomes a Retail Strategy

The fundamental food question remains remarkably simple:

What's for dinner?

The answer is increasingly not determined by a restaurant menu or a grocery shopping list.

It is determined by time, money, convenience, appetite, household needs and what the consumer wants to do next.

FMI's 2026 grocery research reports that shoppers are looking for help making lunch and dinner easier without sacrificing health or value. Better-value lunch options lead their requests, followed by healthier, fresher, more varied and better-tasting prepared foods.

That is exactly the consumer-driven opportunity.

Consumers don't necessarily want somebody to tell them what dinner is.

They want somebody to make their version of dinner easier.

Why Swiss Farms Matters to the Grocerant Niche

Swiss Farms is particularly interesting because it is retaining the thing that consumers already understand while adding the things consumers increasingly want.

Keep the drive-thru.

Add fresh food.

Add grocery essentials.

Add made-to-order.

Add take-home meals.

Add technology.

Add loyalty.

Add new formats.

Add fuel where appropriate.

But keep the consumer at the center.

That is the formula.

Not technology for technology's sake.

Not more SKUs simply to say you have more SKUs.

Not a restaurant bolted onto a convenience store.

Not a grocery store trying to become a restaurant.

Rather:

A consumer-driven food solution that crosses categories because consumers already cross categories.

And that may be the most important lesson of all.

The Grocerant Niche has never been about whether a product is sold by a restaurant, grocery store, convenience store, dollar store, warehouse club or another retailer.

It is about the consumer's decision to buy Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat food where it is easiest, most relevant and most valuable at that moment.

Swiss Farms is betting that the time is right.

The consumer data suggests the market conditions are moving in that direction.

The next question is whether more operators will recognize that the future of food retail is not being designed in conference rooms.

It is being designed one consumer occasion at a time.

Three Insights from the Grocerant Guru®

1. The time is now because consumers are already breaking the silos.
Restaurant, grocery, convenience and foodservice are increasingly interchangeable in the consumer's mind. The industry may still use separate boxes, but consumers increasingly do not. FMI's prepared-food data makes that migration measurable.

2. Consumer-driven concepts solve friction before they add complexity.
Swiss Farms starts with a very simple consumer proposition — get essentials quickly — then adds foodservice, grocery, technology, loyalty and fuel around it.

3. The next generation of Grocerant growth will be built around "one now, one later."
The strongest concepts will increasingly satisfy the immediate need while creating the next meal occasion. Breakfast now. Dinner later. Coffee now. Groceries later. Snack now. Take-home meal later. That is not simply convenience. That is consumer-centric food occasion management — and it is where the next wave of Grocerant growth can emerge.

Tap into the Foodservice Solutions® team for greater understanding of New Electricity or for a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869

Yum! Brands After Pizza Hut: Buy, Sell or Build?

 

Yum! Brands has just completed one of the more consequential portfolio moves in recent restaurant-industry history: Pizza Hut is gone from the Yum! Brands portfolio.

The Pizza Hut transactions totaled approximately $2.7 billion, with Pizza Hut China sold to Yum China and the remainder sold to LongRange Capital. Yum now describes itself as a more focused company built around KFC, Taco Bell and Habit Burger & Grill, with more than 44,000 restaurants in 151 countries and territories.

And now according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® CFO Ranjith Roy has essentially opened the door to the next question:

Should Yum! Brands buy another brand?

My answer as the Grocerant Guru® is: perhaps—but Yum should think much bigger than simply buying another restaurant chain.

The more provocative question is whether Yum should buy a consumer occasion, a distribution system and a place where food is purchased frequently.

That brings the convenience store into the conversation.

 

Part One: Should Yum Brands Be Buying Anyone?

The first question isn't who should Yum buy?

It is:

What consumer problem should Yum solve that its existing brands cannot solve?

That's an important distinction.

Yum already owns enormous global restaurant platforms. Taco Bell is chasing a $3 million average-unit-volume goal, while KFC International continues to expand aggressively. Habit provides a fast-casual burger platform.

Meanwhile, Yum says its strategy is centered on “battling for the future consumer,” improving restaurant unit economics and expanding the potential of Byte by Yum!

That suggests Yum doesn't need another brand simply to add another logo.

It needs another growth engine.

And the consumer data is telling us something important.

In 2024, the National Restaurant Association projected U.S. restaurant sales above $1.1 trillion, while 52% of consumers said takeout was essential to their lifestyle.

By 2025, nearly 75% of restaurant traffic was occurring off-premises, and consumers were telling operators that speed, convenience, technology, value and loyalty were all components of the value equation.

Then came 2026.

The National Restaurant Association projects the restaurant industry will reach approximately $1.55 trillion in sales, but it also reports consumers are becoming increasingly careful about where and how they spend their food dollars.

That changes the M&A equation.

Yum doesn't necessarily need more restaurants.

It needs more occasions.

Breakfast.

Snacking.

Late night.

Fuel-and-food.

Afternoon beverages.

Grab-and-go lunch.

Dinner on the way home.

Food purchased while doing something else.

That last category is particularly interesting.

Because the consumer doesn't wake up thinking:

“Today I will eat at a restaurant.”

The consumer thinks:

“I'm hungry.”

That's the Grocerant opportunity.

 

So, Should Yum Buy a C-Store?

Now we're asking a more interesting question.

The convenience store industry increasingly isn't about gasoline with food attached.

It is becoming foodservice with gasoline attached.

In 2025, U.S. convenience-store in-store sales reached $341.2 billion, up 1.7% from 2024. Foodservice represented 28.5% of in-store sales and 38.9% of in-store gross profit dollars. Prepared food alone represented 73.9% of c-store foodservice sales.

That is not a side business.

That's a food business.

And CSP's 2026 State of Foodservice report describes convenience stores increasingly becoming full-fledged food-and-beverage destinations, with operators investing in prepared foods, meal options and customization.

That sounds remarkably similar to where restaurant consumers are headed.

Think about the strategic fit.

Yum brings:

·       Global food brands

·       Restaurant operating expertise

·       Franchise development

·       Digital ordering

·       Loyalty

·       AI

·       Menu innovation

·       Supply-chain scale

·       Consumer marketing

A high-performing C-store platform brings:

·       Real estate

·       High-frequency visits

·       Extended hours

·       Fuel traffic

·       Beverage traffic

·       Snacking occasions

·       Grab-and-go

·       Prepared food

·       Breakfast

·       Late-night occasions

·       Immediate geographic convenience

Put the two together and the opportunity becomes much larger than another restaurant acquisition.

It becomes a food-and-convenience ecosystem.

And that could potentially give Yum something it doesn't currently own at scale:

the consumer's everyday stop.

 

Part Two: Should Yum Simply Part Ways With Some of Its Other Holdings?

Here I would take Yum's own Pizza Hut decision seriously.

The company just demonstrated that it is willing to say:

“This brand may be valuable, but it may be more valuable somewhere else.”

That's disciplined portfolio management.

Pizza Hut wasn't necessarily a bad brand.

But Yum decided that its capital, management attention and growth strategy could potentially be better deployed elsewhere. The transaction also came with an additional $4 billion share-repurchase authorization.

That creates an important precedent.

Yum should continually ask three questions about every brand:

1. Does it create incremental consumer occasions?

2. Does it produce attractive restaurant economics?

3. Does it strengthen the overall Yum ecosystem?

If the answer repeatedly becomes “no,” selling isn't failure.

It is portfolio discipline.

Habit Burger & Grill therefore deserves an especially interesting strategic examination—not because it is necessarily a candidate for sale, but because Yum needs to determine exactly what role Habit plays in the future portfolio.

Does Habit provide a differentiated fast-casual growth platform?

Does it create occasions Taco Bell and KFC don't reach?

Does it provide capabilities Yum can export elsewhere?

Does it strengthen Yum's franchise ecosystem?

Or does Yum simply own another burger brand in an extraordinarily crowded category?

Those are very different questions.

And today's consumer is making the distinction increasingly clear.

In 2025, Circana reported that consumer-perceived value-menu traffic increased 1% in the quarter ending June, even while overall restaurant traffic declined 1%.

In 2026, the National Restaurant Association reported that 36% of consumers said they were spending less at restaurants than the previous quarter, with consumers increasingly trading down and choosing less expensive options.

That means Yum shouldn't fall in love with brands.

It should fall in love with consumer demand.

 

Part Three: Should Yum Brands Buy Another Brand?

Yes—but only if the acquisition expands the Yum consumer universe rather than simply adding another restaurant concept.

That's the critical distinction.

Yum already has powerful positions in:

Chicken.

Mexican-inspired food.

Burgers.

Buying another traditional QSR could create scale.

But scale isn't necessarily the same thing as opportunity.

Taco Bell is already demonstrating the power of brand buzz + value + more occasions + digital engagement.

KFC is attempting to modernize its U.S. proposition while continuing its international growth engine.

And Yum has Byte by Yum! as a potentially powerful technology platform.

So what should the next acquisition bring?

Something Yum doesn't already have.

That's why I would put a C-store acquisition ahead of another conventional QSR acquisition on the Grocerant Guru® strategic whiteboard.

Not because every convenience store is a great food business.

It isn't.

Circana reported that convenience-store foodservice traffic declined year over year in Q1 2025, although dollar growth kept pace with QSRs.

That is exactly why the opportunity is interesting.

The C-store industry is still transforming.

The winners are increasingly treating food as a destination rather than an accessory.

NACS reports that prepared food—including pizza, chicken, burgers, sandwiches, wraps and salads—has become the dominant component of c-store foodservice.

And CSP's 2026 research shows retailers continuing to refresh prepared-food offerings and expand cuisines and menu categories.

Imagine Taco Bell inside a convenience ecosystem.

Now imagine KFC.

Now imagine Yum's digital loyalty architecture.

Now imagine personalized offers based upon the customer's trip.

Now imagine:

Fuel + Food + Beverage + Snack + Loyalty + Digital + Restaurant Quality.

That isn't merely a restaurant.

That's a grocerant ecosystem.

 

The Bigger Opportunity: Yum Could Buy the Occasion

This is where I believe Yum should push the strategic conversation.

The future isn't necessarily about:

Restaurant A vs. Restaurant B.

It is about:

Who owns the consumer occasion?

The consumer doesn't live in foodservice silos.

The same person can buy breakfast at a convenience store, lunch at Taco Bell, coffee somewhere else, a prepared dinner at a grocery store and a late-night snack at KFC.

There are no silos in the consumer's mind.

There are only needs.

And today's needs increasingly revolve around:

Price.

Value.

Speed.

Convenience.

Portability.

Digital connection.

Food quality.

That is precisely the intersection where Yum could potentially create another growth engine.

 

Three Insights From the Grocerant Guru®

1. Don't buy another brand—buy another occasion.

Yum shouldn't ask, “What restaurant should we own next?”

It should ask:

“Where is the consumer spending food dollars that Yum doesn't currently touch?”

That could lead directly to convenience retail, foodservice retail, travel centers, airports, campuses or other high-frequency environments.

The biggest opportunity may not be another restaurant.

It may be another place to eat.

2. Turn the C-store into Yum's “everyday restaurant.”

Here's where I would push the limit.

Imagine a C-store platform where Taco Bell, KFC and Habit aren't simply tenants or menu additions.

They become occasion engines.

Breakfast from one brand.

Coffee and beverage attachment.

KFC chicken for lunch.

Taco Bell afternoon snacking.

Grab-and-go dinner.

Late-night Taco Bell.

Yum loyalty across all of it.

Byte technology connecting all of it.

The objective would be to transform a fuel stop into a food stop that happens to sell fuel.

That is a fundamentally different business proposition.

3. Make “one now, one later” a Yum growth strategy.

The strongest future Yum acquisition might be one that creates two transactions from one consumer visit.

Buy breakfast now.

Buy lunch later.

Buy a meal now.

Buy a snack for later.

Buy dinner now.

Buy tomorrow morning's breakfast.

That's the Grocerant Guru® version of expanding restaurant economics:

Don't just increase frequency. Increase the number of food occasions attached to every relationship.

The restaurant industry is projected to reach $1.55 trillion in 2026, while convenience-store in-store sales already exceed $340 billion.

Yum doesn't have to own all of that.

But the strategic question is whether Yum should position itself to participate in more of it.

And that's why, after selling Pizza Hut, I wouldn't ask simply:

“Who should Yum buy?”

I'd ask something much bigger:

“What part of the consumer's food day does Yum want to own next?”

That is where the next billion-dollar idea may be hiding.

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.

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