Think
back to the last time you sat down for a family dinner.
Now
think about the last lunch you had with coworkers, the last church picnic,
family reunion, school lunch, birthday celebration—or even a funeral.
What
do they have in common? Well according to Steven Johnson, The Grocerant Guru® at
Tacoma, WA based Foodservice
Solutions®.
The
Answer is Food.
Food
is rarely just food. It is an invitation to gather, a reason to stop, a way to
celebrate, a mechanism for creating memories and, increasingly, a form of
social currency.
That
was true when I first wrote about this subject. But in 2026, the relationship
between food, social interaction and marketing has become considerably more
important—and much more complicated.
The
consumer is no longer simply deciding between eating out and eating in.
The
consumer is deciding where, when, with whom, how much, how conveniently and
through which channel the eating occasion should happen.
And
that is where the Grocerant niche becomes so important.
Food Has Always Been Social. The Channels Have Changed.
For
generations, the family dinner table was one of America's most important social
networks.
Today,
the table may be at home, in a restaurant, in a grocery-store seating area, at
a convenience store, in a car, at a tailgate—or virtually anywhere consumers
can combine food with people and an occasion.
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that per-capita food-away-from-home
purchases reached a record $3,936 in nominal dollars in 2025, although
inflation-adjusted spending remained below its 2019 peak.
That
distinction matters.
Consumers
are still spending enormous amounts on food prepared outside the home, but they
are becoming much more deliberate about why they spend those dollars.
Value
is important.
Convenience
is important.
Quality
is important.
But
increasingly, the occasion is the product.
The Restaurant Is No Longer the Only Place for a Restaurant
Meal
One
of the biggest changes since I originally wrote this article is the rapid
expansion of retail foodservice.
FMI's
Power of Foodservice at Retail 2025 found that consumers choosing deli-prepared
foods instead of restaurant meals increased from 12% in 2017 to 28% in 2025—more
than doubling.
Even
more revealing, 53% of Americans now use a hybrid approach to meals, combining
deli-prepared foods with food prepared at home. Retail foodservice dollar sales
reached $52.1 billion, up 1.6% over the prior 12 months.
That
is not simply grocery shopping.
That
is meal migration.
The
consumer is moving the restaurant occasion into the grocery store—and then
moving the grocery-store meal into the home.
A
rotisserie chicken becomes dinner.
A
prepared entrée becomes dinner.
A
deli salad becomes lunch.
A
bakery dessert becomes the centerpiece of a celebration.
A
hot bar becomes a family meal.
The
lines between restaurant, grocery store, convenience store and home kitchen
continue to disappear.
That
is the Grocerant revolution.
Eating In Does Not Mean Eating Alone
There
is another important misconception that food marketers need to abandon.
Eating
at home does not mean consumers are rejecting social eating.
FMI
reported in 2025 that 36% of grocery shoppers eat dinner at home with others
every day of the week, while 44% embrace a weekly mealtime tradition.
In
other words, the dinner table is still alive.
But
what is placed on that table is changing.
Consumers
increasingly want to assemble an experience rather than manufacture every
component from scratch.
That
is why hybrid meals are so important.
One
person makes the entrée.
Someone
else heats the prepared side dish.
Another
person brings dessert.
And
everybody sits down together.
The
meal may have been assembled across three channels, but the social occasion
remains singular.
Social Media Has Turned Food Into a Discovery Engine
When
I originally wrote this article, restaurants were beginning to recognize social
media as an important marketing channel.
Today,
that seems almost quaint.
Social
media is no longer simply where restaurants market food.
It
is where consumers discover, evaluate, visualize and sometimes decide what they
are going to eat.
DoorDash's
2025 consumer research found that Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube were
among the leading social platforms consumers used to discover restaurants. It
also found that 56% of Americans had ordered a trending restaurant item they
encountered through social media for delivery.
SevenRooms'
2025 research found that 94% of diners use online resources—including Google,
social media and media sites—to discover new restaurants. Among Gen Z
consumers, 69% relied on social media for discovery.
And
a 2025 survey of Gen Z and Millennial consumers found that 73% had visited a
restaurant in the prior three months because of a social-media review, while
43.7% said social media was their first stop for restaurant recommendations.
Think
about what that means.
The
restaurant used to advertise.
Today,
the customer can become the advertisement.
A
customer photographs the food.
Posts
it.
Tags
the restaurant.
Friends
see it.
Friends
share it.
Someone
saves it.
Someone
visits.
Someone
orders it.
The
meal becomes media.
The Consumer Is Now Part of the Marketing Department
This
is perhaps the most important change in food marketing.
Consumers
don't simply consume food.
They
document food.
They
photograph it.
Review
it.
Rate
it.
Recommend
it.
Compare
it.
Remix
it.
And
increasingly, they use social media to teach themselves how to prepare it at
home.
A
2026 survey reported that more than half of Americans use social media as a
kind of modern cookbook, while 71% said cooking videos inspire them to try new
foods.
That
creates an extraordinary feedback loop:
Restaurant
→ social media → consumer → home kitchen → social media → restaurant.
Eating
out influences eating in.
Eating
in influences eating out.
And
both influence what the consumer expects from the grocery store.
The Grocery Store Is Becoming Part Restaurant, Part Kitchen
and Part Social Experience
This
is precisely why traditional retail food thinking is becoming obsolete.
The
question should no longer be:
"What
grocery categories do we sell?"
The
better question is:
"What
eating occasions are we helping the consumer solve?"
FMI's
research demonstrates that retail foodservice is already being used as a
restaurant alternative. More than half of consumers are combining prepared
retail food with foods from home.
And
FMI reported that 87% of retailers were leveraging fresh-prepared foodservice
programs in 2025, with nearly one-third planning to increase labor devoted to
foodservice.
That
is a significant strategic signal.
Retailers
are finally recognizing that the deli, prepared foods department and fresh
perimeter aren't merely departments.
They
are meal platforms.
The New Competition Isn't Restaurant vs. Grocery
This
is where I believe the industry needs to rethink its competitive map.
The
real competition is no longer:
Restaurant
vs. Grocery Store.
It
is:
Every
food channel competing for the same eating occasion.
A
consumer may consider:
·
A restaurant
·
A grocery deli
·
A convenience store
·
A drive-thru
·
A meal kit
·
Delivery
·
Takeout
·
A frozen entrée
·
A prepared supermarket meal
·
Or something made at home
The
winner is the channel that best satisfies the consumer's combination of price,
value, convenience, quality, service and experience.
That
is the Price + Value + Service Equilibrium in action.
The Social Occasion Is the Opportunity
The
smartest food marketers in 2026 are beginning to understand that consumers
don't necessarily purchase "food."
They
purchase solutions to occasions.
Dinner
for two.
Lunch
between meetings.
Family
movie night.
Sunday
football.
A
birthday.
A
graduation.
A
neighborhood gathering.
A
late-night snack.
A
meal for one.
A
meal for four.
A
celebration.
A
reason to get together.
And
increasingly, the winning food companies are those that understand the occasion
before they attempt to sell the item.
That
is why a grocery retailer shouldn't simply promote "fried chicken."
It
should promote "Friday Night Family Dinner."
A
restaurant shouldn't simply promote a burger.
It
should sell "Game Night."
A
convenience store shouldn't simply promote pizza.
It
should own "Dinner on the Way Home."
And
a grocer shouldn't simply sell prepared foods.
It
should help consumers host the occasion without doing all the work.
Food Is Still the Common Denominator
So,
has anything really changed since I first wrote about eating out versus eating
in?
Yes—and
no.
The
technology has changed dramatically.
The
channels have multiplied.
The
consumer journey has become digital.
Restaurants
now compete with grocery stores, C-stores and delivery platforms for the same
occasions.
But
the fundamental truth remains remarkably consistent:
Food
brings people together.
The
difference is that consumers now have more ways than ever to decide where that
gathering happens, what food is served, who prepares it and how much work they
are willing to do.
The
winning brands will understand that convenience doesn't eliminate
socialization—it can enable it.
The
consumer doesn't necessarily want to spend two hours cooking.
They
may want to spend two hours together.
That
distinction is enormous.
Three Insights From the Grocerant Guru®
1. Stop Marketing Food. Start Marketing the Occasion.
Consumers
don't wake up thinking, "I need a retail foodservice product."
They
think, "What's for dinner?"
Or,
"Where should we meet?"
Or,
"What can I bring?"
Or,
"What can I get quickly?"
The
winning food marketers will organize products, menus and promotions around eating
occasions, not organizational silos.
2. Eating-In and Eating-Out Are No Longer Opposites.
The
fastest-growing opportunity is between the two.
Hybrid
meals prove it.
Prepared
grocery food combined with home cooking.
Restaurant
takeout eaten at home.
Restaurant-quality
food purchased from a C-store.
A
grocery-store meal consumed socially.
The
consumer is building a personalized foodservice ecosystem.
The
Grocerant consumer doesn't care which channel supplied the food. They care
whether the meal works.
3. Your Customer Is Now Your Media Network.
Every
meal has the potential to become content.
Every
customer can become a reviewer.
Every
menu item can become a social-media recommendation.
Every
prepared-food occasion can become a reason to return.
That
means food marketers need to design products and experiences that are not
merely good enough to buy—but memorable enough to talk about.
Because
in 2026, the most powerful food marketing may not be the advertisement you
create.
It
may be the meal your customer can't resist sharing.
The
Grocerant Guru® Bottom Line:
The
future of food isn't simply Eating Out versus Eating In.
It
is Eating Together—Anywhere.
The
brands, restaurants, grocers and convenience retailers that understand that
shift will stop fighting over food categories and start competing for something
much more valuable:
The
consumer's next eating occasion.
Steven
Johnson, the Grocerant Guru®,
is the founder of Foodservice Solutions®, a Tacoma, Washington-based consultancy focused on the
intersection of restaurants, grocery, convenience stores and the rapidly
evolving Grocerant niche.
