Takeout Is Now the Centerpiece of Family Dinner: A 30-Year Evolution from the Grocerant Guru®

 

There was a time when family dinner meant a home-cooked meal around a kitchen table—pot roast, mashed potatoes, and maybe a Jell-O mold for dessert. In the 1960s and 70s, frozen TV dinners marked the first shift from scratch cooking to convenience. By the 1980s and 90s, drive-thru culture made fast food a fixture in the family dinner rotation. But by the early 2000s, restaurant dining became aspirational—eating out replaced cooking as the center of social connection.

Then came 2008’s recession, which sparked the first big reset. Families started tightening budgets, rediscovering home meals—but not from scratch. Prepared foods from grocery stores and club formats surged. Fast forward to 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic fast-tracked everything. Overnight, dining rooms closed, apps exploded, ghost kitchens were born, and takeout became not just a habit—but a lifestyle according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Today, in 2025, we’ve entered a new era—where takeout is the family dinner table.

 

Fresh 2024–2025 Food Facts: The Family Meal Redefined

·       74.3% of weekday dinners are now consumed at home—but not cooked at home (NPD/CREST, May 2025).

·       72% of Gen Z and Millennials regularly buy dinner from a restaurant or C-store and eat it at home (Technomic, Q2 2025).

·       Takeout meals from grocery delis, C-stores, and QSRs grew 21.5% year-over-year in Q1 2025 (IRI, FMI).

·       Heat-N-Eat and Ready-2-Eat meals now account for over $52 billion annually in U.S. consumer spending (NielsenIQ, 2025).

·       70% of consumers say they’re more likely to order takeout if the packaging supports reheating or portability (IFMA Packaging Insights, 2024).

“Convenience once meant drive-thru—today, it means frictionless access, tech integration, and food that feels fresh-made and globally flavorful. That’s the grocerant difference,” says Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Foodservice Solutions®.

 

From Dining Room to Living Room: The 65-Inch HDTV Syndrome

Johnson calls this phenomenon the “65-Inch HDTV Syndrome.” Consumers want food that fits their lifestyle—meals that are flavorful, fast, and function as social glue for families gathered around screens instead of tables.

“Whether it’s takeout Thai curry from a convenience store, sushi from a Kroger deli, or a customizable bowl from Chipotle, consumers now expect food to be restaurant-quality, health-conscious, portable, and perfectly plated for Instagram or Netflix nights,” Johnson explains.

 

From Sunday Roasts to Streaming Suppers: The 3-Stage Shift

Let’s look at how family dinner has transformed:

Era	Meal Behavior	Key Driver
1960s–1980s	Home-cooked from scratch	Tradition & gender norms
1990s–2010s	Dining out as an experience	Economic expansion, dual incomes
2020–2025	Takeout as the primary meal source	Tech, time scarcity, value alignment

What used to be a “special treat” is now daily routine. Today’s consumers are looking for dinner without the labor, decisions without the stress, and meals that match their values—health, budget, sustainability, and taste.

 

Takeout Isn’t Just a Trend—It’s a Transformation

·       Average spend per restaurant meal: $18.32

·       Average spend for a grocery-prepared or C-store meal: $12.40

·       78% of families with kids under 14 say they’re replacing restaurant visits with takeout from retail or QSRs

·       31% of consumers say they’re reducing restaurant spending by substituting with grocerant meals (IRI, 2025)

And while fast casual once ruled the lunch crowd, it’s now losing ground:

·       Fast food is preferred over fast casual for lunch by 38% to 29% (AlixPartners, 2025)

·       Speed, price, and portability are driving consumer decisions—not ambiance or dine-in design

 

The Grocerant Guru’s Five Must-Know Takeout Trends for 2025

1.       “Family Bundles Are the New Value Meals”
Mix-and-match meal solutions are the new way to feed the whole house without breaking the bank.

2.       “Visual Flavor Is Digital Flavor”
If it doesn’t pop in the app or look good in a clamshell, it won’t sell. Consumers eat with their eyes—especially online.

3.       “Dinner Decisions Happen at 4 PM”
64% of consumers still don’t know what’s for dinner at 4 PM. Real-time deals, app alerts, and predictive bundles close the gap.

4.       “Comfort + Culture = Craveable”
Tikka wraps, elote mac & cheese, Korean BBQ flatbreads—familiar forms with global flavors are the fastest-growing SKUs.

5.       “Tech Makes Takeout Seamless”
Voice ordering, AI menu personalization, digital-only coupons, and loyalty subscriptions turn casual buyers into repeat diners.

 

From Grocery Deli to Center Stage: Takeout’s Time Has Come

From Blue Apron’s stumble to the rise of grocerant-ready meals in Walmart, Aldi, and Circle K, the path forward is clear: Consumers want fully prepared food that is easy, fast, and sharable—without needing to cook or clean.

The future of family meals is not about cooking—it’s about curation.

Ready to Be the Brand That’s on the Table?

Since 1991, Foodservice Solutions® has helped food brands, C-stores, restaurant chains, and grocery delis evolve from operators to meal solution providers.

If your brand still looks like it’s serving 2010-style experiences, it’s time to rethink, retool, and re-engage.

Call: 253-759-7869
Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us
Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us

 

Takeout is no longer the side dish.
It’s the centerpiece of the American dinner table.
The only question is—will your brand be there?

Is it Time for you

to Build a Larger 

Share of Stomach

PepsiCo Grocerant Niche Mix and Match Help Drive Sales, Profits, Success

Regular readers of this blog know that PepPlace, was a one-month popup, launched in partnership with Famous Dave’s, had a beverage-first menu, with a mix and match food beverage customer first focus targeting insights from one of the hallmarks of the grocerant niche mix & match meal component bunding according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Now PepsiCo is sharing the insights it garnered for free on the off-premise business, drawing on lessons learned from its own delivery-only concept, Pep’s Place with any food retailer that want’s to drive top line sales and bottom-line profits.

Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food has been driving top-line sales in every sector of retail foodservice for over 14 years according to the team at Foodservice Solutions®.  Now industry giants the ilk of PepsiCo are embracing not only the grocerant platform but assisting all food retailers with first hand insights.

The new insights are part of a new service within PepsiCo’s Foodservice Digital Lab, a consultancy created in 2019 to assist restaurants on all things digital as that side of the business became more prominent. 

Success does leave clues and now they are expanding their Digital Lab to include help with delivery-only formats like ghost kitchens and virtual brands.

André Moraes, senior director of marketing at PepsiCo Foodservice, stated, “Demand for those options continues to grow among restaurants, though they don’t always know the best place to start….“We’ve absolutely been hearing about ghost kitchens and virtual brands from many customers,” he said. “There’s demand for how to execute these properly.”

Now, PepsiCo can advise restaurants on things like starting their own virtual brand, bringing an outside brand into their kitchen or outsourcing their concept to other restaurants, Moraes said.

It will lend its considerable marketing expertise to the effort as well as guidance on technology and menu. It can also draw from its first-hand experience with Pep’s Place.

Moraes continued, “the project underscored the importance of discoverability and order flow for an online-only brand…“Understanding how guests will find you and how to make your brand and concept approachable to them is very important.”

This is important, PepsiCo will help restaurants with all of this, free of charge. Moraes went on to say, “What’s really important to us is that we’re being more than a beverage, snacks and food partner but being a go-to partner when it comes to opportunity like this.”  

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement 

Is Artificial Intelligence Better than Operator Intelligence

 

Restaurants, Convenience Stores, and Bodegas have long relied on the imagination and innovation of their founds, owners, or savvy marketing professional.  Those days are not all gone but there are fewer and fewer food retailers that can honestly say they have their pulse of the consumer.

According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® “crunching the numbers today more often than not means analyzing data, big data about customers, menu items, and sales trends simultaneously. That requires software using what is known now as artificial intelligence.  That intelligence is not artificial at all.  Today, it is insightful, informative, and filled with fact-based relevance.”

Yes, artificial intelligence (AI) may sound futuristic, but AI is here today and the technology can help convenience store retailers with their marketing campaigns. Ryan DiLello, content specialist for Paytronix Systems Inc., stated, "Using AI saves you time, effort and money," … "It ensures you do not have one-size-fits-all campaigns. It allows you to learn more about your customers and meet their needs."

DiLello continued, “Specifically, AI can help c-store retailers learn more about their customers' behavior and value; segment customers in more exacting ways; make more compelling, personalized offers; maximize channel efficiency; and, find ideal customers in the marketplace using AI-constructed profiles. AI-driven marketing operates through four stages, They are:

1.       Segmentation

2.       Predictive Analytics

3.       Campaigning

4.       Analysis

Then speaking about C-stores DiLello went on to say; “One thing AI can do is provide data regarding how likely customers are to visit a c-store, as well as open emails with provided targeted offers. The data can, for example, show which days a customer is visiting a store. If a customer visits exclusively on weekdays, AI can generate targeted offers to try to encourage consumers to visit on the weekend.”

Consider this, AI can also help launch "Missed Visit Campaigns," which recognizes individual lapses in guest behavior and identifies guests "out of their rhythm." Now according to DiLello, results from the first seven days of a Missed Visit Campaign revealed guest visits increased by 42 percent and in-store spending rose by 19 percent.

This is an example of how proactive AI can be. Geofencing, when AI notices when a customer is near a store and provides targeted offers and promotions, is another way to draw in-store traffic. "We have seen great results using geofencing," DiLello said.

Many C-store retailers have also used K-Means Clustering. Through this method, AI looks at popular pairing items and makes recommendations based on trends in the data. Further, K-Means Clustering helps develop unique and personalized guest experiences intended to keep customers returning to the store.

"AI recommends coupon offers," DiLello said. "It is a low-risk way to win back customers."

More than just marketing, AI can help c-store retailers beyond just marketing, making their implementation well worth the investment, DiLello stressed. The technology takes it one step further by helping to determine a key metric: customer lifetime value (CLV). AI calculates how long a person has been in a loyalty program, what the average visit cadence looks like, when the most recent visit was, how much customers spend per visit and how long the consumer is likely to stay active. These data sets are important to identify top customers, segment more effectively, optimize acquisition and realize lift — or a customer's lifetime journey.

So, the objectives of CLVs are to identify and reward most valuable customers, and find lower-value customers and boost their CLV.  "People often ask what a good CLV to customer acquisition cost (CAC) ratio is. We often say a three-to-one ratio is good," DiLello explained.

Retailers can lower CAC by retaining customers longer, reducing media and advertising expenses, and reducing third-party marketplace fees, he added.

Looking a Customer Ahead, DiLello expects AI to provide c-store retailers with practical uses in operations. For example, robotic servers, kiosks with facial recognition, food waste reduction management, inventory management and smart routing for delivery are ways AI can benefit c-store operators down the road.

"Inventory management is big for c-stores," he said. "AI will allow retailers to cruise through an unsteady supply chain to order items months in advance." Once again the team at Foodservice Solutions® would like to recommend you visit Paytronix Systems Inc more information on AI Or simply contact us for a referral.

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

What’s for Dinner at Foodtown MEALS

 

Foodtown is once again looking at all of the hot button consumer focused touchpoints.  This time they are focusing on the number one consumer hot button touchpoint and that is What’s for Dinner. Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®, stated, “Everyday the number one consumer focused touchpoint is what’s for dinner.

Johnson continued, “The vast majority of consumers are not looking for ingredients, nor do they desire to cook a meal from scratch.  What they are looking for are grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared Mix & Match meal components that can be bundled into a customized family meal.”

Below are some insights from recent Grocerant ScoreCards:

1.       Recent Grocerant ScoreCards found 81.1% of consumers don’t know what’s for dinner at Noon, and 61.1 don’t know what’ s for dinner at 4PM %.

2. Roughly 63.7% of consumers purchase prepared food items from a retail location at least three times a month.
3. 79.6% all dinners have at least 1 grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat meal component and 66.6% have two meal components.
4. When asked if they wanted to cook dinner from scratch or assemble dinner from fresh meal components 91.3 % of Gen Z chose assemble from Fresh Prepared Meal Components and Millennials 83.4% chose meal components.
5. Seventy-three percent of retail prepared food purchases are taken to go
6. Prepared food purchases are frequently a planned purchase among 61.2% of shoppers, while 40.9% of shoppers said they buy prepared foods on impulse. Dinner has the highest amount of prepared food buys with 81.7% of respondents making purchases for that meal, while lunch comes in at 76.9% and breakfast at 61.4%.
7. 57.8% of consumers would like to add Alcohol to a dinner order

 In A Battle For Share of Stomach

Are you Winning? 

Now back to just what Foodtown is doing.  In a campaign created by Allegiance Retail Services kicked off with social media, advertising and retail promotions. The new marketing campaign for its Foodtown banner with the message “Quality Meals Begin at Foodtown” to illustrate the brand’s commitment to offering fresh perishables, quality products, and exceptional service. The campaign is being rolled out to all 65 Foodtown stores in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, both in-store and online. 

Donna Zambo, vice president, chief marketing officer at ARS, stated, “Quality comes in many forms. But what most people want is more quality time with friends, family, or even themselves,” … “I think we all know that it can be hard to make time for life. And it’s even more difficult making the most of the time that we do get. At Foodtown, we know that without quality food, service and nutrition, quality time wouldn’t be quite as meaningful. Birthdays, anniversaries, game nights, workouts, late night study sessions and play dates are all everyday moments that make us who we are. We want to be there with our shoppers by providing fresh, quality food options for these times.” 

So, the campaign positions Foodtown as an integral member of the community dedicated to the well-being of not only its customers but associates too. Throughout the pandemic, shoppers learned to depend on their local grocers as partners in their family’s overall wellness. The new campaign underscores Foodtown’s commitment to make it easy to provide nutritious meals and snacks as families return to the pre-pandemic activities of work, school, sports, hobbies and togetherness. 

Now, the rebranding campaign is supported through strategic marketing channels, including social media, digital media, store websites, along with broadcast and print advertising, and retail promotions, sponsorships, and events. 

While driving an emotional and practical appeal, the digital campaign will focus on the benefits of quality time and show how consumers can enjoy more of it when “Quality Meals Begin at Foodtown.” The print promotional campaign will highlight the store’s quality products and feature Foodtown’s fresh, high-quality produce, meat, seafood, deli, and bakery products. 

In addition, a new Foodtown logo lockup was created featuring the tagline “Locally Owned, Family Operated,” to remind shoppers of Foodtown’s ongoing dedication to its connection to each distinct neighborhood it serves.

Zambo continued, “It is an exciting time to launch this new Foodtown rebranding campaign as people are starting to come together again after the pandemic,” …. “Food brings people together, and we are happy to celebrate the return of that quality of life.”  Meals need to be on your menu!

Don’t over reach. Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions® 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 the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter