Your grocery store is becoming your restaurant
Here's a shift worth paying attention to: the grocery store is quietly taking over dinner. New research from McKinsey says about one in four Americans now buy prepared food at the grocery store instead of ordering from a restaurant, and for 18- to 29-year-olds it's closer to one in three. It's not just about saving money — 74 percent say convenience is the reason, and 68 percent say it saves time. The Food Industry Association found that 56 percent of households now mix home cooking with food made outside the home for dinner at least once a week, and half of all same-day dinner decisions happen between 3 and 7 p.m. — people deciding on the way home. Texas is right in the middle of it: H-E-B's Meal Simple line is built for exactly this, with ready-to-eat bowls, microwaveable meals and family-sized pastas and casseroles they call restaurant-quality food that's ready to cook or eat right away. Fresh departments already make up 41 percent of grocery sales, and 77 percent of retailers say they plan to expand their grab-and-go space in the next two years. The supermarket isn't replacing the restaurant — but it's earning a bigger seat at the dinner table, and for a busy family, that deli counter is starting to look like the fastest kitchen in town.
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