About a year ago, I remember hankering for some barbecue. There are two places near my neighborhood that, I would say, are pretty solid. But my family and I didn’t go to either one of them. After a half-hour of grocery shopping, we went to the in-store restaurant at the Kingwood H-E-B instead. It was just more convenient.
The rise of the “grocerant” is not a new trend, but it is one that has quickly accelerated alongside the frequently tossed-and-turned American economy. H-E-B, Kroger, Randalls and other neighborhood supermarkets have emerged as a new threat to restaurants, siphoning away dollars and even staff. Shoppers can grab a ready-to-cook steak dinner or sit down with a tray of brisket and sides.
And restaurants, since 2020, have been caught on their back foot. But what if, instead, restaurants could look at grocery stores as something else—an opportunity?
A half century of grocery dining
The grocerant first emerged roughly 50 years ago at Kroger, according to Supermarket Guru Phil Lempert. It wasn’t anything flashy: just some seating areas next to its deli, which offered rotisserie chickens and sandwiches. The most significant evolution of the trend came from Central Market in Texas and Mariano’s in Chicago. The former put picnic tables outside the store…