Check, Please… or Just Check Out? How Grocery and Convenience Stores Are Eating Into Restaurant Market Share

The restaurant industry's competitive landscape for mealtime dollars is changing fast, and it's no longer brand against brand. Increasingly, grocery and convenience stores are stealing share by offering quick, affordable, and increasingly high-quality meal options.

In Revenue Management Solutions' (RMS) recent consumer report, Check, Please or Check Out, 24 percent of surveyed diners say they buy meals from grocery stores more frequently than a year ago. This represents a larger increase than those increasing visits to fast-casual (14 percent) or full-service (11 percent) restaurants and is on par with those visiting QSRs more frequently (24 percent) (RMS Q1 2025 Dining report). The 2,000 U.S. consumers surveyed also hit up convenience stores for meals 15 percent more often than in the past. 

The findings reinforce a key truth: value and convenience drive decisions and restaurant operators must respond or risk losing ground.

The Rise of the Retail MealWhen asked…