Your grocery shopping habits have probably changed over the last few years.
The one good thing the pandemic did was fast-track technologies that make life more convenient. For example, maybe you now use an e-commerce tool like Instacart to order groceries online and then pick them up on your way home, without even having to get out of the car.
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Online ordering is a sanity saver for parents everywhere. Or maybe you’ve switched from more of a one-stop shop or big-box retailer that has expanded significantly, like Walmart or Target, where you can get everything from cookies to a coffeemaker or a couch.
In this day and age, it’s tough for retailers to survive without being creative and giving people what they want. And some customers want to grab lunch or dinner during a trip to the grocery store.
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Hy-Vee is closing its Market Grille restaurants months after cancelling its partnership with the Wahlberg brothers’ Wahlburgers pubs.
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Retailers and restaurants looking for ways to stand out
Restaurateurs are also looking for ways to get in front of more customers during a time when fewer people are eating out. One way to catch them is when they’re out doing other things, like grocery shopping.
That may be a reason the Wahlberg brothers — chef Paul and actors Mark and Donnie — decided to franchise their popular Wahlburgers chain to the Midwestern grocery brand Hy-Vee.
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Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee operates around 285 stores in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
In 2017, Hy-Vee teamed up with the Wahlberg brothers to open the brothers’ signature Wahlburger restaurants inside 79 stores.
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The partnership didn’t pan out, however, and in January 2025, Hy-Vee, an employee-owned corporation, announced it was closing all the in-store Wahlburgers and replacing them with its own Market Grille concept.
Hy-Vee grocer makes decision to close a popular feature
Market Grilles serve primarily breakfast foods and burgers, but some locations also have bars that serve adult beverages.
Now, Hy-Vee has decided it’s last call for the bar concept.
“We had some stores that had bars and some that didn’t. We also had some stores that only had counter service and some that had full service,” Hy-Vee Spokesperson Tina Potthoff told Restaurant Business Online. “Now a customer will know what kind of experience they can expect to have at our in-store Market Grille locations, no matter what store they dine in.”
The 220 stores that have a Market Grille feature will now only offer counter service. Customers can order made-to-order breakfast and lunch from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. There will also be dinner options like pizza, fried chicken, sushi, and Chinese food available until 8 p.m., all of which can be consumed inside Market Grille locations.
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