A lot of times when I go grocery shopping, and pick up everything I need to make dinner, I still end up purchasing something to eat at the prepared food section. What can I say, I’m a sucker for convenience. Oh, and I tend to make the big mistake of shopping while hungry.

So when D.C.’s iconic restaurant Ben’s Chili Bowl announced it would be selling food in my beloved section of the grocery store — specifically at all area Giants and select Costco stores — I took note. How would the packaged product taste compared to the real thing? There was only one way to find out: a taste test at the DCist/WAMU newsroom, of course. (Selfishly I also wanted to know what to expect if I come across Ben’s while shopping for dinner, likely famished.)

To back up: Ben’s Chili Bowl has been in the news this week because the restaurant announced it would be expanding, and not just to local grocery stores. The local institution is also planning to franchise the restaurant, Vida Ali, the daughter-in-law of owner Virginia Ali, told the Washington Post, meaning they expect to open multiple locations outside of the D.C. area.

They are aiming to open the first Ben’s outside the Beltway next year and are eyeing Richmond, Virginia. Currently, in addition to the flagship restaurant on U Street NW, Ben’s has locations on H Street NE, at Nationals Park, Reagan National Airport and at D.C.’s Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

For the grocery offerings, Ben’s is selling tubs of its famous chili (turkey or beef) and chili sauce, along with packages of half smokes (spicy or regular). For the tasting, we only selected the chili — we don’t have a grill at the office and no one should microwave sausage. (The char makes the spicy sausage sing!)

Not only did the newsroom judge Ben’s beef and turkey chili from Giant ($6.99 for 15-oz containers, on sale from the usual $8.99), but we opted to compare it to chili we ordered from U Street NW in a blind taste test. So we purchased some of the restaurant’s beef and turkey chili ($9.79 per 12-oz container) and gathered everyone in the kitchen.

Given me and my colleagues’ experience as reviewers, from Old Bay-flavored Goldfish to cherry blossom-flavored LaCroix, we figured readers would trust us to know what’s up. I admit a few of us aren’t big chili eaters, particularly when it’s 80 degrees and humid. There’s also one unnamed journalist who isn’t impressed by Ben’s to begin with; inevitably, they got some blowback for that hot take.

But there are a few chili heads in the newsroom. Even so, only one of the dozen journalists who participated in the blind taste test was able to accurately identify which one was from the grocery store versus restaurant. (It wasn’t me, I’m sad to admit.) Also, a lot of us were really confident in which one was store-bought. (We were mostly wrong.)

They do taste subtly different. Both products appear to use the same basic ingredients — beef or turkey, beans, diced tomatoes, peppers, onions, etc. But it’s the texture that’s different, particularly the con carne chili. Ben’s chili con carne from Giant is less dense than the flagship’s. A few people assumed that the thicker consistency was a result from a tight-sealed plastic container from Giant’s. But they would be wrong. It would appear the the chili from the restaurant had been boiled down more, making it a bit more spicy and salty.

“It’s nice and saucy. I appreciate it,” said reporter Morgan Baskin of the chili con carne from Giant during the taste test, believing she was describing the one from the restaurant.

Photographer Tyrone Turner and Engagement Producer Nayion Perkins, who ate beef and turkey, respectively, even preferred Ben’s chili from Giant over the restaurant’s during the blind taste test. The consistency and subtler flavors won them over.

To say the newsroom was shook by the reveal at the end would be an understatement. “I am having trouble believing this,” said editor Natalie Delgadillo over Slack. “I feel like she’s messing with us for reporting purposes.”

Reader, I did no such thing. The stakes were clearly too high.

Only Politics Hour producer Matt Blitz, who regularly ate the veggie chili at Nats Park when the baseball stadium sold it, was able to spot the difference. “It’s thicker and I like it more,” he said of the restaurant’s chili con carne.

Bottom line is, unless you eat Ben’s as often as Blitz, then you probably won’t be able to spot the difference. Ben’s chili from the grocery store stacks up nicely; it’s a solid option for lunch or, if you are anything like me, an easy, post-grocery shopping trip dinner.