Bind to Grid

I wish to bind a jqGrid to the data in wp_db7_forms(table) and I am not sure how to break down the “form_value” field. I believe I am correct in saying your add-on inserts an array into the field value.
I know how to pull the data(records I want), however I am not sure how to move it into my grid’s binding array. Below is an example of code I use currently to bind another grid.

$query = "SELECT beverages.ID, beverages.name, beverages.desc, beverages.price, beverages_catagory.catagory AS cat ";
$query .= "FROM beverages ";
$query .= "JOIN beverages_catagory ";
$query .= "ON beverages_catagory.ID=beverages.catagory ";
$query .= "WHERE beverages.active=0  ";
$query .= "order by beverages.name";

$result = $mysqli->prepare($query);
//$result->bind_param('ii', $from, $to);
$result->execute();

/* bind result variables */
$result->bind_result($ID, $name, $desc, $price, $cat);
/* fetch values */ 
while ($result->fetch())
	{
	$customers[] = array(
		'ID' => $ID,
		'name' => $name,
		'desc' => $desc,
		'price' => $price,
		'cat' => $cat
	);
	}
echo json_encode($customers);

This will probably demonstrate my lack of coding abilities, but if I am correct that the field value is already an array how do I use it to populate another array (the array that binds to the grid)?
Am I totally off base and there is a smarter way to achieve the grid binding?

Thanks