Wonder, founded by Marc Lore, is building a technology-driven food business that combines restaurant concepts, automated kitchens, AI-powered order coordination, and emerging delivery technologies.
Its Infinite Makeline robotic system can assemble up to 500 bowls per hour in a demonstration setting, while partnerships with Serve Robotics and Zipline are expanding its autonomous delivery ambitions.
The company aims to improve efficiency, consistency, and affordability, although the long-term impact will depend on operating costs, customer adoption, and successful implementation.
Ordering dinner from several restaurants usually means dealing with multiple menus, separate orders, and different delivery times. Marc Lore wants to change that experience. Through Wonder, Lore is building a food technology business that brings restaurant brands, automated kitchens, artificial intelligence, and delivery services under one roof.
The ambition goes beyond getting a meal to someone's door faster. Lore wants to change how food is prepared, personalized, and delivered, with technology helping to bring restaurant-quality meals to more people at more accessible prices. Some parts of this vision are already operating, while others are still in development.
Lore is no stranger to building businesses around convenience. He founded e-commerce company Jet.com, which Walmart acquired in 2016, before turning his attention to food. He launched Wonder in 2018 with a different challenge in mind: making a wider variety of freshly prepared meals easier to access.
Wonder combines multiple restaurant concepts in a single location. Customers can choose dishes from different menus and, where the service is available, combine them into one order. That is particularly useful for families or groups whose members rarely agree on what to eat.
The company has expanded its physical footprint and food businesses, including Grubhub and Blue Apron. In July 2026, Wonder announced a USD 650 million Series D funding round at a USD 9 billion pre-money valuation, intended to support expansion and investment in AI, robotics, and infrastructure.
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One of Wonder's most ambitious projects is its Infinite Makeline, a robotic meal-assembly system developed from technology acquired from Sweetgreen. The system can prepare bowl-based meals using a large selection of ingredients, helping kitchens handle orders more consistently during busy periods.
At its New York demonstration location, Wonder showed the machine assembling up to 500 bowls per hour from 68 ingredients. That is a substantial capacity, although actual output depends on the menu, demand and kitchen workflow.
The company is also developing other automated equipment, including systems for preparing sauces and moving ingredients around the kitchen. These machines are intended to reduce repetitive work and make it easier to offer different cuisines from the same facility.
Robots will not take over every cooking task overnight. Staff still need to handle food preparation, quality checks, and parts of the assembly process. The immediate goal is to automate suitable tasks while helping employees coordinate a much larger menu.
Preparing food from several restaurant concepts creates a complicated scheduling problem. Different dishes require different cooking times, and customers expect their entire order to arrive together.
Wonder uses software to coordinate kitchen activity, helping staff determine which items need attention and when. Its AI-powered kitchen display system manages incoming orders and sequences tasks so meals are ready around the same time.
Lore is also pursuing a more personal application of AI through a platform called MEL. The idea is to use information such as food preferences, health goals, and body-composition data to recommend meals suited to individual customers. A beta version was expected in 2027, so the broader concept remains a work in progress.
If the approach proves useful, customers could receive recommendations that balance what they enjoy eating with their personal dietary goals. Privacy and responsible handling of health-related information will be key considerations as these services develop.
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Getting food ready is only half the challenge. Traffic, distance, and delivery costs can all affect how quickly a meal reaches the customer. Wonder has partnered with Serve Robotics to introduce autonomous sidewalk deliveries through the Grubhub marketplace in selected areas, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Alexandria. Depending on location and availability, eligible orders can be matched with a delivery robot.
The company is also working with Zipline on drone-delivered meals in Texas, with service planned to begin in January 2027. The longer-term plan is to expand the option across more Texas locations.
These systems could reduce road traffic and expand delivery coverage. But weather, regulations, operating costs, and safe handoffs will determine how widely autonomous delivery can be used.
Wonder's business case depends on more than impressive machinery. By bringing several restaurant concepts into one kitchen and automating selected tasks, the company hopes to use space and staff more efficiently. Better coordination could also reduce delays and mistakes.
Still, advanced kitchens require investment, maintenance, and technical expertise. Savings will depend on whether each location generates enough orders to justify those costs. Consumers will ultimately judge the model by the food, price, and reliability, not by how many robots are behind the counter.
For Lore, AI and robotics are tools for rethinking the entire meal experience, from choosing a dish to getting it home. Wonder has already begun putting parts of that idea into practice. Whether it can deliver on its larger promise will depend on execution, economics, and customers' willingness to embrace a more automated way of eating.
Who is Marc Lore?
Marc Lore is an entrepreneur known for founding Jet.com, which Walmart acquired in 2016. He later founded Wonder, a food technology company focused on improving meal preparation, ordering, and delivery.
What is Wonder?
Wonder is a food technology platform that brings multiple restaurant concepts together with kitchen technology, delivery services, and at-home meal solutions. Customers can select dishes from different Wonder restaurant concepts in a single order where the service is available.
How is Wonder using artificial intelligence?
Wonder uses AI-powered software to help coordinate kitchen orders and sequence food preparation. It is also developing MEL, a platform intended to recommend meals based on individual preferences and health-related goals.
What is the Infinite Makeline?
The Infinite Makeline is Wonder's robotic meal-assembly system, developed from technology acquired from Sweetgreen. It is designed to assemble bowl-based meals using a range of ingredients and help kitchens manage orders more efficiently.
How many bowls can Wonder's robotic system prepare per hour?
At a New York demonstration location, the Infinite Makeline was shown with the capacity to assemble up to 500 bowls per hour using 68 ingredients. Actual output can vary depending on menu requirements, demand, and kitchen workflow.