Marc Lore, the veteran e-commerce entrepreneur who previously sold his startups Jet.com and Quidsi to Walmart and Amazon respectively, is now betting big on artificial intelligence to revolutionize the food industry. His current venture, Wonder, is a vertically integrated dining and delivery platform that has evolved from food trucks to fast-casual restaurants with 10 to 20 seats. These are not ordinary eateries; they are programmable cooking platforms capable of operating as 25 different types of restaurants, each within all-electric kitchens that are increasingly robotic.
The centerpiece of Lore's latest vision is Wonder Create, an initiative announced earlier this year that lets anyone—from food entrepreneurs to social media influencers—use AI to design and launch their own restaurant brand in under a minute. The virtual restaurant then goes live across Wonder's growing network of tech-enabled kitchen locations, currently numbering 120 and expected to reach 400 next year. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything conference, Lore described the process as akin to a Shopify front end with an AI prompt.
"You type in what kind of restaurant you want to build. It builds the restaurant—AI does—in under a minute. It does the name, branding, description, pictures, pricing, health information, and all the recipes for your restaurant," Lore explained. The would-be restaurateur can then refine the prompt if changes are needed, and when ready to go live, the restaurant launches across all of Wonder's locations. This system effectively removes traditional barriers to entry in the food service industry, lowering the capital and operational expertise required to start a restaurant brand.
How Wonder's Kitchens Work
Wonder's kitchens are designed around a library of 700 ingredients and can house multiple brands operating from the same physical space. Each kitchen has up to 12 staff members, supplemented by cooking technology such as conveyors and robotic arms. The company recently acquired Spice Robotics, which makes an automatic bowl-making machine previously used by Sweetgreen. Next year, Wonder plans to offer an "infinite sauce machine" capable of producing about 80% of all sauces found in internet recipes today.
Lore emphasized that adding robotics does not necessarily reduce headcount. Instead, it increases throughput. Currently, a 2,500-square-foot kitchen can produce 7 million meals per year with 12 staff. Lore sees a path to 20 million meals from the same space and staffing level. By 2035, he aims for 1,000 unique restaurants operating out of that single kitchen footprint—each represented by a distinct brand that customers can order from via the Wonder platform.
The Vision for AI-Created Restaurants
Wonder Create is not just for mass-market brands; Lore envisions it serving a wide range of creators. Influencers, whether mega or micro, can connect with their audience through their own restaurant brands without having to build physical chains. Private trainers could design specific nutritional bowls, nonprofits could create cause-related menus, and even entertainment giants like Disney could use the platform for movie marketing. "Anybody can make a restaurant," Lore said.
The AI handles menu engineering, pricing algorithms, nutritional compliance, and even generates photo-realistic food images for marketing. This end-to-end automation drastically reduces the time from concept to launch. Traditional restaurant development can take months or years; Wonder Create aims to reduce that to minutes.
Lessons from Ghost Kitchens
The concept of virtual restaurants is not new, but earlier iterations—commonly known as ghost kitchens—had a rocky history. In the early 2020s, many high-profile ghost kitchen operators scaled back or shut down after struggling with customer loyalty and inconsistent food quality. A notable example is MrBeast Burger, which faced widespread complaints because it relied on dozens of different contracted kitchens and staff, leading to erratic dining experiences.
Wonder aims to solve these problems by owning and controlling its kitchens. The programmable, increasingly automated environment ensures that every meal from a given brand meets the same standards, regardless of location. The platforms can also quickly iterate on recipes based on real-time customer feedback, similar to how software developers deploy updates. This ability to test dishes and gauge reaction before committing to a brick-and-mortar location offers a low-risk way for existing restaurateurs to experiment.
Acquisitions Fuel the Ecosystem
Lore's strategy extends beyond kitchen automation. Wonder has acquired Grubhub, which handles 250 million deliveries per year, and Blue Apron, the meal-kit company. These acquisitions provide a massive distribution network and logistics backbone. Additionally, Wonder is buying restaurant brands like New York City's Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken, acquired for $6.5 million in February. "When you buy a brand—and you can buy a brand that has 10 locations, or even 50 locations—and then overnight put it in 1,000, there's just an incredible arbitrage there," Lore noted.
The company currently operates 120 programmable cooking platforms and expects to expand to 400 by next year. This scale, combined with the AI-driven Wonder Create, could dramatically shift the competitive dynamics of the food industry. However, Lore acknowledges limitations: Wonder's kitchens cannot toss pizza dough, slice sushi, or perform other highly specialized manual tasks. The focus remains on simpler basics like burgers, chicken wings, fried chicken, and bowls—items that can be standardized and automated.
Background on Marc Lore
Marc Lore is a serial entrepreneur who made his name in e-commerce. He founded Jet.com, which Walmart acquired for $3 billion in 2016. Before that, he co-founded Quidsi, the parent company of Diapers.com, which sold to Amazon for $545 million in 2010. After leaving Walmart in 2021, Lore shifted his attention to food technology. Wonder started as a food truck concept in 2018 and gradually evolved into a multi-platform dining ecosystem. Lore's ambition is to create a fully integrated system where ordering, cooking, and delivery are unified under one roof.
The food industry has long been ripe for disruption. High failure rates, thin margins, and labor shortages have driven demand for automation and efficiency. Wonder's approach combines robotics, AI, and a vertically integrated business model to address these challenges. By allowing anyone to create a restaurant brand with minimal investment, Lore hopes to unlock a wave of culinary creativity and entrepreneurship. Whether the market will embrace such a radical shift remains to be seen, but the pieces are being put in place at an accelerating pace.
Source: TechCrunch News