Marc Lore, the serial entrepreneur behind successful startups sold to Amazon and Walmart, is betting on artificial intelligence to democratize the restaurant industry. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything conference, Lore unveiled ambitious plans for his current venture, Wonder, to let anyone create and launch a virtual restaurant brand in under a minute using AI.
Background: From e-commerce to food tech
Lore's career trajectory reflects a pattern of disrupting traditional industries. He co-founded Quidsi (parent of Diapers.com), which was acquired by Amazon in 2010 for $545 million. Then he founded Jet.com, an e-commerce platform that Walmart bought in 2016 for $3.3 billion, leading to his role as president of Walmart's U.S. e-commerce division. In 2017, he left to launch Wonder, initially a food truck concept that evolved into a full-fledged dining and delivery platform. Wonder now operates 120 high-tech kitchens across the United States, with plans to expand to 400 by 2027.
The technology behind Wonder Create
Wonder's kitchens are not ordinary restaurants. They are "programmable cooking platforms" — all-electric facilities equipped with robotic arms, conveyors, and a library of 700 ingredients. Each kitchen can function as up to 25 different restaurant concepts simultaneously, switching cuisines based on software commands. The company recently acquired Spice Robotics, a maker of an automatic bowl-making machine previously used by Sweetgreen. Next year, Wonder plans to deploy an "infinite sauce machine" capable of producing about 80% of all sauces found in internet recipes.
"We have about 7 million throughput capacity with 12 people," Lore said. "We see a path to getting to 20 million throughput out of 2,500 square feet with just 12 people." The goal is to have 1,000 unique restaurant brands operating out of a single kitchen by 2035. Automation will not reduce headcount, he emphasized, but instead increase meal production per square foot.
How Wonder Create works
Launched earlier this year, Wonder Create allows anyone to use Wonder's software to start a virtual restaurant. The process is akin to "a Shopify front end with an AI prompt," as Lore described. Users type a description of the restaurant they envision — cuisine, theme, target audience — and AI generates the brand name, logo, menu descriptions, pricing, nutritional information, and even full recipes, all in under a minute. If unsatisfied, the user can refine the prompt. Once ready, the virtual restaurant goes live across Wonder's network of kitchens, fulfilling orders through the Grubhub platform (which Wonder also owns).
Lore envisions a wide range of users: "It could be a mega-influencer, a micro-influencer — anyone that wants to monetize their following. Or it could be a private trainer that wants to make specific bowls. It could be a not-for-profit. It could be Disney for marketing their new movie. Anybody can make a restaurant." This opens possibilities for influencers to launch branded food lines without brick-and-mortar commitments, or for traditional restaurateurs to test new concepts before opening physical locations.
The ghost kitchen challenge
Wonder's plan echoes the ghost kitchen trend that peaked in the early 2020s, but with significant differences. Ghost kitchens — facilities that prepare food exclusively for delivery — promised low barriers to entry but struggled with quality control and customer loyalty. Notably, MrBeast Burger, a brand built on ghost kitchens, faced widespread complaints about inconsistent food because it relied on dozens of different contracted kitchens and untrained staff. Wonder counters this by owning its kitchens, standardizing equipment and processes, and now adding robotics to ensure consistency.
However, there are limitations. Wonder's automated systems cannot handle tasks like tossing and stretching pizza dough or slicing and rolling sushi. The focus remains on simpler fare: burgers, chicken wings, fried chicken, and bowls. Whether the model can scale to more complex cuisines remains to be seen. Lore acknowledged that challenges remain but argued that Wonder's vertical integration — from kitchen construction to delivery logistics — provides a more controlled environment than traditional ghost kitchen operators.
Strategic acquisitions and brand arbitrage
Wonder has been on an acquisition spree to consolidate its position. In 2021, it acquired Blue Apron, the meal kit delivery service, for $103 million, gaining access to its supply chain and recipe development expertise. In 2023, Wonder purchased Grubhub from Just Eat Takeaway for $650 million, adding a delivery network capable of handling 250 million orders per year. More recently, in February 2026, Wonder bought Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken, a New York City chain with 10 locations, for $6.5 million.
"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. This strategy allows Wonder to instantly expand popular independent brands across its entire kitchen network, leveraging local favorites on a national scale.
The addition of AI-generated restaurant brands could further accelerate this model. Instead of acquiring existing chains, Wonder Create lets anyone become a restaurateur, potentially generating thousands of niche concepts that target specific dietary preferences, cultural cuisines, or pop culture moments.
Nevertheless, the ultimate test will be consumer adoption. While the technological infrastructure appears robust, building customer loyalty for virtual brands is notoriously difficult. Diners who order from a brand that exists only on a delivery app may not develop the same attachment as they would to a physical restaurant. Wonder's AI-powered personalization and consistent quality might mitigate that risk, but the model remains unproven at scale. As Lore concludes, "The goal is to let people experiment with food in new ways," and the next few years will reveal whether that experiment succeeds.
Source: TechCrunch News