Food-Delivery Startup Wonder To Open Physical Location In Bergen Co.

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — New Jersey food startup Wonder which is known for its equipped-to-cook vans that deliver food right to your door is shifting its business strategy, founder and CEO Marc Lore said.

Instead of "chefs on the road" making the food inside Wonder's fleet of fully outfitted vans, the company is looking to open 10 physical locations in services areas in Bergen, Essex and Union Counties, and in New York. Specifics on where these locations will be were not provided.

A proof of concept pilot program, Lore said Tuesday in a LinkedIn post, found that the brick-and-mortar locations, which allow for delivery, pickup and limited dine-in options, made for faster order-to-eat times, more loyal and happier customers, and savings in infrastructure costs.

"These locations will give us the ability to offer dozens of different cuisines through a single kitchen, utilizing the same technology from our mobile restaurants, all while making our great food even better, faster and hotter," Lore said.

Lore added that Wonder had considered other delivery alternatives in response to customer demand.

Company leadership, he said, he started to ask the question: "Instead of having 30 vehicles serving all of our different cuisines on a given night, could we create a scenario where we serve all 30 of our restaurants from a single, fixed space?"

He also said that the most difficult part of the strategic change is the "tough personnel choices" for those who operate the mobile restaurants, not disclosing, however, how many employees would be affected.

A Wonder spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company would start to wind down mobile activities next week and conclude by late May.