Wonder Food Trucks Bring Meals And Debates To Maplewood, Other North Jersey Towns

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The Wonder food truck concept provided residents of several North Jersey towns with a fresh cooked meal during the pandemic starting last spring, but as the company expands, some have "wondered" about the pluses and minuses of chefs cooking meals in trucks on North Jersey's residential streets.

Last year, the company — created by ex-Walmart eCommerce CEO and Diapers.com founder Marc Lore — debuted its first mobile restaurants in the popular suburban town of Westfield. In the comments section of Patch, area residents debated the results.

Some spoke of noisy trucks, but others gave good reviews for the food.

"The taco dinner for 4-5 people fed us for days," said a Patch reader in the comments section. "And the pepperoni thick-crust pizza, hot/fresh and crunchy where you want the crunch... In my opinion this is a win on so many levels."

The company has responded to the conversations by saying they've worked hard to partner with town officials and with local restaurants so that the trucks help are a help rather than a hindrance in local communities.

In the last two months, the company opened in Maplewood (in February) and South Orange (in March).

The mobile restaurants, as Wonder calls them, also now operate in 18 other North Jersey towns, including Livingston, Millburn/Short Hills, Garwood, Mountainside, Cranford, Scotch Plains, Fanwood, Summit, Springfield Township (Union County), New Providence, Watchung, Westfield, Berkeley Heights, Kenilworth, Union Township (Union County), Chatham Borough, Chatham, and Madison.

When the trucks arrived in Maplewood, residents "wondered" whether the meals would stay affordable, but noted that the prices seem reasonable for now.

"The truck is out there for a good 15 minutes or more before the chef comes to your door," wrote one commenter. "I could tell the rib roast I ordered once was fresh from the kitchen. Like I said, this is a level above take-out ... We were surprised at how the prices aren't bad at all."

The concept helps, rather than hurts, local restaurants, noted company representatives.

Wonder’s Envoy service allows customers to order with a participating restaurant for pickup or delivery — and charges 15 percent, or half the fee of services like Doordash, a representative noted.

Andrew Gasper, the company's chief governance officer, said, "Where we deliver food from local restaurants, we are building strong relationships with neighborhood restaurant owners and helping them realize more revenue, while continuing to serve and grow their customers."

He added, "We care about making sure that we are strong community partners, working with local government and local residents ... We currently are using all electric fuel cell generators to power our kitchen equipment, and our goal is to move to an all-electric fleet over time. Our kitchen commissary is LEED certified, and we’ve been offsetting 100 percent of our carbon emissions for our mobile restaurants.”

He also said that local workers are hired as chefs, engineers, and drivers.

Bob Zuckerman, the director of Downtown Westfield, told the Asbury Park Press earlier this month that while Westfield restaurants were worried last year about competition from Wonder, the company has turned out to be a "good neighbor."

The company said at the end of last year that it planned to go from 60 trucks to more than 1,000 by the end of 2022.

Find out more about Wonder here.

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