Wonder makes its first-ever restaurant acquisition; launches two food concepts
The delivery-focused restaurant company founded by former Walmart executive Marc Lore has made its first-ever physical restaurant acquisition.
Wonder has acquired New York City-based fast-casual restaurant Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken from Blue Ribbon Restaurants for an undisclosed sum. As part of the agreement, Wonder will acquire the Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken brand, along with its brick-and-mortar restaurant in Manhattan and its current employees.
Blue Ribbon will soon join Wonder’s assortment of over two dozen restaurant brands, which are available for pickup, delivery or dine-in at its brick-and-mortar food halls.
At the same time, Wonder will keep Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken's East Village restaurant operating as usual, with no planned changes to day-to-day operations. The location will also remain available on third-party delivery platforms.
"Bringing Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken into Wonder is an exciting step forward," said Marc Lore, founder and CEO of Wonder. "With an incredibly loyal following already in place, we can now scale this iconic brand across the Wonder platform to reach far more people."
Wonder says it will “thoughtfully scale” the Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken brand over time, with plans to introduce it as a concept at a Wonder location in New York City in 2026, followed by expansion to additional locations.
In addition, in an email to Chain Store Age, a Wonder spokesperson said the company is debuting two brand-new restaurant concepts, Pop Salad and El Diez Mexican Bowls. Both concepts offer full meals for $10 or less.
The rollout of Pop Salad and El Diez Mexican has begun in Springfield, N.J., followed by a broader launch Wed., February 11, 2026, across 15 locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Long Island, and Downtown Philadelphia.
Wonder- a brief primer
Wonder's multi-restaurant model lets customers choose from more than 20 different restaurant concepts, including Alanza, Tejas Barbecue, and Streetbird by Marcus Samuelsson, with every dish made to order in a Wonder storefront and delivered fast and free.
In May 2025, Wonder raised $600 million in capital, following a 2024 infusion of $700 million in capital that included a $100 million investment from Lore.
[READ MORE: Wonder raises $600M in capital; opening one store per week]
Wonder, which acquired Gruhub from Netherlands-based global online delivery conglomerate JustEatTakeaway.com for $650 million in November 2024, also recently purchased Spyce, an automated culinary tool is designed to balance the core elements of cooking technique, measurement, and timing, from healthy eating chain Sweetgreen for $86.4 million in cash and shares.
In addition, Wonder plans to "aggressively invest" in research and development, according to founder Marc Lore, focusing on areas including faster cook times, software enhancements, new menu items, new chefs and new restaurant partnerships.
Lore said the company will also continue to invest in proprietary technology to drive operational efficiencies, including back-end technology focused on driving down food waste; next-gen kitchen designs to improve throughput and consistency, and an enhanced delivery network.
Wonder has publicly said its ultimate goal is to become the "super app for meal time."
