Wonder Founder Describes AI Tool for Launching Virtual Restaurant Brands

Marc Lore, founder of food-delivery startup Wonder, said an AI system called Wonder Create can generate a restaurant's branding, menu and recipes before launching the concept across the company's kitchen network. "You type in what kind of restaurant you want to build," Lore said at The Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything conference on May 4.

" Lore added that the tool could be used by mega-influencers, micro-influencers or anyone seeking to monetize an audience. "Anybody can make a restaurant," he said.

Wonder currently operates 120 kitchen locations and expects that number to grow to 400 next year, according to media reports. The company describes the kitchens as programmable cooking platforms capable of operating multiple restaurant brands simultaneously from the same location.

Lore, who previously sold startups to Amazon and Walmart, said Wonder Create was designed to let entrepreneurs, creators and influencers launch food brands without opening physical restaurants.

Wonder's kitchens contain roughly 700 ingredients and are increasingly relying on robotic automation, Lore said. 4 million from Sweetgreen last fall. Lore also outlined plans for an "infinite sauce machine" capable of producing roughly 80 percent of sauces found in internet recipes today.

"We have about 7 million throughput capacity with 12 people," he said. " Wonder hopes to operate as many as 1,000 unique restaurant brands from the same footprint by 2035, Lore said. 5 million deal for New York-based Blue Ribbon.