Topline
Wonder, the food hall and delivery company founded by billionaire Marc Lore, is laying off 533 workers in New Jersey in a restructuring the company says is meant to focus resources on key growth areas ahead of a planned IPO in early 2028.
A delivery person for GrubHub in New York City.
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Key Facts
Wonder filed a WARN notice with New Jersey’s labor department saying it will lay off 533 people at its Parsippany location between Wednesday and Jan. 8 of next year.
The filing comes two weeks after trade publication Nation’s Restaurant News reported Wonder would cut about 150 jobs in a streamlining effort a spokesperson said was part of a “difficult decision to eliminate a number of roles to focus our resources on key growth areas” as the company “enters its next chapter.”
A recent fundraising round of $650 million valued Wonder at $9.65 billion, and the company is working toward being ready for its initial public offering by early 2028, Lore said at the Fast Company MIC Summit in New York in June.
Lore, who made the bulk of his fortune selling Jet.com to Walmart in 2016, said at the summit he wants Wonder, which owns Blue Apron and Grubhub, to “look and act like a public company” by the end of next year in preparation for the future offering.
Key background
Lore founded Wonder as a mobile restaurant concept almost 10 years ago. The company operated a fleet of customized vans equipped with mobile kitchens and launched a public delivery service in 2021 backed by $400 million in Series A funding. It then pivoted to a physical “food hall” model where one shared kitchen produced dishes from several different restaurant concepts and partnered with chefs like Bobby Flay, José Andrés and Nancy Silverton to offer high-end menus made in its local kitchens. It then raised an additional $350 million in Series B funding and started its strategic acquisitions and expansions. Wonder acquired meal kit service Blue Apron for $103 million in 2023 and delivery service GrubHub in 2024 for $650 million (it also raised another $700 million in Series C funding in 2024). In late 2025, it acquired Sweetgreen’s robotic kitchen company Spyce and today operates more than 160 physical locations on the East Coast. Its Series D funding round, in July, raised $650 million.
TANGENT
DoorDash and Wonder on Tuesday announced a new, $425 million partnership. DoorDash will acquire Grubhub Campus Dining for $300 million as part of the deal and contribute $125 million into Wonder’s Series D funding round. This deal infusion gives DoorDash a foothold in campus markets and Lore the capital to focus on scaling Wonder’s core food halls, kitchen robotics and AI technology.
FORBES VALUATION
Lore is the 843rd-richest person in the world as of Wednesday, with an estimated net worth of $5.1 billion. He cofounded Diapers.com parent Quidsi in 2005 (which Amazon acquired for $545 million in 2010) and ecommerce firm Jet.com in 2014, which he sold to Walmart for $3.3 billion two years later. He co-owns the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx through a partnership with retired Yankees player Alex Rodriguez.
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