February 23, 2024
@wonder/Instragram
Wonder food hall is now open for delivery orders, pick-up, or in-store dining at the Walmart in Quakertown.
A Walmart in Quakertown has become the home to the first Pennsylvania location of the food hall Wonder, the delivery platform that combines several restaurants into one kitchen, allowing customers to pick and choose from different cuisines for one order.
The concept opened Wednesday inside the Walmart at 195 N. West End Blvd. It is Wonder's first partnership with a brick-and-mortar retailer. The Quakertown location offers food from the menus from eight different restaurants available for pickup or delivery. While some of Wonder's other 10 locations have limited space for in-store dining, the newest spot touts the chain's largest dining area.
Wonder was founded by entrepreneur and investor Marc Lore, who previously built the e-commerce site Jet.com. After that company was acquired by Walmart, Lore spent time running the retail giant's online operations. He started Wonder in the New York City-area in 2018 and his stores feature food from celebrity chefs like Bobby Flay, Marcus Samuelsson, José Andrés and others.
Walmart is expected to open at least two additional locations at stores in Ledgewood and Teterboro, New Jersey, Inc reported.
The eight restaurants at the Quakertown Walmart are the burrito shop Limesalt; Burger Baby; American diner Fred's Meat & Bread; chicken wing shop Wing Trip; Greek restaurant Yasas; Texas barbecue spot Tejas; and Alanzo Pizza.
Wonder describes itself as a "fast fine" delivery service that focuses on offering higher quality foods that are prepared quickly with all of the restaurant concepts together in one central kitchen. The company aims to let families and friends place online food orders without limiting their choices to one restaurant.
"We thought about this community in Quakertown, what's important to them, when we selected the menu," Jason Rusk, senior vice president of Wonder, told The Morning Call. "It gets us to expand and grow into areas outside of New York."
Last year, Wonder acquired meal-kit, subscription service Blue Apron and expanded the range of services it offers. The company was valued at about $3.5 billion after it closed a $350 million funding round last June, and it recently received a $100 million investment from Nestle to sell kitchen equipment and prepared ingredients.
Walmart has a history of partnering with restaurant chains. Past partnerships include Subway, Taco Bell, McDonald's and others.
