The Jefferies 2025 Private Growth Conference brought together hundreds of top bankers, investors, founders, and tech executives to discuss the sector’s key trends and developments. The interview below has been edited for length and clarity.
In April, Jefferies hosted Marc Lore, Founder & CEO of Wonder, at its annual Private Growth Conference. The serial entrepreneur — best known for founding and selling Diapers.com and Jet.com — shared insights on his latest venture: a food service platform that’s redefining restaurant economics.
Lore’s experience with Wonder offers a window into how entrepreneurs can rethink legacy industries with technology, vertical integration, and a clear long-term vision.
A Restaurant Group that Owns a Delivery Platform
Wonder — part restaurant group, part delivery platform — is aiming to make high-quality meals more accessible, efficient, and consistent. With 30 restaurant concepts under one roof, it delivers everything from burgers to Korean BBQ straight to customers’ doors, all through a single app.
“Think of us as a restaurant group that owns a delivery platform,” said Lore. “Imagine if Chipotle, Sweetgreen, and Five Guys all got together and said, ‘let’s cook all our same stuff in the same kitchen . . . and let’s build our own delivery network so we control the experience end to end.’ That’s how we’re reverse engineering the business.”
Since opening its first location two years ago, Wonder has expanded to 50 locations across the Northeast. Its growth plan includes reaching 200 locations by 2026, with a standalone IPO targeted for 2028.
Owning the Entire Customer Experience
Today, Wonder’s competitive advantage is its vertically-integrated model. As a company, they own all restaurant brands on their platform, which means no royalty payments and unlimited scaling opportunities. It also controls the cooking tech, kitchen operations, and delivery network, enabling faster service and consistent quality.
This control allows Wonder to claim 95 percent on-time delivery. Their model works particularly well in suburban and less densely populated areas, bringing a range of food options to places with more limited restaurant choices.
Billion-Dollar Technology Investment
To achieve restaurant-quality food without a traditional kitchen setup, Wonder invested over $1 billion in software engineering, culinary engineering, and food science.
“We’re able to cook 30 different cuisines and match the quality of best-in-market with only two or three distinct pieces of electric cooking equipment,” Lore explains. Wonder’s proprietary tools can sear steak in six minutes without flames, cook pasta without water, and bake pizza in 90 seconds.
But equipment is just one part of the equation. Wonder also developed sophisticated software, like sequencing algorithms, to ensure food from multiple restaurants finishes cooking at the same time and arrives hot.
M&A as a Strategy Accelerator
Wonder has expanded quickly through strategic acquisitions. Over the past two years, it has acquired meal-kit service Blue Apron, the creative studio Tastemade, and the delivery platform GrubHub. Lore describes his M&A philosophy as “opportunistic” and focused on advancing their core strategy.
“In the case of Blue Apron and Grubhub, those are businesses that we were organically building anyway,” Lore notes. “We’re not looking at acquisitions as some sort of holding company. We have a clear vision and strategy.”
The AI-Powered Future of Food
Lore’s vision is for Wonder to become a comprehensive “super app” for food. The company aims to integrate all of the ways to eat in one platform, from first-party restaurants and third-party local delivery to meal kits and reservations.
“Our ultimate goal is to autonomously feed families breakfast, lunch, and dinner according to their budget, health goals, and the foods they love,” says Lore. The next step, he says, is to use AI to support better ways of feeding families.
“Imagine making efficient use of all your groceries, not wasting any food, solving for your health goals while taking the burden off of having a meal plan completely off the table.”
There’s No Substitute for Great People
While Wonder’s tech and operations are core to its growth, Lore credits his team above all.
“I think the common theme is just surrounding myself with great people,” he reflects. “Creating a culture that not only identifies and attracts the best talent, but also gets the best out of them.”
With plans to reach $5 billion in revenue by 2028, Wonder is positioned to transform how Americans access and consume quality food, making it healthier, more convenient, and more enjoyable in the process.
