Marc Lore, a seasoned e-commerce entrepreneur who previously sold his startups to Amazon and Walmart, is now setting his sights on integrating artificial intelligence into his current company, Wonder. At the heart of this vision is Wonder Create, a project designed to enable anyone—from food entrepreneurs to social media influencers—to use AI to conceive and launch their own restaurant brand in less than a minute. Once created, this virtual restaurant would become available across Wonder's expanding network of tech-equipped kitchen locations, which currently numbers 120 and is projected to reach 400 next year.

Lore's startup operates as a vertically integrated dining and delivery platform that has evolved from food trucks to fast-casual restaurants with 10 to 20 seats. However, these are not conventional eateries; they are "programmable cooking platforms" capable of functioning as 25 different types of restaurants based on cuisine, all within all-electric kitchens that are increasingly incorporating robotics. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's "Future of Everything" conference this week, Lore revealed that these kitchens boast a library of 700 ingredients. The "restaurants" housed within them actually consist of multiple brands operating from the same physical locations. In addition to a staff of up to 12 people, cooking technologies like conveyors and robotic arms assist in the preparation process. The company recently acquired Spice Robotics, a manufacturer of an automatic bowl-making machine previously used by Sweetgreen. Next year, Wonder plans to introduce an "infinite sauce machine" capable of producing approximately 80% of all sauces found in online recipes today.

Wonder Create was announced earlier this year as a tool for anyone to leverage Wonder's software to launch their own restaurant brand and recipes. Lore provided more specifics on how AI technology would facilitate this process, describing the plan as akin to a "Shopify front-end with an AI prompt." He explained during an interview at the WSJ event: "You type in what kind of restaurant you want to build. It builds the restaurant—AI does—in under a minute. It does the name, branding, description, pictures, pricing, health information, and all the recipes for your restaurant." The aspiring restaurateur could then refine the prompt if adjustments were needed. When ready to go live, the restaurant would debut across all of Wonder's locations. The company currently operates 120 of these "programmable cooking platforms," with plans to expand to 400 next year.

As Wonder adds robotics to the mix, Lore noted that the company won't necessarily reduce its workforce. Instead, it aims to increase the number of meals a kitchen can produce within a given timeframe. "We have about 7 million throughput capacity with 12 people," he said. "We see a path to getting to 20 million throughput out of 2,500 square feet with just 12 people. The goal also is…I guess by 2035, to have 1,000 unique restaurants operating out of the 2,500 square feet." The objective behind these AI-generated "restaurants" is to allow people to experiment with food in novel ways. For example, a restaurateur could test recipes to gauge customer reactions before adding dishes to their own brick-and-mortar locations. Lore also sees other potential uses for the platform, such as enabling influencers to connect with their audiences through their own "restaurant" brands without having to launch physical chains.

"It could be a mega-influencer, a micro-influencer—anyone that wants to monetize their following," Lore said. "Or it could be a private trainer that wants to make specific bowls. It could be a not-for-profit. It could be Disney for [marketing] their new movie. Anybody can make a restaurant." Whether that many people actually want to do so remains an open question. Ghost kitchens—a similar concept that promised to let brands sell food without owning a restaurant—had a turbulent run in the early 2020s, with several high-profile operators scaling back or shutting down after struggling to build customer loyalty. Wonder's additional layer of automation and AI may address some of those shortcomings, but the model is still unproven at scale.

MrBeast Burger, a famous ghost kitchen experiment, vividly illustrated the challenge. The brand faced widespread complaints over inconsistent food quality—a consequence of relying on dozens of different contracted kitchens and staff. Wonder's programmable, increasingly automated kitchens are designed to solve exactly that problem. However, Lore admitted there are still limits to this idea. Wonder's team (including its robots) cannot do things like toss and stretch pizza dough or slice and roll sushi. Instead, Wonder's focus remains on simpler basics like burgers, chicken wings, fried chicken, and bowls.

The entire plan comes together with Lore's other acquisitions—Grubhub for its 250 million deliveries per year business and Blue Apron for its meal kit operation. Now, Wonder is concentrating on buying restaurant brands, such as New York City-based Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken, which it acquired for $6.5 million in February. "When you buy a brand—and you can buy a brand that has 10 locations, or even 50 locations—and then overnight put it in 1,000, there's just an incredible arbitrage there," Lore noted.