Grubhub owner Wonder confidentially files for an IPO

Wonder, the food hall and delivery company founded by Marc Lore, said on Thursday, November 5, that it has confidentially filed draft IPO documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company has not yet determined how many shares it will offer or the price range for the offering, according to TechCrunch and Nation's Restaurant News.

Filing confidentially lets Wonder get feedback from the SEC while keeping its financial information private until closer to a listing. Wonder had previously said it expected to be "IPO-ready" by early next year, Nation's Restaurant News reported.

What Wonder operates

Wonder runs a chain of multi-brand food halls designed for delivery and pickup. Each location offers food from 20 to 30 restaurant concepts that Wonder created, licensed or acquired, and the company handles meal preparation, delivery, pickup and dine-in service. It has about 170 locations along the East Coast after roughly tripling its footprint over the past year, according to Nation's Restaurant News.

Through acquisitions, Wonder owns the Grubhub delivery service, Blue Apron meal kits, food media company Tastemade and kitchen robotics company Spyce. TechCrunch reported that the Spyce deal gives Wonder access to automation technology for food preparation.

The company says it plans to use robotics and AI to automate much of its restaurant operations, which it says will make delivery more affordable. It also offers Wonder Create, a platform that lets food entrepreneurs and creators use AI to design new restaurant brands and menu items.

Funding and expansion

Wonder has raised more than $3 billion over the past several years, Nation's Restaurant News reported. In July it raised $650 million in a Series D round; TechCrunch put the valuation at around $9 billion, and Finimize described $9 billion as the pre-money figure. Investors include Accel, GV, AllianceBernstein and ARK Invest, according to TechCrunch.

The company plans to enter Texas next year. TechCrunch reported that Wonder aims to open more than 100 Texas locations by the end of 2027, and Finimize reported that it has lined up Zipline drone deliveries in Texas starting in January 2027.

In September, Wonder cut 7% of its corporate staff, about 150 people, to streamline ahead of the planned IPO. It also laid off 533 food workers in New Jersey as it moved from two production plants to one with higher capacity, Nation's Restaurant News reported.

What restaurant operators should watch

Grubhub is the piece of Wonder that most restaurant operators deal with directly, as a delivery marketplace. The filing came the same day Amazon said its Prime restaurant delivery benefit would run through Uber Eats instead of Grubhub+, a change TechCrunch reported on November 5.

Wonder competes in a delivery market that includes DoorDash and Uber Eats, TechCrunch noted. Once Wonder makes its registration statement public, operators, suppliers and landlords working with its food halls will get a detailed look at the company's financials, including how its delivery, food hall and meal-kit businesses fit together.