Wonder files confidentially for an IPO

2 Min Read Wonder has been growing rapidly. Photo courtesy of Wonder Wonder has taken a big step toward its initial public offering. The food hall/delivery company on Thursday said it had confidentially filed draft IPO documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission, officially kicking off the go-public process.

Wonder has previously said that it expects to be “IPO-ready” by early next year. Filing confidentially will allow it to get feedback from the SEC while keeping its financial information under wraps until closer to its IPO date. The company has not yet determined how many shares it will offer or the price range for the offering, it said.

Founded by ecommerce entrepreneur Marc Lore, Wonder operates a chain of multi-brand food halls that are designed for delivery and pickup. It also owns the Grubhub delivery service, Blue Apron meal kits, and Tastemade, a food media company. It has ambitious plans to use robotics and AI to automate much of its restaurant operations , which it says will make delivery more affordable and allow it to provide customers with 21 meals a week.

It also wants to let customers use AI to create their own restaurant concepts and personalized meal plans. Related: Uber Eats sees little traffic from AI agents Over the past several years, Wonder has raised more than $3 billion to fuel its expansion. It was valued at more than $9 billion following a $650 million Series D round in July.

It has roughly tripled its footprint over the past year and now has about 170 locations along the East Coast, with plans to enter Texas next year. Each location offers food from 20 to 30 restaurant concepts that were either created by Wonder, licensed, or acquired. In September, Wonder laid off 7% of its corporate staff , or about 150 people, in an effort to streamline ahead of its planned IPO.

It also laid off 533 food workers in New Jersey as it moved from two production plants to one with higher capacity. About the Author Senior editor, Restaurant Business Joe Guszkowski is a senior editor with Restaurant Business covering technology and casual-dining chains.