Wonder opens first Lehigh Valley location at Promenade Saucon Valley in Center Valley

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — Wonder, the fast-growing food platform founded by entrepreneur Marc Lore, opened its first Lehigh Valley location Thursday at Promenade Saucon Valley in Center Valley, bringing its multi-restaurant ordering model to the Lehigh County shopping center.

The 3,023-square-foot restaurant at 2845 Center Valley Parkway lets customers combine dishes from more than 20 chef-driven brands into a single order for dine-in, pickup or delivery, according to the company. The grand opening followed a soft-opening run from June 8 to 10 and a ribbon-cutting at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

The Center Valley store, a standalone storefront next to Elite Salons & Suites, is the company’s only location in Lehigh or Northampton counties, according to Wonder’s online directory.

Its nearest existing Pennsylvania store sits about 15 miles south inside the Walmart at 195 N. West End Blvd. in Quakertown, Bucks County, which opened in 2024. The new site will also serve as a delivery hub for the surrounding area and is open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Wonder, based in New York, was founded in 2018 by Lore — the former Walmart e-commerce chief behind Jet.com and Diapers.com — and had grown to roughly 130 locations as of late May, according to Axios. The company has acquired meal-kit maker Blue Apron and delivery service Grubhub and has said it is preparing for a possible initial public offering in early 2027.

Wonder markets itself as a “fast fine” concept that prepares menus from multiple restaurants in one centralized kitchen. Center Valley diners can order dishes tied to chefs including Bobby Flay, Marcus Samuelsson and Michael Symon, alongside brands such as Tejas Barbecue, Streetbird by Marcus Samuelsson, Magnolia Bakery and Brooklyn’s Di Fara Pizza, the company said.

Illescas also pointed to Walnut Lane, a concept from James Beard Award-winning chef Jonathan Waxman, as one of the menus available at the Center Valley store.

“We’re trying to bring really high-end food to markets and make it affordable for our local guests,” said Xavier Illescas, a new-opening development manager at Wonder. Illescas said the Center Valley location offers about 25 concepts and is designed to accommodate groups with diverse tastes.

“You don’t have to fight with your kids and your wife or your significant other as far as what you want to get, because we pretty much have a little bit of everything,” Illescas said.

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Illescas said the location relies heavily on technology to coordinate so many menus under one roof, though he declined to detail how the system works. “A lot of the things we do are AI and tech-driven,” he said, adding that some of the technology is “under wraps.”

He said most food is prepared from daily deliveries supplied by a Wonder production facility, while some fried items, such as chicken tenders, arrive frozen.

Wonder’s rapid rollout has drawn skepticism elsewhere. As the chain expanded across the Philadelphia region and other markets, some industry figures questioned how a venture-backed, technology-driven operation fits into local food scenes, and others have pushed back on the company’s mix of outside chef brands and centralized kitchens.

Ben Fileccia of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association told Axios that without genuine local hospitality, a single poor experience could send diners elsewhere. Wonder has said it is committed to hiring locally and partnering with community groups in the markets it enters.

The chain’s arrival also continues a stretch of leasing activity at the Center Valley shopping center, which recent announcements have linked to additions such as Sephora and Norman’s Hallmark. Patrick Turner, general manager of Promenade Saucon Valley, said in a January statement announcing the deal that Wonder “offers the convenience and variety our guests have been asking for.”

To mark the opening, Wonder’s promotional materials said the first 100 orders of $10 or more would receive a swag bag, and that the company is partnering with Philabundance, a Philadelphia-based hunger-relief organization, on a donation roundup program.

Illescas said new customers can also receive 50 percent off their first two orders, with additional promotions to follow.