Restaurant delivery startup Wonder has tapped former Nestlé executive Perry Miele to advise the company on its fast-growing B2B business, WonderWorks.
Miele recently retired as the president and CEO of Nestlé Professional, the food and drink conglomerate’s foodservice division. He will lend his expertise to WonderWorks as it looks to form partnerships with food operations in sports arenas, hotels and airports. He spent more than 20 years at Nestlé Professional, including seven as president and CEO.
WonderWorks offers operators a turnkey food program that mirrors operations at Wonder’s delivery-focused food halls. Food is prepared in a central commissary and then sent to the food halls, where it is finished using minimal equipment including specially calibrated TurboChef ovens. The system is designed to increase speed and reduce labor costs.
Launched last year, WonderWorks works with more than 25 brands across 200 locations and expects to quadruple its footprint in 2024. Current customers include big foodservice operator Sodexo Live, the Target Center arena in Minneapolis and the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, where WonderWorks produces the pizza sold in the food hall.
Nestlé invested $100 million in Wonder last year as part of a partnership to help grow WonderWorks, bringing Wonder’s total funding to nearly $1 billion. The company currently has 10 food halls in New York and New Jersey featuring dozens of brands. In November, it acquired the Blue Apron meal kit company.
Wonder was founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Marc Lore with the goal of redefining food delivery. Lore has since said he wants Wonder to become a "super app for mealtime." He previously founded ecommerce pioneers Diapers.com and Jet.com and spent more than four years as CEO of Walmart's ecommerce business. Lore is also the co-owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx pro basketball teams.