One machine can make 500 burritos, salads and bread bowls per hour. The human worker earns approximately 30 to 45. This gap is the business case Marc Lore Construction is done He wonders around. luck I mentioned Lore recently unveiled the system. The turntable rotates each bowl for a period of time to drop the ingredients according to the customer’s request. Lore said it does not produce any errors.
Wonder paid $186.4 million to acquire the technology from Sweetgreen in December. Bloomberg I mentioned The deal transfers Sweetgreen’s Infinite Kitchen automation business to Wonder, with Sweetgreen continuing to operate the system across its own locations under the supply agreement. Diving restaurant I mentioned The technology is already in place in more than 20 Sweetgreen locations. Wonder plans to test it at a Manhattan location this year, with Restaurant Business Preparing reports Between 50 and 100 installations are scheduled to take place across Wonder Kitchens in 2027.
Labor costs drive automation
Labor is the biggest cost pressure in food services. Full-service restaurants now employ staff averaging 36.5% of sales, according to the National Restaurant Association Found. Only 42% of US restaurants were profitable in 2024. The minimum wage will rise in 22 states in 2026. Every percentage point of labor saved goes directly to the bottom line.
Restaurant workflows fit into automation in ways that most industries don’t. Tasks are structured, repetitive, and measurable. The same bowl is made in the same way thousands of times a day. There is no unexpected terrain for the machine to navigate. There is no need to call a referee. This makes the economics straightforward in a way that general-purpose robots are not. Every pot made by a machine instead of a human worker is a unit of labor cost removed and a unit of productivity added. When you’re eating 500 bowls per hour versus 45 bowls, the math adds up quickly.
Wonder’s structure makes the opportunity even greater. Restaurant Business reported that Wonder operates 29 restaurant concepts from shared kitchens. It owns Grubhub, which Wonder acquired for $650 million in 2024. Many brands operate out of a single kitchen, meaning a single automated system handles volume across menus. This is a different model than a standalone chain that automates a single product.
Sauces, drinks and more than 100 locations
The wonder doesn’t stop at the dishes. luck I mentioned The “infinite sauce machine” can produce 500 sauces per hour from 152 raw ingredients, Lore said. An automated beverage system is scheduled to be installed next year. Food on request I mentioned Wonder aims to install Infinite Kitchen in half of all new locations starting in 2027 and operate more than 100 restaurants in all cuisines from a small shared kitchen.
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Sweetgreen’s 2026 Forecast He appears It plans to open about 15 new restaurants this year, about half of which include Infinite Kitchen. This pace runs parallel to the launch of Wonder’s own company, rolling out the technology across two major operators simultaneously. Restaurant labor costs have risen for three straight years. A machine that makes 500 bowls per hour is the answer operators are looking for.
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