A $2 Billion Bet to Upend Restaurants Goes All-In on Automation

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, Wonder Group Inc., a startup trying to redefine what it means to be a takeout restaurant, spent $186 million on robotic lunch-making technology. The investment centered on a contraption, which could fill a small room, consisting of a track that carries single-serving bowls beneath a series of 4-foot-high tubes, each holding one ingredient. Guided by recipes, the system prompts various tubes to release arugula or roast chicken or green sauce at the appropriate moment, while gently rotating the bowls to keep everything evenly disbursed.

Photo illustration: Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari for Bloomberg Businessweek

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