I’ve got beef. So does Wonder.

Six months after buying single-location fried chicken concept Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken, the ghost kitchen / food hall / fast food / delivery / meal kit company last valued at $9 billion bought another NYC restaurant. It’s acquiring New York City’s Salt Hanks, a wildly popular single-location sandwich shop with a viral french dip sandwich. The sandwich will be available at some Wonder locations beginning this fall.

“The sandwich that’s always been worth the wait is about to become a lot easier to get,” a company release declared.

That’s true. But I’m hung up on the rest of the language Wonder used in the announcement, which — unlike the Blue Ribbon announcement or subsequent coverage of Wonder’s acquisition of an eight-unit barbecue chain — doesn’t contain the word “acquired,” “bought,” or even “purchased.” Instead, the company softens the language: “Salt Hank’s joins Wonder,” it says. “The partnership is built on a shared belief that exceptional restaurants shouldn’t have to sacrifice what makes them special in order to reach more people.”

ETA: The word “acquisition” does appear in the official release, but not in a shortened version that was emailed to me yesterday. I don’t remember seeing it then, but it’s also been a real challenge of a week. Regardless, it’s in there now, and if I did miss it, I regret the oversight.

This is true, too! But it understates what’s actually happening. The restaurant, its branding, its menu, its recipes (Wonder calls this IP) have been sold. Chef Daniel Rubenfeld will join Wonder, while co-founder Henry Laporte — Hank — will “partner closely.”

(I asked a Wonder rep to clarify the announcement, and they confirmed it is an acquisition — Eater’s Nadia Chauduhury got it right in her Thursday coverage shortly after the announcement.)

Wonder has a lot of irons in the fire — it owns a meal kit service and a third-party delivery company; it’s expanding locations fast in the Northeast and in Texas, where it’ll soon start delivering by airborne drone. It’s teased a kind of build-your-own restaurant concept for influencers (or anyone that wants to spin up their own AI-generated restaurant concept in a couple minutes) — the robot it bought from Sweetgreen will help assemble the meals. It is, to put it lightly, a moonshot with a lot — a lot — of money behind it.

So what does it want with a single-location sandwich spot? Scale.

“Customers can expect the same iconic French Dip — made with dry-aged prime rib, caramelized onions, melted provolone, horseradish aioli, rich hot au jus and served on a French demi baguette — but without the long lines,” Wonder promises.

In an interview with People (what?) which also avoided words like “acquired” or “bought,” Laporte explained that he trusted Wonder to scale the concept appropriately. “...they don’t wanna f--- up the sandwich,” he said.

I’ve done a lot of reporting on this company, including talking to chefs with notable brands that have worked with Wonder. Some of those deals were partnerships; chefs reported receiving favorable deals that allowed them to walk away at any time. Not all have stayed on, but at the time of our interviews, all of them spoke highly of the company, its leadership, and its commitment to scaling while maintaining food quality.

Still, I’m not convinced that even the most meticulous reconstruction of an iconic, viral sandwich can replicate the original. Will it taste as good if you don’t have to fight as hard to get it? What happens to the magic of an indie business when its essence (and IP!) is taken over by a highly capitalized corporation? We’ll see, I guess. But I hope everyone feels like they got a great deal.

“I’m happy to be able to finally answer those DMs that are like, ‘Why the f--- can’t I get this sandwich!’” Laporte told People. “And now I’ll be like, ‘You can!’ You know, to a certain degree.”

OpenTable is putting influencer videos inside restaurant listings.

OpenTable is adding influencer videos to listings across the country in partnership with a SF-based startup called Seekeasy, an analytics company that pairs restaurants and digital creators. (It calls itself “the demand intelligence layer for the food industry.”)

Influence is hard to prove, but diners do care about social media aesthetics. According to OpenTable’s 2026 dining trends report, well over half of diners age 60 and under (including 79 percent of millennials) said a restaurant’s “Instagram/TikTok worthiness” is important when making a decision about where to dine.

“Creators bring the restaurant experience to life,” Seekeasy CEO Erick Hachenburg told me. “Diners can now quickly use their relatable stories to make decisions and enjoy the experience themselves.”

Diners are more open to AI now, according to a survey from PAR Technology, a point of sale company.

In PAR’s survey of 1,000 customers last year, 41 percent said they would choose a restaurant with no AI over a restaurant that uses AI in any form. This year? Just 27 percent said the same thing, signaling that 3 in 4 diners don’t mind when a restaurant uses the tech. Progress?

ICYMI:

Last week, one of my San Francisco favorites announced an alt funding platform of its own. Pasta Supply Co., helmed by chef Anthony Strong, announced plans to open its third pasta shop-slash-restaurant, selling and serving seriously great pasta — bucatini, egg malfaldine, chicken-prosciutto tortelli — in local neighborhoods.

To raise money to build out the space, an under 1,000-square-foot former Peet’s Coffee shop in Cole Valley near the Haight, Strong instituted a crowdfunding campaign: area “investors” who pay $550 upfront get free pasta — a package that’ll feed two adults, at least — every week for the next year. Those who give $4,000 get pasta for life. (Important fine print: “Non-transferrable, even in the event of mortal termination.”) A few hours in, the campaign was already a quarter of the way to Strong’s initial funding goal.

Pasta Supply Co. previously ran crowdfunding campaigns using Kickstarter. Now, with a following of very satisfied customers (this writer and her butter-noodle obsessed children included), Strong decided to circumvent platform fees and go direct. People sign up for the pasta plans via the store’s Square storefront. (This also makes the funding transactional, clarifying everyone’s role. “We’ve had some ick moments over the years,” Strong told me.)

To manage all the subscriptions, Strong vibe-coded a customer tracker using Claude Code. Patrons are photographed when picking up their first pasta order and get one “skipsie” per month. The tracker pulls data from the point of sale system, tracking trends over time — including a particularly San Francisco phenom:

“We can see how many people skipped Burning Man week,” Strong said.

UPDATE:

A year after announcing an extended partnership, Resy and Toast are finally rolling out a huge part of the deal’s promise: digital chits. That means diner info from Resy’s guest book — guest notes, visit history, special occasions — will show up on Toast screens for servers.

ICYMI:

Starting today, diners (and drinkers) will find Tock’s 8,000 venues, including 1,200 wineries, inside the Resy app. It’s the first in a multi-step process that’ll sunset the Tock brand. Resy says the move will give Tock’s restaurants more visibility. It also boosts Resy’s venue count to 25,000.

This is just the first step in a much longer process that will end with Tock’s sunset. But the brand (and its app) is still alive for now; diners will still see their Resy reservations listed in their Resy accounts and Tock reservations in Tock accounts.

(I am told by the people who are doing it that combining the backend technology of two disparate platforms is far more complicated than flipping a one-time switch. They also say that Resy and Tock user accounts will be linked soon and that all bookings on the Amex-owned services, regardless of how or where the booking was made, will live inside Resy.)

Expect more consolidation soon. Starting in mid-September, “hundreds” of Tock venues in major US markets will qualify for the popular Resy dining credit attached to some American Express cards. More will roll out over time. (Again, a complex tech move.) For now, diners can confirm a particular restaurant is eligible for the credit on its venue page.

Alt financing platform InKind gets another $414 million.

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I listened to Travis Kalanick discuss his latest round so you don’t have to.

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Expedite is back from vacation. While I catch up, here are a few stories of note from the last two weeks. More soon!

I have a confession: I’ve never seen an episode of The Bear.

I know. I know. But I can’t be the only one. Restaurant workers’ …uh, beef with industry drama The Bear has been well documented; plenty of people say that the realistic depictions of life inside a high-pressure kitchen can trigger PTSD or just makes watching TV feel like work. (I’ve never worked in a kitchen but I do claim the latter.)

The latest and last season of the show recently landed on Hulu, and it sounds like product placement and brand sponsorships inside the show have overtaken the narrative. I’m not surprised — I do watch most seasons of Wells Fargo-, BMW- and Saratoga Spring Water-sponsoredTop Chef, I get it — but I am a little bummed about product placement with the power to shift a creative narrative. — Best Food Blog ($)

Jersey Mike’s filed for a $12 billion IPO.

A $12 billion initial public offering for a 3,300-restaurant strong sandwich chain is significant. (For context, both Sweetgreen and Cava hit about $5 billion during their IPOs.) Jersey Mike’s, which has yet to announce a date for its public market debut, was acquired last year by PE giant Blackstone for $8 billion. Its CEO, Charlie Morrison, who also led Wingstop’s IPO a decade ago, says the company could grow to 7,500 locations in the US; it’s also planning to open 400 store openings in Ireland and the UK.

The Red Lobster endless shrimp fiasco just keeps giving.

When the 58-year-old seafood chain went under two years ago, its fabled “endless shrimp” promotion (or LTO, limited-time offer, in restaurant lingo) was a compellingly convenient nail-in-the-coffin for framing the brand’s downfall. Poetic, really. But the bigger story of the once-beloved chain’s 2024 fall is more complicated than just underpriced shrimp. A new lawsuit from Red Lobster shareholders alleges that its former majority owner, Thai Union Group, tanked the business on purpose to enrich itself.

“When it was clear that the Everyday $20 Ultimate Endless Shrimp offering was wreaking havoc on Red Lobster and its balance sheet, [interim CEO Paul] Kenny doubled down,” in order to benefit the parent company, the suit alleges. — Fortune

Oh heyyy, the Bay Area has more Michelin stars than New York.

That makes a nice headline, but I agree with San Francisco Standard editor-at-large Sara Deseran, I don’t think of my city as a fine-dining town either. — SF Standard ($)

Wonder will deliver via Zipline drones in Texas next year.

Wonder tested drone delivery in New Jersey, but it’s committing to the bit in Texas. In a March interview, Wonder CEO Tony Hoggett told me that the delivery-forward chain expanded to Texas from the New York City area because of the state’s sprawl and growing population. Wonder plays good in the suburbs, he said. Hoggett previously ran Amazon’s grocery business from Austin, and during our interview I joked that maybe that’s why the company picked Texas as its expansion target — it’s probably easier to court an exec if you start building businesses in their backyard. (While convenient, Hoggett said, that wasn’t the case.)

But beyond its Wonder-friendly suburban sprawl, Texas has become a kind of ground zero for another type of delivery innovation: flying drones. Zipline, a leading drone delivery company, currently operates in major metros in Texas with a large presence in Dallas-Fort Worth. That scale and coverage is convenient for a business built on ultra-fast food delivery. Wonder customers should be able to order Zipline-delivered meals from all its Texas locations by the end of 2027 which could, by that time, total close to 100.— release

Susan Anderson, Uber’s global head of delivery, is leaving the company after 10 years.

“It’s time to take a breath again,” Anderson wrote on LinkedIn.

Liberty Mutual Investments gives InKind $320 million.

The investment arm of an insurance company is backing InKind, a restaurant finance company that gives capital to restaurants, funded by food and drink credits that it sells to diners. It’s an innovative model (I put InKind on the Fast Company Most Innovative list a couple years ago) and one that’s given $600 million in cash to over 7,000 restaurants. InKind will use its new tranche of funding in part to help develop AI-native tools designed to help restaurants on its platform drive demand during slow times. — release

Previously:

Toast will fund the opening — or at least “help” to fund the opening — per a release. The selected operator will enjoy a direct line to Toast’s executive team and early access to all the company’s tech. Toast calls the initiative Toast Lab, a fitting title for an experimental proving ground of sorts. Interested (and aspiring!) restaurants can apply through July 14, but the contest is limited to existing Toast operators who have used the platform for more than six months. Specifics of the deal, including the amount of funding and any potential ownership stake or controlling interest, will be decided after the operator is selected before the end of the year.

We’ve seen this kind of collaboration before.

DoorDash has dabbled in restaurant operations; Square has helped to document openings and once opened its own proof-of-concept brick-and-mortar around the corner from my house. Tech companies get a real-life proving ground for their products and, in the case of a successful restaurant, years or even decades of promotion. I can already imagine the press release headlines: Toast made this restaurant an overnight success!

I’m happy to see restaurant technology companies supporting restaurants (or, in this case, restaurant) in this way. But interested parties should definitely read the fine print:

“Applicant grants Toast a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully sublicensable, worldwide license to use, reproduce, modify, and create derivative works from materials submitted as part of the Application (”Submission Materials”) for any business purpose. Toast may independently develop concepts similar to those in Applicant’s Submission Materials, and nothing herein restricts Toast’s right to do so. Applicant represents that it has the right to submit all materials included in the Application. Applicant should not include any information it considers trade secret or proprietary unless willing to do so subject to these Terms.”

On Monday morning, American Express announced its plans to acquire European reservations platform TheFork for $700 million in cash. The deal is expected to close later this year subject to regulatory approval and, when completed, will bring the total number of bookable venues on the American Express network — those on Amex-owned Resy, Tock, and TheFork — to 75,000, per a release.

Assuming everyone’s accurately reporting their inventory, that’s more reservable spots than OpenTable’s global roster of 65,000 restaurants, a shift that would unseat the once-undisputed category leader.

“Our card members love restaurants, and it’s exciting to see the opportunity for dining to become a greater part of our membership model globally,” Pablo Rivero, Resy CEO and American Express svp of global dining, posted on LinkedIn.

A representative for American Express told me that following the closing of the potential acquisition, TheFork and Resy would operate as separate platforms. “We expect TheFork to continue operating under its existing leadership, brand and platform,” they said.

Additionally, TheFork would be part of Amex’s international card business, they said, partnering with Resy to connect the company’s full global dining network.

Restaurants on Tock received a similar message when that acquisition was announced years ago. “As you may know, American Express owns Resy,” Tock CEO Matt Tucker wrote partner restaurants in 2024. “When the deal closes, Tock and Resy will continue to remain separate businesses.”

“Dining is one of the most important ways people engage with our brand,” said Rafa Marquez, president of international card services at American Express, in a statement. “Over time, the proposed acquisition would help us enrich our differentiated membership model by offering card members more ways to discover, book and access great restaurants.”

American Express has been aggressively growing its reservations network by acquisition. In 2019 it bought Resy for a sum that was never officially confirmed but rumored at $200 million. It acquired reservations platform Tock for $400 million in 2024 and later this summer will move its 8,000 venues to Resy, dismantling the Tock brand and boosting Resy’s bookable venue count to 25,000.

TheFork launched in 2007 in France as LaFourchette and was acquired by TripAdvisor in 2014; its restaurants span 11 countries with many concentrated in major cities like Paris, London, and Rome. According to TripAdvisor, TheFork earned $232 million in revenue in the 12 months ending March 31.

Related coverage:

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DoorDash’s White House stunt kinda backfired.

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I reached out to Huh, but he declined to comment. I have also reached out to reps for Square with questions about the future of Square for Restaurants and what businesses can expect from the company moving forward.

Update, 3/2/26: Huh confirmed this news on LinkedIn. Block did not respond or acknowledge receipt of my questions.

Corporate earnings calls can sound discordant in the face of historic layoffs, and Thursday’s Block call was one of the worst I’ve heard. Block CEO Jack Dorsey announced the company had laid off close to half of its employees, reducing headcount from 10,000 to under 6,000. The company’s stock price quickly jumped close to 25 percent as Block’s executives reported a year of growth. Dorsey assured investors that he had gotten ahead of a potential problem and some analysts congratulated company execs on the company’s recent performance.

Dorsey and other execs cited rapidly evolving and powerful artificial intelligence as the reason for the layoffs; he seemed particularly excited to push the suddenly much smaller company to move (and ship) faster. I can understand how AI might trim a company’s tech and engineering org. I understand less about how it’s going to replace the people working on Square’s restaurant products that lost their jobs this week. (From what I’ve heard so far, the layoffs cut across functions.)

During the call, Block’s leadership extolled Square’s progress inside restaurants, flagging a year-over-year increase in gross payment volume, or the total dollar amount of all payments processed by restaurants and other food-service vendors using Square’s point of sale. Block wants to “bring the playbook we’ve used over in food and beverage in the last 12 to 18 months into other verticals to drive further strength,” Amrita Ahuja, Block chief operating officer/chief financial officer, said.

Square has supported food and restaurant entrepreneurs since its earliest days as a payments company. It has long celebrated restaurant wins. Even in the face of a historic workforce reduction, good restaurant news made it into yesterday’s press release: Square’s sales team managed to sign “one of LA’s most celebrated restaurants, Anajak Thai… due to Square Handheld, our seller-first support team, our growing restaurant software suite, and strong integrations with partners like OpenTable.”

(No shade to Anajak and absolutely no shade to the restaurant team at Square, past and current. If your role was affected and you want to continue receiving this newsletter, please reach out for a year of Expedite on me. Just respond to this email.)

ICYMI:

OpenTable launched an ads business.

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