Wonder acquires NYC fast casual Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken

The basics:

• Wonder acquires NYC fast casual Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken
• Brand to expand across Wonder’s 90-plus Northeast locations
• East Village restaurant to remain open, operate as usual
• Deal marks Wonder’s seventh acquisition since 2018

Rapidly growing food hall chain Wonder completed its second acquisition of 2026.

The company announced the purchase of popular New York City-based fast casual Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken in a Feb. 10 press release.

The transaction gives Wonder full ownership of the brand, its single location in Manhattan and the employees who work there. The East Village outpost will continue operating as usual as well as remain available on third-party delivery platforms, according to the announcement.

Wonder will also add Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken as a concept in one of its New York City food halls this year. After that, it will expand the brand to Wonder’s growing footprint of 90-plus locations across the Northeast.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

‘Great foods,’ more accessible

Chef-brothers Eric and Bruce Bromberg launched Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken in 2013. It features fried chicken, wings, smashburgers, salads and chicken tenders on hot dog buns. Sides include street corn, fries, coleslaw, mac & cheese and buttermilk biscuits.

After training at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, the brothers went on to found the Blue Ribbon Restaurants group in New York City 34 years ago. They have since built the brand into a nationally recognized hospitality group known for brasseries, sushi bars and casual-friendly spots.

Wonder founder and CEO Marc Lore believes Blue Ribbon Chicken’s identity as “a fast-casual restaurant with fine-dining roots” makes it a natural fit for his company’s existing portfolio.

“Bringing Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken into Wonder is an exciting step forward. With an incredibly loyal following already in place, we can now scale this iconic brand across the Wonder platform to reach far more people,” Lore said.

Unlike Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken, Wonder created its other restaurant brands in-house or they are existing concepts licensed to Wonder. Lore feels adding the banner into the fold “reflects the company’s broader strategy to own and steward beloved restaurant brands that align with its mission to make great foods more accessible.”

Bruce Bromberg shared, “We started Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken with the aim to share one of our childhood favorites with the world and we’re incredible proud of what we’ve built.”

“We are excited about this next chapter in Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken’s journey and are confident in Wonder’s ability to bring what makes this brand so special to more customers than ever before,” the Blue Ribbon Restaurants co-founder went on.

Order up!

At Wonder, Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken joins options such as:

• Streetbird by Marcus Samuelsson
• The Mainstay by Marc Murphy
• Walnut Lane by Jonathan Waxman
• Chios Taverna by Michael Symon
• Fred’s Meat & Bread
• Di Fara Pizza
• Jota by Jose Andres
• Bobby Flay Steak

Wonder recently began rolling out two new concepts that offer salad and bowl meals for $10 or less at 16 locations in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Customers can mix-and-match menu items from a collection of nearly two dozen acclaimed chefs and eateries in a single order at Wonder’s roughly 90 locations. Everything is then made-to-order for delivery, pickup or limited dining in.

Within New Jersey, Wonder has 26 spots. It expects to bring its next three sites (Wayne, Ocean Township and Emerson) online this spring.

Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken marks Wonder’s seventh acquisition overall since its 2018 founding. It comes less than a month after the platform purchased restaurant rewards app Claim.

Other key acquisitions have included: meal kit provider Blue Apron for $103 million, on-demand delivery platform Grubhub for $650 million and Sweetgreen’s automated kitchen technology business Spyce for $186.4 million.

To support its goal to hit 1,000 outposts by 2029, Wonder has raised more than $2 billion so far. The startup’s headquarters is in New York City but it maintains an R&D facility in Parsippany.