Dabba will offer chicken tikka masala and other Indian specialties. | Photo courtesy of Wonder
Wonder, the fast-growing food hall/delivery venture, is adding Indian food to its roster of about 30 restaurant brands.
The company on Wednesday launched Dabba, a new concept featuring Indian staples such as samosas, chicken tikka masala, butter chicken and lamb vindaloo. The menu was developed by Wonder’s in-house culinary team, including chefs with experience in Indian cuisine, the company said.
The name is a play on dabbawallas, the lunch delivery workers who have been whizzing around Mumbai for over 130 years. It’s a fitting name, as Wonder is largely focused on delivery and pickup.
The company is currently testing Dabba in four Philadelphia-area locations with plans to expand it systemwide later this year. Wonder currently has more than 100 storefronts on the East Coast, each of which offers food from up to 30 brands. It will enter Texas next year.
A menu showed prices ranging from $8.95 for two samosas to $18.95 for a chicken tikka “roll” and $19.95 for butter chicken.
If the Dabba rollout is successful, Wonder would become one of just a few U.S. restaurants offering Indian food on a large scale. The cuisine is known for its complex flavors and cooking methods, which can make it challenging to execute consistently across many locations.
Wonder said it’s confident it can pull it off. “We’ve built a vertically integrated model that allows us to control the full process—from recipe development through production and final preparation in our kitchens,” a spokesperson said in an email. “For Dabba, that includes developing our curries and sauces in-house and focusing on the techniques required to build depth and consistency in flavor.”
It added that the four-store test would allow it to refine its recipes before scaling.
Large U.S. Indian chains include 50-unit Bawarchi Indian Cuisine, 42-unit Honest Restaurants and 19-unit Curry Up Now. And there are new entrants, such as Dishoom, a cult favorite in the U.K. that will soon open its first U.S. restaurant in New York City with backing from private-equity firm L Catterton.
There’s also a growing number of higher-end Indian establishments.
At Wonder, Dabba will be one of an array of concepts and cuisine types, from pizza and burgers to Mexican bowls, Thai noodles and sushi. The company’s strategy is to offer a wide range of food in order to appeal to more consumers and cancel out potential “veto votes” among groups.
Its meals are prepared in a central facility and then shipped to stores, where they are finished to order.
Founded by ecommerce entrepreneur Marc Lore, Wonder also owns Grubhub and the Blue Apron meal kit service. It is backed by more than $2 billion in private funding and is eyeing an IPO in 2028.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.
