Community members gathered for the grand opening of Wonder’s first Maryland location in College Park on Thursday.
The food hall houses more than 15 restaurants of varying cuisines. Restaurants such as Tejas Barbecue, Bobby Flay Steak and Detroit Brick Pizza all function out of one kitchen. Customers can enjoy their food in the hall, have it delivered to their homes or order carry-out.
“We have a little bit of everything,” said Ayana Garzillo, a Wonder marketing brand ambassador. “It’s like a one stop shop.”
There are more than 70 Wonder locations across the Northeast, including several in the Washington, D.C., area. The space in College Park has ordering kiosks, seating options, a counter where customers pick up their food and a large kitchen.
Before Wonder’s opening, the chefs cook the entire menu to hone their skills, Garzillo said.
Wonder also partners with Grubhub and offers free delivery to customers. Due to this partnership, customers are also able to order from Grubhub partners, such as Busboys and Poets, through Wonder.
“If you want pizza and your friend wants steaks for dinner, you can all order from the same restaurant and all have delivered at the same time,” Garzillo said.
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The company’s partnership with Grubhub also allows customers to order Blue Apron meal kits through Wonder, according to Garzillo.
The space now occupied by Wonder used to house The Bagel Place, according to College Park economic development director Michael Williams. The sudden closure of The Bagel Place in 2021 came as a shock to many community members, The Diamondback previously reported.
Williams said the city thought Wonder could successfully cater to the College Park community while filling the large space left behind by The Bagel Place.
“Not only are we the university and a big host of students that we have here in the city, but we have really diversified 17 different neighborhoods,” Williams said.
The College Park location was in the works for more than a year and began its soft opening earlier last week.
Senior kinesiology major Declan Herlihy visited Wonder on the day of its grand opening. He lives down the street from Wonder and wanted to check it out after watching the construction process for months, but said he is skeptical about the food hall model.
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Herlihy and his friend Alex Nguyen, a junior physiology and neurobiology major, said they don’t entirely understand how the food hall works.
“When I first walked in, I thought it was just a place that you would get food made specifically by Wonder,” Nguyen said. “And then I saw all these different restaurants.”
Wonder employs many students, Williams said, but stands out as more than just a part-time job due to its equity program, which provides Wonder employees with stocks.
The company is also donating $1 to Food 4 Maryland for every meal sold its first week, according to Rehanna Barre, College Park’s economic development coordinator.
College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir said that Wonder provides community members with a new kind of eating experience.
“It gives multi-restaurant options. As a customer, we can order mixing and matching from different restaurants,” Kabir said. “It’s a kind of unique experience and I don’t think anyone in this area actually has it.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated that Wonder is donating $1 to Maryland Food Bank for every meal sold its first week. Wonder is donating $1 to Food 4 Maryland for every meal sold its first week. This story has been updated.
