Salt Hank’s, the Manhattan shop famous for selling exactly one item — a French dip sandwich — has been bought by Wonder, a delivery and restaurant company valued at $9 billion. The deal was announced in an Aug. 20 press release and first reported by Eater NY.
The acquisition includes the storefront, the menu, and the brand itself. Wonder declined to disclose the purchase price, according to Eater NY. The transaction is described as having closed on Friday, Aug. 14, though the exact year and dates require clarification.
The original Bleecker Street shop will stay open, Wonder said. The French dip is set to expand to Wonder’s Upper East Side location this fall, available for pickup and delivery through the Wonder app, with more locations to follow.
Chef Daniel Rubenfeld, who built Salt Hank’s food program, has joined Wonder and will keep running the kitchen side of the operation. Co-founder Henry Laporte signed on to lead brand expansion, and co-founder Ian Henderson-Charnow stays on as an adviser.
Laporte Says He Turned Down Other Buyers
Laporte said in the press release that he had rejected previous offers because those buyers wanted the team to cut corners.
“Wonder was the only partner that never asked us to do that,” Laporte said, referring to prior offers that pressured the team to “lower food costs, change suppliers or cut corners.”
Not everyone is convinced the shop’s magic survives a national rollout. Mergers and acquisitions attorney Morgan S. Smith told Inc. that Salt Hank’s draw is tied to Laporte himself, to the single storefront, and to the pilgrimage customers make to reach it.
“Growth needs to be paced around whether the product can be reproduced, not simply around how many locations Wonder can open,” Smith said.
A Company on a Buying Spree
Wonder was founded by e-commerce billionaire Marc Lore, who serves as its chief executive. The company raised more than $650 million at a $9 billion pre-money valuation, Fortune reported in July, and Lore has said Wonder could go public as early as next year. Wonder currently runs roughly 153 locations along the East Coast, 25 of them in New York City.
Salt Hank’s is the latest addition to a string of acquisitions. Wonder purchased Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken and closed on the barbecue chain Mighty Quinn’s in July. Investor documents reviewed by The Information project that Wonder will burn close to $2.7 billion in cash through 2029, according to Fortune.
For now, the one-sandwich shop that built its name on scarcity and a line out the door is now part of a company betting billions on scale.
