FAIRFIELD – The site of the former iconic Billy’s Bakery on Black Rock Turnpike has transformed into a virtually run dining hall that offers fare from all over the country.
Instead of ordering homemade cookies, cakes, challahs and breads and deli meats and salads, customers at Wonder at 1885 Black Rock Turnpike can get food prepared by such well-known eateries as Alanza Pizza, Tejas Barbecue, Royal Greens, Fred’s Meat & Bread, to name a few. The beauty of it is that none of the food is made on the premises.
In total, the “dining hall” offers meals from 24 restaurants led by award-winning chefs. The food is delivered to Wonder from such places as New York City’s Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Chelsea, Downtown Brooklyn, Park Slope, Hoboken and Springfield, New Jersey.
“The build-up to this date has been great,” said Julio Negron, the store’s general manager. “We couldn’t wait to get to this state. We had a soft opening Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.”
Negron described the business model to the Fairfield County Business Journal during his restaurant’s grand opening on the evening of Thursday, Feb. 13.
“It’s not your everyday, typical restaurant,” he said. “It is a new generation food hall. We have commissary kitchens that make our foods for us. They do preparation, like cutting.
“Basically, Wonder is very high on technology. Everything we have here has a QR code that comes from our commissary kitchen. We scan everything into its rightful location in the kitchen. Once it gets put into the location and sells, the commissary kitchen gets a notification so they know what to replenish us with every single day.”
A customer places an order for a meal using the Wonder app on their smart phones. Since workers use smart phones and scan everything into a location, they can allow the customer to know how much of a certain meal is available.
“The whole business is app-based,” he said. But as a backup, customers can place an order at a kiosk at the restaurant, similar to fast food restaurants.
Mark Barnhart, Town of Fairfield director of community and economic development, who was at the grand opening and ribbon cutting, said he had been working the owner of the building known as Katona Corner for months.
“He said he is glad to see someone coming into the space, especially with all the foot traffic on Black Rock Turnpike,” he said. “This area and downtown kind of compete with each other. No matter what area it is, there is usually no problem filling vacancies, especially when it comes to restaurants.”
The Fairfield location is at Katona Corner, which is a building that includes a dry cleaner, Indian restaurant, and a salon, was appraised for $3.98 million in 2024. It was sold that year to Katona Corner LLC by Alida Kleban and Samuel Roberts.
The franchise, which owns 38 restaurants in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, also recently opened a location at 1131 High Ridge Road in Stamford. It plans to open more restaurants in Pleasantville in Westchester; Middletown, New Jersey; and five locations in Pennsylvania (Ardmore, King of Prussia, Northeast Philly, South Philly and Fishtown)
“This is just the beginning of what we intend on doing with this business,” Negron said referring to the use of technology and expansion.
