Major Food Group, the group behind Carbone, Sadelle's, and The Grill, has officially signed on as founding investor and strategic advisor to Wilder, a neighborhood market opening at 3250 NE 1st Avenue in Midtown Miami in fall 2026, the first investment it has ever made in a business outside its own operations and its first in retail grocery.
Wilder, founded by Miami entrepreneur Danielle Axman, will span nearly 8,000 square feet, including a patio and an outdoor pick-up window, and will carry roughly 4,000 products across a full grocery assortment alongside a café and a chef-driven prepared foods program. Miami-based Love Lake Studio designed the space, drawing on old-world markets, the English countryside, and vintage Americana, with natural light, an indoor-outdoor layout, and a mix of vintage furnishings and one-of-a-kind pieces. The idea, as the company describes it, is a place regulars return to often enough to be recognized. Part farmers market, part grocery store, part restaurant kitchen.
Grassfed Culture, the Michelin-starred group behind Los Félix and Krüs Kitchen will run the culinary program. The menu will run from hot and cold prepared foods and a made-to-order sandwich program to smoothies and coffee, with a rotating selection of salads, vegetables, and protein-forward dishes. The grocery staples will include grass-fed beef, pasture-raised poultry, and responsibly sourced seafood, and the café will serve coffee, breads, fresh juices, and smoothies from morning into evening. The beverage shelf leans on the group's reputation for pioneering Miami's natural wine scene, with organic, natural, and biodynamic wines, craft beer, and non-alcoholic options.
Every product on those shelves and every dish from the kitchen will be judged against The Wilder Standard, a sourcing and ingredient framework the company developed with independent experts spanning nutrition, food science, epidemiology, regenerative agriculture, environmental health, and food systems. Among them is the Environmental Working Group, led by founder and president Ken Cook, which serves as a founding advisor to Wilder in the nonprofit's first partnership with a retailer on health standards. The framework prioritizes direct relationships with regional farmers and producers in Florida and the surrounding region, with partners including Paradise Farms, Glaser Organic Farms, and White Oak Pastures. "When I became a mother, everything about how I fed my family changed. Suddenly I was reading every label, researching where our food came from, and driving out to meet the farmers myself. I wished there was one place I could shop without having to do all that homework every week. That's why I built Wilder. My goal is to create a market where the standards are real, the food is genuinely delicious, and eating well feels like a pleasure, not a project," Axman said.
Founded in 2011 by Mario Carbone, Jeff Zalaznick, and Rich Torrisi, Major Food Group has built more than fifty restaurants, private clubs, bars, and hotels across fifteen cities, and its role at Wilder runs past the check. It will advise on operations, hospitality, and a roadmap for expansion beyond this first location. The group already has a Miami address under construction in Villa Miami, the Edgewater tower rising now and set to deliver in December 2027. "We've spent our careers building places people return to, and the neighborhood market is one of the oldest, most enduring versions of that idea. Danielle has brought high standards to the concept and real hospitality to the experience. We don't put our name behind things lightly, but we believe in this team and in what they're building with Wilder. Making Wilder our first investment in a grocery retailer was an easy decision," Carbone said.
Elsewhere in Midtown, The Standard Residences, Midtown Miami is now open, and Midtown Park, the mixed-use district expected around 2028, is in the pipeline. To the north, the Design District keeps building, with Snøhetta's Sweetbird North rising now and set to deliver in 2028. To the west, Wynwood is awaiting CMU Miami, also expected in 2028.