David Chang’s food empire spans more than a dozen restaurants in three countries, nine dessert bars, two cocktail lounges, one publishing company and a prepared-foods business. He has won multiple James Beard Foundation Awards and a pair of Michelin stars. In his spare time he appears on television shows and cooking specials and writes for his magazine, Lucky Peach.

So last spring, when Mr. Chang unveiled Ando, a restaurant with no dining room, only deliveries, the enterprise felt a little small: dispatching lunchtime fare to office workers by courier in a swath of Midtown.

But Mr. Chang says Ando is part of a larger plan: to create a more sustainable model for restaurants in a time of rising costs and slim profit margins, and to pay workers well in an industry known for low wages. He says he plans to expand beyond New York, building a business to dwarf all of his previous accomplishments.

Ando may be his biggest gamble in one more way: The project is the first in his Momofuku restaurant group to take in significant venture capital financing, $7 million in its first round.