Catering, reimagined: FELFEL vs traditional office catering
Traditional catering is built for events. FELFEL is built for every day. Here is how they compare where it matters.
The short answer
FELFEL is a smart fridge food program. We install a fridge in your office and stock it every workday with chef-made meals, snacks and drinks. Employees take what they want, 24/7, with no pre-orders and no minimums. Traditional catering delivers a set order at a set time and needs planning, ordering and cleanup each time. FELFEL lunches start at $10.
Side-by-side comparison
| FELFEL | Traditional office catering | |
|---|---|---|
| Ordering | None. The fridge is restocked automatically every morning. | Someone collects orders, picks a menu and places the order each time. |
| Availability | 24/7. Eat at 11, at 1 or at 3, or on a late shift. | One delivery window. Food sits out after it. |
| Variety | A new curated menu every Monday, with 10+ lunches each week. | The same few menus repeat. Variety depends on what was ordered. |
| Quality | Chef-made dishes from NYC restaurants, delivered fresh each morning. | Quality depends on the vendor and often drops in large batches. |
| Dietary needs | Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free options every day, clearly labeled. | Special meals need separate advance orders and are often missed. |
| Leftovers | FELFEL tracks consumption and adjusts supply, so leftovers are not your problem. | Overorder and waste, or underorder and run short. |
| Administration | One monthly invoice. Subsidy applied automatically. No on-site staff. | Orders, invoices, deliveries and cleanup are handled by your team. |
| Minimums | No minimum orders and no delivery fees. | Often minimums, plus delivery and service fees. |
| Pricing | Lunches start at $10. The employer pays a flat monthly program fee. | Priced per order. |
When traditional catering still makes sense
Traditional catering is a good fit for one-off client lunches, all-hands meetings and events with a fixed guest list.
For those, tell us about your event and we will take care of it. For daily lunch, a smart fridge is the better fit.
Why teams switch to FELFEL
Zero lift
No ordering, no waiting, no admin.
Always available
Hybrid days, early starts and late nights are all covered.
Better food, less waste
Fresh every day, and tracked so little goes unused.
A perk people use
Shared meals spark the conversations that build teams.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“We replaced our catering order with FELFEL. The team eats better, our admin work dropped to zero, and there’s almost no food waste.”
Halah AlQahtani. Senior Director of Culture, Glossier
Frequently asked questions
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ezCater is a marketplace that connects offices to local restaurants and caterers. It works well for one-off lunches, team events and meetings where you need food delivered on a specific day, but someone has to plan the order, set a headcount, choose a restaurant and coordinate delivery each time. FELFEL installs a smart fridge in your office and restocks it every morning with fresh, chef-made meals, snacks and drinks. Employees grab food when they want. No order, no coordination, no delivery window.
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For recurring, everyday employee meals, yes. FELFEL requires no daily ordering, headcount coordination or delivery scheduling. A flat monthly fee covers restocking, operations and support. ezCater is better suited for event-based catering and one-off group orders.
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Yes. Most teams replace recurring catered lunches with the fridge and keep catering for special events.
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Every item is labeled with ingredients and nutrition information, and vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free options are stocked every day.
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No.
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Yes. Let us know and we will arrange it.
Taste the difference.
Book a free tasting and compare it with your current catering.