Short answer: A lunch stipend gives each employee a budget to order restaurant food through an app. It is flexible and reaches remote staff, but you pay for full restaurant meals plus platform fees, and a cash or credit allowance is generally treated as taxable pay. A smart fridge stocks chef-made meals in your office every workday. FELFEL lunches start at $10, with no ordering and no per-order delivery. Stipends suit small, remote or scattered teams. A fridge suits on-site teams of 50 or more.
This guide shows how the two models work, what each one costs on top of the meal, how tax treatment differs, and how to choose. It is general information, not tax advice.
How each model works
Meal stipend. The employer sets a per-person budget (per meal, per week or per month) on a delivery platform such as Grubhub, DoorDash or Uber Eats. Employees order what they want and the employer pays up to the budget. According to Grubhub's corporate FAQ, the account admin funds a "line of credit" for each person, and the admin's credit card is charged every time an order uses it. MHP Food Service, a managed workplace food provider, says stipends are often monthly credits of $25 to $100.
Smart fridge. A provider places a connected fridge in your office and stocks it every workday. Employees unlock it with an app, take what they want and pay automatically. The employer can subsidize part or all of each meal. FELFEL stocks chef-made meals, snacks and drinks, and handles restocking, cleaning and food safety.
What a stipend costs on top of the meal
The credit is only the first layer. Four others are worth pricing:
Platform fees. Grubhub's self-service corporate accounts charge a 6% transaction fee on the credit amount. Its own example: a $20 credit carries a $1.20 fee, so the admin's card is charged $21.20. Enterprise accounts may be priced differently, so ask for your terms.
Delivery, service fees and tips. These are built into each order. If they push the total above the credit, the employee pays the difference or the employer raises the budget.
Restaurant commissions. MHP says third-party delivery apps charge restaurants 15% to 30%. That is a vendor's claim, and restaurants often recover it through menu prices, so treat it as a reason to compare menu prices, not a fixed number.
Admin time. Someone sets budgets, rules and eligible restaurants, and reviews spend reports. Grubhub's own guidance suggests checking who uses the full stipend and adjusting restrictions.
Grubhub notes that you pay only for what employees actually order, which is a real advantage: unused credit does not cost you.
A cost model for a 100-person office
These are illustrative assumptions, not FELFEL pricing: 100 employees, 60% eat a provided meal on a given day, 240 working days a year. That is 14,400 meals a year. Replace the inputs with your own.
If the employer funds the full stipend (credit plus the 6% Grubhub self-service fee):
| Stipend per meal | Annual credit | 6% platform fee | Annual employer cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| $15 | $216,000 | $12,960 | $228,960 |
| $20 | $288,000 | $17,280 | $305,280 |
