The 7 Top Meal Stipend Plaforms for Global Teams

The days of simply offering healthcare, retirement, and a competitive salary to your employee benefits are over. To attract and retain top talent within your organization, additional perks are a necessity. Lifestyle spending accounts, childcare, and gym memberships rank at the top of this list, but one often overlooked perk stands out: meal stipends.

Implementing a meal allowance program is one thing, but finding a way to streamline the process can feel downright unmanageable. To quell the hunger pangs of your employees with minimal effort, choosing one of the top meal stipend platforms is a necessity.

From food delivery services catered to businesses to dedicated programs, these meal stipend solutions have everything you need to feed your staff without the hassle.

The Top 7 Meal Stipend Platforms

The top meal stipend platforms seamlessly blend ease of use for employees with task automation for employers. When you’re searching for the right platform, look for options that give employees:

• Quick accessibility
• Wide variety of meal options (takeout, and grocery stores) for all dietary needs, as well as snacking options such as smoothies, and access to vitamins and supplements
• Convenience — think easy payment options

From an employer’s perspective, the best meal benefit platforms offer:

• Customization, such as the ability to limit when and where the money is spent
• Easy reimbursement options for companies that choose the expense/reimbursement route
• Reporting, data insights, and tracking of where employees buy their meals
• All-in-one interface to streamline the creation, sending, and usage of cards
• Cost controls to meet budgetary requirements

If you can meet most of these requirements, plus any subjective features, you’re sure to find something that works for your needs. Let’s take a look at a few of the top meal stipend platforms available today.

1. Hoppier

For a simplified approach to meal stipend programs, Hoppier is a solid choice. Hoppier offers digital gift cards that you can send to recipients in over 60 countries, making it ideal for fully distributed companies or those with a global reach.

Employees can use these pre-loaded gift cards to purchase food, drink, and snacks at specific vendors you choose, or you can leave it open-ended and allow employees to dine wherever they want. You can also customize the digital card with your company colors and logo, solidifying brand awareness.

Sending gift cards to employees is as easy as uploading a CSV file of your employees’ email addresses. Your staff only needs to open the email, follow the instructions, and they’re ready to eat.

Another top feature of Hoppier’s meal stipend plan lies in unspent funds. If you select an expiration date, any leftover funds go back into your account, limiting sunk costs and reinvesting in your meal program.

Finally, Hoppier offers receipt capture and tracking to help you monitor where your employees eat, ensuring that they stay in line with any health and well-being initiatives at your business.

2. Edenred

Edenred is a France-based digital platform specializing in employee benefits and payment solutions. Within their suite of offerings, Edenred’s “Ticket Restaurant” is a top choice for global meal stipend programs.

Similar to Hoppier, Edenred provides hard copy or digital gift cards that employees can use to purchase their lunch and snacks. Administrators can set spending limits, reload the card in weekly or monthly increments, choose where team members can use the card, and manage the program online through Edenred’s secure platform.

Edenred offers this service in 45 countries, including Europe, North America, South America, and Asia, giving you an easy way to implement your meal allowance program effectively.

3. Sodexo

It makes sense that one of the world’s largest food services companies would also have one of the top meal stipend platforms, and that’s one thing that Sodexo excels at. The Sodexo Meal Pass is a physical prepaid card with a PIN that allows staff to purchase meals, snacks, and beverages at any Sodexo-approved restaurant or food outlet. Employers can choose the expiration date, and each card lasts for three years before employees need a new one.

For employers aiming to expand on their perks, the Sodexo 2-in-1 card extends the card usage beyond meals to help employees pay for everyday expenses, such as public transit, fuel, home office upgrades, or even professional development.

4. Swile

Swile is another major player in the employee benefits space, but their meal voucher program earns its rightful place as one of the top meal stipend platforms — and with a slogan of “the meal voucher reinvented,” it’s certainly worth a look.

Whether your employees are eating out, eating in, having food delivered in-office, or grocery shopping, the Swile Mastercard makes purchasing a cinch. Employers can send the card to each employee’s home with no fees, as well as reload the card in real time or change the stipend amount with one click.

Perhaps the most interesting part of Swile’s stipend platform is from the end-user’s perspective. Team members can use the Swile app to change their PIN, lock and unlock their card if it’s lost or stolen, order a new card, and even track spending.

For an all-in-one approach, few of the other top meal stipend platforms can top Swile.

5. Grubhub

For global and remote teams, Grubhub is one of the most popular ways to get food delivered. The company has taken note. Grubhub Corporate is an employer-friendly meal stipend platform that can feed employees worldwide with zero sign-up or corporate transaction fees.

Unlike some meal stipends, where the unused money on a card or voucher goes to waste, Grubhub Corporate only charges you for what your employees spend. It also has several other notable features, including tax-exempt ordering options, more local restaurants than any other delivery service, and even an option to provide Grubhub+ to your employees — meaning $0 fees if employees want to order in after work.

6. Sharebite

Sharebite is one of the newer entrants in the meal voucher realm, but it’s already one of the most revered by employees and employers alike. With the Sharebite Visa card, employees can order food at any of the 4,000 restaurants or grocery stores in their network. You can also order food for large groups, and simply pick it up or have it delivered. Plus, all of the spending goes into the Sharebite platform, providing insights and tracking into your employees’ eating habits.

The Sharebite app is also a strong point for this top meal stipend platform. Through the Sharebite app, you can review menus, customize orders, and track expenses. Thanks to this handy app, no one needs to obsess over how much money they’re spending, tracking expenses manually, or saving receipts. It’s all stored in one convenient place.

Beyond their platform, app, and Visa card, Sharebite is the only meal voucher platform that instantly makes a donation for each meal purchased.  Working with Feeding America and City Harvest, Sharebite donates one meal to combat hunger throughout the United States.

7. Meal Kit Platforms

A healthy meal for your employees is a necessity to boost morale and physical wellness. However, ordering lunch with a food stipend can create unhealthy habits or cause workers to unknowingly consume a ton of calories. Moreover, finding gluten-free meals, vegan meals, or lunches that cater to dietary restrictions can seem difficult.

The only true way to know what goes into a meal is to cook it yourself. Although they aren’t the top meal stipend platforms catered to businesses and employees, meal kit companies are a superb option to feed your team.

Meal kits allow employees to skip grocery delivery or shopping and create a joy of cooking. Each kit has a normal portion size with pre-measured quantities, high-quality ingredients, and an easy-to-follow recipe, making meal planning and meal prep a cinch. These kits are especially ideal for remote workers, who can whip up a healthy meal from the comfort of their own home without relying on the extra fees and tips associated with meal delivery services.

Some of the most popular meal kit platforms also have up to 40 delicious meal selections a month, as well as meal stipend options for businesses, including:

• HelloFresh
• Blue Apron
• Home Chef
• Purple Carrot (vegan)
• Green Chef
• Marley Spoon
• EveryPlate
• Dinnerly

With prices up to 70% lower than dining out (albeit more expensive than going to the grocery store), you and your team can also put more money back in your pocket — and feel good doing it.

Nourish Your Team With the Best Meal Stipend Platforms

When you give your team healthy food, you improve work-life balance, lessen financial burdens, and bolster the employee experience. Few other perks provide such benefits, turning even the most basic meal stipend program into a solid return on investment.

Like with so many other platforms — employee stipends or swag — the right option is a matter of preference. But with a cost-effective meal allowance platform that checks all your boxes, you can ensure your employees eat right throughout the workday. It’s an appreciative gesture that’s sure to give a hearty boost to employee engagement and your company culture.