The 6 Top Platforms for Team Lunch Programs

Employee engagement has grown stagnant, much to the chagrin of companies and management. The extent of actively disengaged employees has grown to an all-time high - costing organizations $1.9 trillion in lost productivity. Your company may be following a similar path, but how do you address the issue?

The answer may lie in team lunch programs.

By offering team meal programs alongside other benefits and perks, you improve company culture, boost morale, and encourage open communication and collaboration. Though the idea is straightforward, implementing a new team lunch program can be arduous and tedious.

To reduce hassle and streamline operations, use one of these top platforms for team lunch programs. Discover what to look for and some of the best software solutions to design the best program possible.

Features To Look for in a Team Lunch Program Platform

Team lunch programs are simple at first glance. You call a restaurant or catering business, choose your menu items, and set a date. However, this approach ignores some nuances of a structured program and can be overly time-consuming.

By using one of the top platforms for team lunch programs, you can improve your time management initiatives while keeping your employees happy and fed. Look for some of these top features to ensure your lunch platform meets your specific needs, price concerns, and more.

Flexibility and Functionality

Flexibility is integral to any team lunch platform, especially when it comes to your work arrangements. Whether you have in-person lunches or need to send food delivery to your remote team, your team lunch platform should have the right functions and flexibility.

A top platform for team lunch programs should simplify the process with features like online ordering, multiple vendors, and delivery options.

Diverse Menu Options

Old-school cafeterias or catering services often lack healthy and diverse menu options. This can lead to food waste, low turnout for team lunches, and a lack of suitable options for team members with dietary restrictions.

The top platforms for team lunch programs eliminate these shortfalls by partnering with top-tier food services and caterers or offering lunch ideas and menu planning from national or local restaurants.

In many aspects of business, less is more - but when it comes to food for onsite and remote workers, the more options, the better.

Team-Building Integration

Regardless of your industry, team-building activities can foster belonging and collaboration. During the workday, a team lunch gives employees the opportunity to converse about workflows or go off-topic and unwind - key aspects to improve mental wellness or build camaraderie.

With the right platform, you can use lunchtime to deepen engagement and culture with team-building integration. On-site teams can play trivia while they eat, while remote teams can enjoy Slack-based lunch-and-learns or virtual events. By integrating your team lunch program with team-building, you can achieve multiple goals simultaneously.

Various Payment Options

Multiple payment options are crucial to any team lunch platform. When teams place lunch orders, they should be able to pay with a company credit card, gift card, or stipend. Streamlined platforms should also facilitate an easy reimbursement process that returns money to the buyer quickly and without hassle.

6 of the Top Platforms for Team Lunch Programs

The top platforms for team lunch programs make the entire process quick and simple from start to finish. However, the right platform depends on your needs. To accurately identify the best fit, assign a value to each platform component.

We’ve broken down some of the best available options, so you don’t have to. Check out each platform to see which one best fits your team lunch program.

1. Hoppier

Hoppier isn’t a platform specifically for team lunch programs, but its gift card-based system lets you easily set up a lunch-and-learn program that works for you. In just a few clicks, Hoppier lets you design and implement lunch programs or meal stipends, with full control over your budget, vendors, and more, plus the ability to send cards to recipients in over 60 countries. Here’s how it works.

Hoppier is a top platform for team lunch programs, mainly because it's easy to use. Start by creating a program, adding your company logo, and setting a color scheme that reflects your company colors. Next, choose a dollar amount for each digital gift card and start and expiration dates so you’re always in control of your spending and timing - all while letting employees choose where and what they want to eat.

Finally, upload a CSV file of your employees’ email addresses and send your gift cards immediately. Each employee will receive the gift card and information on how to use it. It’s that simple!

Hoppier is also a premium choice for lunch team-building activities. If you have remote teams, set up lunch dates via Lunch Roulette or send virtual cards for lunch-and-learns. You can also use Hoppier’s free templates to set up meeting agendas, so you’re ready to engage your employees while they dine.

To add to the platform’s attractive features, Hoppier returns any unused funds left at gift card expiration to your account, jump-starting your next round of lunches or other initiatives.

From the sales floor

“A use case that keeps coming up: a company loads one card with $3,000 and hands it to a manager, who takes the whole department out for a proper dinner and pays by tapping the Hoppier card from Apple Wallet. The fee is flat per card whether it carries $15 or $3,000, and whatever the table doesn’t spend goes back. People assume we’re remote-only - the in-person story is just as strong.”

Nicholas Galipeau, sales at Hoppier

2. Grubhub for Business

Since its inception, the famed food-delivery company has expanded from lazy afternoon and late-night fast food delivery into a force in the corporate world. Grubhub Corporate Accounts is the business-centric portion of the company and one of the top platforms for team lunch programs.

Grubhub offers ordering flexibility, including individual meals, group orders, and catering. It also partners with more local restaurants than any other app, giving you the chance to give back to your community and support local businesses.

Another major benefit of Grubhub Corporate is that it has no sign-up or transaction fees, saving you money at every stage of your team lunch initiatives.

3. Pluxee

Popular for providing food for school lunches and cafeterias worldwide, Sodexo is also a top platform for team lunch programs. The Pluxee card from Sodexo is a physical meal card that functions just like a debit card. Employees go to their restaurant of choice, swipe the card at any POS system, enter the PIN, and they’re good to go.

What makes the Pluxee card even more intriguing is the accompanying mobile app. Through the app, employees can view their purchases, change their PIN, and track their spending, helping prevent waste and overspending.

4. Swile

“The meal voucher reinvented” is a bold slogan for any team lunch platform, but Swile backs it up with an innovative yet simple product. If you’re scheduling a team lunch but want to let employees choose what they want, the Swile Mastercard is an excellent feature.

Users can mail the Mastercard to each employee fee-free, and reload the card or change the limit in real time. You can also link a company credit card to the Swile card so that any overages are automatically paid for - perfect for pricey team lunches or traveling employees.

Swile also offers a handy app that employees can use to lock or unlock their card if it’s misplaced or stolen, change their PIN, or track their spending.

5. Edenred

If you’re a company with a fully distributed or global team, sending food to your employees is integral. That’s just what Edenred’s “Ticket Restaurant” aims to achieve.

Available in both physical and digital cards in 45 countries, the “Ticket Restaurant” allows employees to purchase meals or snacks on their own, which is a great option for finicky eaters at team lunches.

Administrators will also find the Edenred platform easy to use. In just a few clicks, users can set spending limits, choose where employees can use the card, reload each card, and track spending.

6. DoorDash for Business

DoorDash for Business is another one of the top platforms for team lunch programs, and with good reason. Through the DoorDash platform, group ordering is convenient and straightforward, and it even offers recurring orders through an online calendar.

If you’re doing a team lunch but want everyone to choose their meal, a DoorDash for Business account provides $0 delivery fees, reduced service fees, and even 5% cash back if your employees pick up their order from the restaurant. Users also get 24/7 customer service from humans (not AI or bots) to resolve any account issues.

What Sales Calls Reveal About Team Lunch Programs

Two patterns from the front lines. First, a team lunch is usually the entry point, not the destination: companies run one event, it lands well, and the question becomes how to make it a recurring benefit without creating admin work - which is when a lunch program grows into a meal stipend.

Second, the real alternative on most calls isn’t a platform on this list - it’s buying delivery-app gift cards directly. That works until it doesn’t: consumer delivery services treat corporate accounts as an afterthought, each app’s restaurant catalog is exclusive, and international teammates need a different service per country. A Visa-network lunch card sidesteps all three, works at local restaurants that aren’t on any app, and returns whatever goes unspent.

Want a recurring benefit instead of event lunches? Compare the top meal stipend platforms. For lifestyle and wellness budgets beyond food, see the top employee stipend platforms.

Feed Your Team and Your Bottom Line

Employees have plenty of stressors at work and at home. Lunch shouldn’t be one of them. By using one of these top platforms for team lunch programs, you eliminate dining expenses while boosting team engagement, productivity, and a stronger company culture.

Ultimately, the perfect lunch program platform is a matter of taste (no pun intended), but with multiple options, you should be able to find the ideal choice for your company’s needs.