Startup Revolution: Emanuel & Daniela Steiner of FELFEL On How Their Emerging Startup is Changing the Game

Celebrate your successes — Being a startup in hyper-growth mode involves many long nights and can often feel never-ending, but I always encourage taking a moment to reflect and celebrate the milestones that have gotten you to where you are today.

By Dina Aletras

Startups are at the forefront of innovation, driving change across various industries with fresh ideas and cutting-edge technologies. These emerging companies are not only disrupting traditional markets but also creating new opportunities and transforming the way we live and work. What makes these startups successful, and what can we learn from their journeys? As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Emanuel and Daniela Steiner.

Founded in 2014 by Emanuel and Daniela Steiner, FELFEL is a Switzerland-based startup revolutionizing the workplace and playing an integral role in the return-to-office movement and fostering of company culture through a diverse array of fresh culinary offerings. The hospitality-inspired Smart Fridge, the FELFEL, grants employees access to a myriad of fresh, healthy, and most importantly delicious, meals and snacks, cultivated via exclusive collaborations with acclaimed chefs, local farms, small businesses and neighborhood favorites and located just steps away from your working station. Following a decade of success in Europe, FELFEL recently made its debut in the United States with New York City and the Tri-State Area as its inaugural market, partnering with the chefs and teams behind beloved eateries including LaRina Pastificio & Vino, White Moustache, Laroot World and BKLYN Larder.

What was the initial inspiration behind your startup, and how did you turn that idea into a reality?

Years ago, I worked in a corporate setting and grew tired of eating alone every day siloed at my desk, which sparked the initial idea for FELFEL. Food is an essential part of our day, and as a foodie myself, I saw the potential that delicious food could have in fueling good work, meaningful conversations and stronger connections across workplaces. Today, we are shaping the daily experiences for employees at over 1,000 companies and counting. The benefits of FELFEL are numerous (cost efficiency, sustainable production, local farm and restaurant partnerships), but FELFEL’s greatest strength is our ability to bring people together through great food, and this vision has guided us from the start. Partnering with Michelin-starred and renowned chefs, local farms, small businesses and neighborhood purveyors who share in our mission has been crucial to our success, and connecting with people-first companies that prioritize employee experiences and interactions has further driven our growth.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?

When we started our business 11 years ago, we had many preconceptions about what people would like to eat in the office — and this allowed us to learn the important lesson of what it takes to develop good dishes. In the early days, we mostly developed dishes based on customer requests and whatever our team members ate for lunch themselves, which was the source of our inspiration.

We learned to rigorously test dishes by looking primarily at re-purchase rates, meaning how often a dish would get bought again by the same customer. I remember one workshop that really stuck with me where we looked at historical data to figure out what makes a “hit” bestseller dish, why some dishes performed very well, and why others were just “ok.” In the end, we discovered that all the bestsellers we had were designed by a single chef, as opposed to a team, resulting in compromises being made in the development of our menu moving forward.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Three months into working with one of our first clients, I got a call from their CEO who was upset about one of the offerings we served that week. While I couldn’t initially grasp the concern, it turns out that he was angry because our menu had offered a delicious pasta dish with a generous amount of raw garlic, which his whole sales team had eaten for lunch. He couldn’t send his team to sales meetings anymore that day because of their breath!

This taught me to listen to our customers and refine our menu for specific team needs. At the end of the day, we are a B2B business, and we’re here to support our clients in their business goals. We don’t serve raw garlic anymore!

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

Following a decade of success in Europe, we are thrilled to have recently launched our operations in New York City and the Tri-State Area. Having grown up and attended school in New York City, selecting this market felt like a natural decision. It’s both a personal and professional accomplishment for our team. As one of the largest, most resilient working hubs in the world, New York City offers a unique opportunity for FELFEL to be a conduit for companies of all kinds looking to attract employees back to the office, as well as those looking to retain and recruit top-tier talent and create a strong sense of corporate culture.

This market entry also allows us to collaborate with new culinary partners to bring the diverse cuisines that encompass New York City and its surrounding regions to the desks of employees, making hyper-local meals from acclaimed chefs and neighborhood restaurants accessible daily.

One upcoming feature we are excited to rollout is our premium, authentic Italian coffee service, Gavetti, which will continue to cement us as a full-scale workplace refreshment solution in the United States — and will certainly delight the Tri-State community who are passionate about their morning cup(s) of coffee!

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Daniela and I are complementary leaders and work well together as a team given the various strengths we each bring to the table. For Daniela, her two most important character traits are that she is uncompromising when it comes to product quality, which is integral in a consumer-facing industry, especially as it pertains to food and beverage. She is also incredibly empathetic towards our customers, always looking to put herself in their shoes and consider how they may feel in a situation.

My strengths are that I am relentless and ambitious and will give my all once I set my eyes on a goal. I also don’t let outside noise get in the way of what is most important to our success and tend to ignore distractions that could take away from the focus that is necessary to accomplish this.

Because of the role you play, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Craftsmanship. We believe that excellence in any product or service comes from deep devotion to that particular trade or craft. This is not something to be learned overnight but takes years to perfect. We believe if more people invested their time learning a particular craft, they would benefit greatly and experience an enhanced sense of fulfillment, both personality and in their consumers.

This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.

Read the full interview here.