Food Web’s model is built on giving back. Learn how aligned incentives, referrals, and flexible pricing empower kitchens, renters, and communities to grow together sustainably.
Written by
Justin Andrews
Justin Andrews is a chef-turned-founder who has spent the last decade working across farms, markets, restaurants, nonprofits, and academic research. He’s now the CEO of Food Web, a platform built to unlock underused commercial kitchens and strengthen local food systems. Justin writes about food, entrepreneurship, and the work of building resilient local economies.
Where meals are made.
Food Web is built on a number of core principles. One of those principles is giving back. As a for-profit company, we get asked the question about “why we chose this model” quite a lot. This is the reason for this blog post. We want to highlight the incentive and reward structures at the root of Food Web. How our company makes money matters to us.
Right now, Keegan and I are working with kitchen owners and renters directly. As we scale to hundreds and thousands of customers, it’s not going to be possible for us to deliver this founder-focused approach. So then, how do we make sure that our customers today and tomorrow are well-taken care of? How do we continue to give back in the spirit of strengthening communities?
During Keegan's time working with Bitcoin companies and thinking about money, he became deeply fascinated by incentives and rewards. How a company structures how they make money will impact everything. From public perception, to how that company grows and scales, to customer success and satisfaction.
“Show me the incentive, and I’ll tell you the outcome” – Charlie Munger
This is why we put as much thought and consideration into our pricing structure as we have. Let me break it down for you; it’s rather simple. We don’t make money unless our customers do.
The success of Food Web Kitchens is dependent on successfully matching renters with kitchens and facilitating bookings. We don’t make a penny until a successful booking takes place. This begs the question, what does a successful booking look like?
It can be days to weeks before a renter or kitchen gets in contact with us, until the time that a renter has cooked inside a kitchen. So a successful booking satisfies each of these criteria.
It might not look like much, but both the renter and the kitchen have a few hoops they have to jump through before they can each get to step 1. Let’s break it down.
Food Web Kitchens would be nothing with the Kitchen Owners. Keegan and I have spent hundreds of hours talking to Kitchen Owners. We’ve gathered countless insights on how to build for their needs and to get them comfortable with opening their doors. Kitchens are the backbone of our business, without them, there would be no infrastructure to rent. Food Web takes the lions share of our revenue from the Kitchen side of the equation (12% by default).
If Kitchens are the backbone, then renters are the circulatory system and the lifeblood. They’re the ones that will actually be using the kitchens, producing food, and paying for the service. Renters pay for the Kitchen Rental, and recoup their costs by selling their product at the farmers market or in retail.
On the note of incentives and rewards, as of December 8th, 2025 (Food Web Kitchens Grand Launch Day), our Referral Program will be live. The referral program is a way for anyone (yes anyone) to get involved in the success of Food Web. By referring Kitchens to the platform, you can earn a lifetime kickback on the revenue that flows through that kitchen.
You’re not getting a cut of the Kitchen’s revenue, you’re getting a cut of Food Web’s. We’re committed to the success of our kitchens, so its important to us that as much money as possible continues to flow to the kitchen. As of the time of authoring this article, the base platform fee for kitchens is 12%. That means the kitchen gets to keep 88% of the fee that they set to rent their kitchen. The referral kickback comes from the 12% that Food Web takes.
Lets break it down with an example (assuming 3.25% renter fee, and 14% tax)
Scenario:
Money Flow:
Now, $1.50 might not seem like much in this example, but that referrer earns a slice of the pie for life. This means forever. This income stream never stops for them. It’s a lifetime source of recurring income. We built this feature for two reasons.
Organizations that represent kitchens, chefs, caterers, restaurants, and all other elements of the food system make great partners for Food Web. We all share a common goals; make the food system stronger. Increase food security, and local food production. Lastly, and importantly, thrive in the food industry. If we want to take these goals seriously, then we have to work together. WE think that the referral program embodies the ethos of giving back better than any other incentive and reward system that we can think of.
If you represent an organization that deals in food or represents kitchens, we want to hear from you. Check out our partnerships page and get in touch!
Lastly, we want to reward people commensurate and proportionate to the amount of traffic they bring to Food Web Kitchen. This is why we created a tiered system that lets people earn more, as they refer more Kitchens to the platform.
By default, everyone starting out can earn 1%. But, as you climb the ranks of the referral program, you begin to earn more from every kitchen you’ve ever referred. That new tier doesn’t apply to just the kitchens that you have yet to refer, it applies to every kitchen you’ve already referred.
A bunch of the kitchen owners and operators that we’ve spoken with have given us the following feedback.
“We want the ability to control, at a user level, how much renters pay to rent our licensed kitchen”.
The following use cases illustrate the feedback
You asked for it, we deliver. Lets break down exactly how discounts and promos work across the platform.
First and foremost, the 3.25% Stripe processing fee cannot be skipped. Food Web is charged this fee by the payment processor, and we pass this fee along to the renter. No discounts here.
Kitchens on Food Web set their own price per hour. They maintain this rate themselves and can update it without involving Food Web. If the kitchen signs up during a promotion period (like the 25% off grand launch period), then the kitchen itself can keep more of the hourly rate they charge. For example, Food Web can reduce our base cut from 12% to 9%.
If a kitchen wishes to grant a particular user FREE access to the kitchen, they are able to do this from their Kitchen Dashboard. On a user-by-user basis, a kitchen may set their hourly rate to 0, or 50% of the base rate. Whatever they choose. This level of flexibility means that we put the power of discretion in the hands of Kitchen Owners and Operators. This is because you know your renters best.
At the end of the day, Food Web Kitchens was built to strengthen local food ecosystems, not extract from them. Every decision we’ve made around pricing, incentives, referrals, and user-level control reflects that commitment. By aligning our success with the success of kitchens, renters, and community partners, we’ve created a model that grows only when the broader food system grows with us.
As we scale, this alignment becomes even more important. We want every person, whether you’re running a community kitchen, baking for your first farmers’ market, or simply spreading the word, to feel like Food Web is a platform that gives back more than it takes. That’s the foundation we’re building on, and it’s the future we’re inviting you to help shape.