40+ Best Food Affiliate Programs in 2021

Ultimate Guide for food Bloggers and Content Creators

You are a food blogger, you have a recipe youtube channel, a food dedicated Instagram, you have a cooking recipes website or you are another kind of digital content creator pushing content about gastronomy, or food in general? If so, this article is made especially for you.

We crafted the ultimate guide to the best food affiliate programs for you to increase your income in 2021 monetizing all your digital activities to the max.

According to Statista, Affiliate marketing spending in the U.S. alone is expected to reach $8.2 billion by 2022, more than triple what it was in 2012. Also, 82.5% of advertisers and 84.7% of publishers use affiliate marketing and over half of the affiliate publishers surveyed in the same report stated that affiliate marketing accounted for more than 20% of their annual revenue. Are you getting the most out of your digital activities?

If you are not familiar with what affiliate programs are, don't worry, we have you covered. First, we will explain briefly what it is and how it works, and then we will tell you the best opportunities you have in the affiliate programs world, for you to monetize your digital activity.

What is an Affiliate Program?

Affiliate programs (sometimes called associate programs) are deals in which an online merchant website pays affiliate websites a commission to send them traffic or qualified leads.

In a nutshell, affiliate programs provide publishers with offers to promote online. These programs serve as additional sales channels for advertisers. You, as a publisher can apply or sign up to these programs, get the links, and try to convince your users to click and get the products or services you are promoting.

How does an affiliate program work?

To illustrate it simply, we took the example of Mary, a food blogger. This is step by step how it works:

1. Mary adds to her Blog post a link (provided by the affiliate program) that the readers can click on. In this case she is promoting a Chef-prepared meal delivery plan.
2. The reader clicks on the link.
3. The reader is sent to the Chef’s website.
4. The reader purchases a meal plan on the website.
5. The Affiliate Network records the purchase and details of the transaction. The purchase is confirmed by the chef business.
6. The transaction is credited to Mary
7. Mary gets paid the correspondent commission.

Food Affiliate Program Commission and Cookie Lifetime

This is the most important part, right? So, how much will you get paid to refer clients to those advertiser’s websites?

Well, some affiliate programs pay a percentage of the total sale. Others have a flat commission established for every new customer or new order your referral makes on their website. For the food industry, we found a wide range of commissions that you will find specified for each affiliate program in this article.

But there is another important point: the cookie lifetime.
To make it simpler, the shorter the cookie lifetime is, the less attractive the affiliate program is.

When choosing your affiliate programs, take into account not only how much you get paid for each referral but how long is the time window from the initial click to the purchase (aka cookie lifetime).

What is a Food Affiliate Program?

The food industry has plenty of options for you to promote as a publisher. From food delivery apps to meal kits affiliate programs, the range of businesses is wide and diverse.

In this article we will cover 3 main categories:
1: Meal Preparation / Meal Kit Affiliate Programs.
2. Chef Prepared / Heat & Eat Meals Affiliate Programs
3. Food and Grocery Delivery/Shop and Pick up Apps.

Let us point you to the most interesting options, so you can choose well and affiliate to the brands that your content and your audience relate to the most.

What is a Meal Preparation Affiliate Program?

Meal preparation, also known as Meal Kit, is one of the food affiliation program options. It’s not just food delivery. These businesses propose their customer's menu ideas to choose from, provides them with complete easy-to-follow recipes and sends to their doorstep the raw ingredients to prepare from scratch these specific dishes.

These programs are great for you as a publisher, if your audience is passionate about cooking, but simply has no time for planning a creative meal. Introduce them to these great companies, so they can be the kitchen hero of their families and friends, with less effort for great results.

Meal Preparation Affiliate Programs

Meal Preparation or The following are the best in the market, offering not only a great product or service for your audience but also giving good affiliation options for you to cash out.

Martha & Marley Spoon

Countries where they operate:  USA, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden.

Great if your audience is interested in:
Healthy meal kits, dinner time solutions, family-friendly meals, vegetarian, low carb, gluten-free, paleo diet, Mediterranean diet.

Description:
The client gets pre-portioned ingredients to cook the best recipes of the one and only Martha Stewart. The customers can choose from 29 recipes each week, all of which are designed to be cooked in under 30 minutes. The ingredients provided are healthy and traceable. Depending on the number of meals per week, the price per portion starts at US$9.49.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$25 commission per new customer.

HelloFresh Affiliate Program

Countries where they operate: USA, Canada. UK, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, Luxembourg, New Zealand.

Great if your audience is interested in:
Family-friendly meals, pescatarian, calorie smart, food chain sustainability.

Description:
HelloFresh provides their customer with recipes to cook in 20 minutes or less. High-quality ingredients sourced straight from the farm. The price per portion starts from US$7.49 depending on the number of meals ordered per week.

Affiliate Program Commission:
Up to $25 commission on the first sale plus bonuses for high performance.

Sun Basket Affiliate Program

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Organic, antibiotic-free, hormone-free, paleo, vegetarian, gluten-free, lean & clean, diabetes-friendly, pescatarian.

Description:
Sun Basket is a certified organic handler and strives to source organic produce 100% of the time. They select the best antibiotic- and hormone-free meat and organic eggs, and only use wild-caught seafood. Users can cook their meals in as little as 6 minutes.

Affiliate Program Commission:
Content affiliates will earn up to $20 per sale.

Takeout Kit

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if you are interested in:
International gastronomy, discover new cultures, cook and learn.

Description:
With each box, your client learns about the culture and background of the dish, discovers exotic new ingredients, and follows easy instructions to craft their globally-inspired meal. Takeout kit even gives them music playlists and drink pairings to enhance the experience.

Affiliate Program Commission:
10% on referred customer’s first order.

Home Chef Affiliate Program

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if you are interested in:
Simplify life, healthy meals, family time

Description in their own words:
Home Chef provides everything the client needs to bring more delicious meals and moments to the table, no matter how busy they are. Because at Home Chef, we believe that preparing and enjoying a home-cooked meal should be a simply delicious experience. meal delivery affiliate programs

Home Chef Meal delivery affiliate program Commission:
$10 per New sign up

Blue Apron Affiliate Program

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Sustainability, traceability, green-food-chain.

Description in their own words:
Our food system—how food is grown and distributed—is complicated, and making good choices for your family can be difficult. How are we changing that? By partnering with farmers to raise the highest-quality ingredients, by creating a distribution system that delivers ingredients at a better value, and by investing in the things that matter most—our environment and our communities.

Affiliate Program Commission:
10% on customer’s first order.

Mama Sezz

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
A plant-based diet, organic food, healthy meal.

Description:
MamaSezz partners with those who share our passion for spreading life-transforming information about the benefits of a whole food plant-based diet. Becoming a MamaSezz partner can be a very rewarding step up for your business, mind, and spirit.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$10 for every referred order.

Daily Harvest

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Smoothies, balanced nutrition, organic foods, plant-based meals.

Description:
Daily Harvest is a subscription service that delivers pre-portioned cups of do-it-yourself frozen smoothies, soups, breakfast bowls, and more directly to your doorstep.

They work with farmers to freeze on-site within hours of harvest, to retain nutritional value, flavor, and texture. They craft recipes that taste great and are good for you packing in nutrient-rich ingredients. Daily Harvest doesn't use fillers, additives, and junk commonly found in frozen foods.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$10 flat fee for each new customer that buys one of their meal plans.

Gooble

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Busy lifestyle, healthy meals, low carb, vegetarian,  dairy-free, nut-free, or gluten-free options.

Description:
Choose from a diverse menu of flavors and dietary options that includes meat, fish, and vegetarian dishes.
Designed to be table-ready in 15 minutes. No need to measure chop or peel.
Meals start at $11.99 per serving.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$20 per order, no limit.

Dinnerly

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Easy preparation, affordable meals.

Description:
They have a better price per meal starting at $4.99. How do they do it? No fancy marketing campaigns, less paper - no packaging paraphernalia, and a bit fewer ingredients.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$10 for each new customer.

Chef Prepared or Heat & Eat Meals Affiliate Programs

Another option on the food affiliate program range. This model consists of offering ready-to-eat meals, delivered to the clients for them to freeze or to store for a limited period of time outside of the fridge.

These programs can be great to affiliate with if your audience is seeking solutions and hacks to simplify their very busy lives, they have no time to cook a balanced meal, but still prefer something healthier than a frozen pizza.

In this article, we will point you to the trending, most healthy option in the market.

Magic Kitchen

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Senior Complete Meal Program, low sodium, diabetic, healthy meals precooked, chef-prepared, special diet meals, heat and serve.

Description:
MagicKitchen.com’s healthy, delicious, chef-prepared meals are created using the freshest ingredients to ensure you receive nutritious meals that are quick & easy to prepare. Special diet meals too.

Flash-frozen & delivered, just defrost, heat & serve. Complete meals average $10.00 to $14 per meal.

Affiliate Program Commission:
8% of the sale.

Once a Month Meals

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Family meals, Cook in advance, pre-cook meals, frozen meals, freezer cooking, Instant pot, slow cooker, dump and go, gluten-free, grocery list, dairy-free.

Description:
Once A Month Meals membership teaches and provides resources and meal plans for families to freeze meals ahead of time so that they never have to plan daily meals ever again.

Affiliate Program Commission:
up to 20% per sign-up.

Nurture Life

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Organic, Baby meals, toddler meals, kids meals, balanced nutrition, clean ingredients, nut-free, allergy-friendly.

Description:
This food delivery service is designed specifically for babies, toddlers, and kids.

The client selects from a variety of seriously delicious, nutritious meals, made especially for babies, toddlers, and kids, with only the best ingredients. The meals are cooked with real ingredients focused on organic veggies, antibiotic-free proteins, and whole grains, and delivered fresh in refrigerated packaging to your door.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$15 flat fee for each new subscriber.

Optavia

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Fat burning meals, coach guided transformation, lean and green meals,

Description:
It was previously called Medifast. It's a coach-guided program for weight loss and health improvement. The client chooses from more than 60 delicious, convenient, nutritionally interchangeable, scientifically-designed Fuelings.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$15 flat fee for each new subscriber.

Diet to go

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Chef-prepared, diabetes, Keto, vegetarian, weight loss

Description:
Personalized selection of healthy, delicious, and ready-to-eat meals, directly from our chef's kitchen to your plate. Rated #1 for taste, their selection of portion-controlled meals lets the client enjoy foods they love, stick to their plan and reach their goals. “It's like having your own personal chef.”

Affiliate Program Commission:
Earn $40 on every sale

Silver Cuisine

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:  
Healthy, senior, meal delivery, specialty diets.

Description:
Silver Cuisine is a meal delivery company that offers nutritious meals built specifically for customers who are at least 50 years old.

Affiliate Program Commission:
7% per sale

Home Bistro

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Healthy, gourmet Heat & Eat, paleo, heart-healthy, vegetarian, diabetic

Description:
Home Bistro delivers chef-prepared frozen meals that are nutritious and delicious without requiring a subscription or membership.

Affiliate Program Commission:
15% per sale

Bistro MD

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Weight loss meals, weight loss programs, doctor-designed, gluten-free, menopause program, diabetes program

Description:
BistroMD combines a love for great-tasting real food with the unique knowledge that food is medicine.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$45 per new client purchase.

Veestro

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Plant-based meals, organic foods, weight loss, healthy lifestyle.

Description:
Veestro is a plant-based, gourmet meal delivery service that ships to any location in the US. They offer delicious, chef-inspired meals and juices.

Affiliate Program Commission: 5% per sale.

Green Chef Affiliate Program

Great if your audience is interested in:
Meal plans, keto, paleo, plant-based diet...

Countries where they operate: USA

Description:
Choose from a wide variety of deliciously clean meal plans at manageable prices, with options to feed two people or a family of four.

Their premium ingredients come pre-measured and prepped. Easy step-by-step instructions with photos. They propose new recipes every week.

Affiliate Program Commission:
Up to $15 per Sale

Food and Groceries Delivery Apps Affiliate Programs

As you may know, a food delivery app allows customers to order food from different restaurants in their area. Now, most of these companies have expanded their services to grocery delivery and grocery online shopping for pick up, especially after the social distancing restrictions, this service is growing fast.

In this section, you will find a great selection of food and grocery delivery apps affiliate programs.

GrubHub Affiliate Program

Great if your audience is interested in:  Delivery and take away from different specialties restaurants.

Countries where they operate: USA

Description:
Through Grubhub, you can find and order food from restaurants in your area. You can also search by cuisine type, restaurant name, or simply the meal you are craving. It’s good to know that Grubhub includes different service companies like Seamless, LevelUp, All menus, and Menu pages.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$10 per mobile sign-up

Postmates

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Local restaurants, delivery, groceries.

Description:
Postmates is transforming the way goods move around cities through their Urban Logistics platform that connects customers with local couriers who can deliver nearly anything from your favorite restaurant or retailer in minutes. They empower communities to shop local and empower businesses to grow through their marketplace.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$10 New customer

Doordash

Countries where they operate: USA, Australia, Canada, UK

Great if your audience is interested in:
Local restaurants delivery, groceries

Description: All in one app. Local, on-demand delivery or Pickup from restaurants, nearby grocery or convenience stores, and more.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$3 on first orders

Just Eat Affiliate Program

Countries where they operate: UK

Great if your audience is interested in:
Local restaurants delivery, groceries

Description: Just Eat Takeaway.com is a leading global online food delivery marketplace, connecting consumers and restaurants through its platform in 23 countries. They offer an online marketplace where supply and demand for food delivery and order meet.

Affiliate Program Commission:
3% commission on every meal ordered through your links and banners.

Uber Eats Affiliate Program

Countries where they operate: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India (Acquired by Zomato), Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zeland, Panama, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK, USA.

Great if your audience is interested in:
Local restaurant delivery, groceries delivery...

Description:
Users can read menus, reviews, and ratings, order, and pay for food from participating restaurants using an application on the iOS or Android platforms, or through a web browser.
Users are also able to tip for delivery. Payment is charged to a card on file with Uber. Meals are delivered by couriers using cars, scooters, bikes, or on foot.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$3.75  for a new customer ordering delivery.

Deliveroo Affiliate Program

Countries where they operate: Australia, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and the United Kingdom

Great if your audience is interested in:
Local restaurants delivery, groceries

Description:
Deliveroo is on a mission to transform the way customers eat.
A key ingredient of their success is having the best selection of popular restaurants to choose from.
Whether people want a pad Thai, in the evening, a salad at lunch, or freshly scrambled eggs for breakfast - they’ve got it covered.

Affiliate Program Commission:
Up to 6% per Sale

Seamless

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Local restaurant delivery, groceries, women-led restaurants.

Description:
Seamless is simply the easiest way to order food for delivery or takeout. Whatever you're in the mood for, wherever you're in the mood for it, you've got it. No menus, no phone calls, no repeating yourself.

Seamless is a part of the Grubhub Inc. portfolio of brands.

Affiliate Program Commission:
5% of Sales New customer's first Sale only.

Caviar

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Local restaurant delivery, groceries, best restaurants in the city.

Description: They partner with the coolest/best spots in the city. Because that's what they're all about. They are the high-end product of Doordash.

Affiliate Program Commission:
8% per sale.

Menulog

Countries where they operate: Australia, New Zealand.

Great if your audience is interested in:
Local restaurants delivery, groceries, Australia

Description:
The Menulog business is founded on a simple premise, which is to enable great restaurants to provide delicious food to more local customers.

Menulog is now powered by a global leader in food delivery, Just Eat Takeaway.com, and delivers to more than 87 percent of Australian delivery addresses via their network of local restaurant partners.

Affiliate Program Commission:
2,4% from the total order value

Instacart

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Hand-picked, specific groceries, personal shopper

Description:
Select items from your favorite grocery stores at Instacart.com or in the app. A personal shopper picks each item with care. You can chat with them while they are shopping for you.  Instacart delivers your groceries in as little as 2 hours to your doorstep.

Affiliate Program Commission: New customers orders $10 for content sites, $5 for loyalty sites, and $2 for coupon/deal sites

Boxed

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Home economy, bulk shopping, groceries, great prices

Description:
With Boxed, take advantage of big sizes, and even bigger savings. The Boxed team tests and selects a range of the most popular products so you can be confident in your purchase. Shop tried-and-true household favorites as well as new, hand-picked brands.

Affiliate Program Commission:
6% per sale

Peapod

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Grocery shopping, personal shoppers.

Description:
Peapod offers convenient online grocery shopping. They carry fresh, healthy foods, and supermarket staples from your favorite brands all available for delivery.

Affiliate Program Commission:
10% per sale

Direct Eats Affiliate Program

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Special diet experts, grocery delivery, gluten-free, dairy-free, organic, non-GMO, nut-free

Description:
To make shopping easier for families with special diets, they’ve introduced the following features:

1. Lifestyle kits – Your family’s go-to options for breakfast, midday snacks, and light lunches. To help you taste-test, we’ve assembled allergen-free Lifestyle Kits with the best available foods for people with gluten allergies, peanut allergies, and other dietary restrictions. Try out a variety of items, then keep your pantry stocked with your favorites.

2. Shop by need – With Their unique search feature, the client can shave down the time spent reading labels. Check all applicable dietary restrictions (choose from dairy-free, peanut-free, non-GMO, more). Then, view only the products that meet your specific needs.

Affiliate Program Commission:
5% per sale

Healthy Goods

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Specialized Groceries Holistic products, Superfoods, nutrients for neurotransmitters, well-being, organic, whole foods...

Description:
Healthy Goods offers organic, whole foods, superfoods, and nutrition supplements to promote optimal health, along with the nutrients you require to focus on root cause resolution. Healthy Goods is a functional nutrition brand.

Affiliate Program Commission:
10% per sale

Thrive Market

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Organic Brands, Paleo, healthy groceries, low price, supplements, gluten-free, keto, vegan, solidarity economy.

Description in their own words:
We are a better market offering food as it should be: made of real ingredients, safe for the environment, fairly priced, created for your needs, and delicious.

The same standards should apply to the products we put on our bodies and in our homes: nontoxic, eco-friendly, affordable, and effective.  Every paid membership to Thrive Market is matched with a free one for someone in need.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$25 for every paid member you refer to the site.

The fruit company

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Sustainable fruit, traditional American company, send natural gifts, special occasion gift.

Description:
The Fruit Company is an American company that was founded in 1942. The company, still privately owned has become known for its classic baskets and gift towers featuring Northwest-grown pears and apples.

Affiliate Program Commission:
10% per sale

FAVOR

Countries where they operate: USA & Canada.

Great if your audience is interested in:
Personal shoppers, groceries, restaurants, errands, busy life.

Description in their own words:  
Anything delivered in under an hour. Whether you want food delivery from Whataburger or a quick errand from Target, we can help! The delivery “runners” keep you updated every step of the way. Delivery fees are as low as $1 from select stores and restaurants.

Affiliate Program Commission:
6% only first purchase of a new customer.

Naturebox

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Organic, snacks, CBD Snaks, Adaptogen, Functional food, protein, fiber, gluten-free, paleo, keto, vegan...

Description:
Naturebox offers a membership with which the subscriber receives a Snack box each month on the size and variety of their convenience.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$15 per sale

Graze

Countries where they operate: UK, Ireland, Netherlands.

Great if your audience is interested in:
Healthy Snacks, natural options...

Affiliate Description:
Tasty nutritious snacks based on natural ingredients.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$2 per sale

Nuts

Countries where they operate: USA

Great if your audience is interested in:
Healthy Snacks, superfood, pantry, raw, organic, dried fruits, nuts

Affiliate Description:
Nuts.com offers more than 3,000 different products, ranging from indulgent treats to gifts to healthy foods for cooking and baking to snacks.

Affiliate Program Commission:
8% per sale

Universal Yums

Countries where they operate: USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, and Israel

Great if your audience is interested in:
Snack, culture discovery, family, food fun activities, discovery...

Affiliate Description:
Snacks from different countries delivered monthly.

The box includes a booklet with fun facts and information about the country of origin. Great way to have fun with the little ones while learning.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$10 per sale

Butcher Box

Countries where they operate: USA.

Great if your audience is interested in:
BBQ, meat lovers, grill, happy animals, sustainability

Affiliate Description:
It's not only about meat. Butcher box wants to build a community focused on caring about animals and our planet, improving livelihoods for farmers, and sharing better meals.

Affiliate Program Commission:
$15  per lead.

Conclusion

As you see, there are lots of profitable affiliate programs in the food industry.
In this guide to the best food affiliate programs, we tried to handpick the programs that are more attractive right now, focusing only on the areas of Meal preparation, Heat and eat meals, and Food and grocery delivery/pick-up apps.

Start earning money by referring your readers, followers, and customers to some of the coolest affiliate programs. Believe us, we know the amount of time and effort you put in every single piece of content you give out! It's time for you to get the most out of your digital activity!

What's the next step? Contact lemonads, our team will be thrilled to start you up in the right direction,

You can directly apply as a publisher.

If you want to learn more about affiliate programs and how to monetize your content, follow our blog