Web Summit organisers have said food at the event is “good value” – and they are losing €10 per meal sold.

Attendees expressed disgust on the first day of this year’s Summit as they learned that their prepaid meal vouchers – costing €20 for one day, or €50 for a three day deal – covered just a main meal and a bottle of water.

In recent years the meal ticket had been included in the ticket price, and with last minute tickets costing up to €1618 attendees were surprise to see food was not included. As the offering available for the voucher became apparent dissatisfied customers took to social media to complain and #foodgate began to trend.

Mike Harvey, the head of communications at the Web Summit, told Independent.ie “When costs of the Food Summit are taken into consideration, including venue rental, insurance, marquee build, electrics, staffing, security and services, Web Summit makes a loss of approximately €10 per meal sold.

“For us, having taken an overview of everything, it is good value for what you get," he said.

One food vendor at the Web Summit told Newtalk they lost €5000 in the first two days of the event due to demand not reaching the minimum stock levels that were required by orrganisers.

Web Summit organisers have criticised hotels in Dublin for high prices during the event, citing it as one of their motivations to move the three-day event to Lisbon from next year. Hoteliers have today rejected this claim, saying prices in Dublin during the event were "highly competitive".

A statement from the Irish Hotels Federation said the average price of a room in Dublin on the busiest night of the Summit (Tuesday) was approximately €155. This "represents excellent value for a major international event of this scale in a European capital at a time when Dublin is almost fully booked," the statement said.