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A Look at Silicon Valley Cafeterias

Posted by timothy on from the google's-helps-you-find-the-food dept.

boycottthecaf writes "The San Jose Mercury News has a story on the cafeterias of Silicon Valley companies, and how they are used to keep workers on site during lunch. Google, of course, has the cafeteria everyone envies."

4 of 238 comments (clear)

  1. The Cafeterias... by 10101001011 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...are an excellent indicator, in my experience, of the success of a company. For instance, I used to work at Nortel (Nortel.ca), one of Canada's premier hihg-tech companies during the bubble.

    During the bubble, the cafeteria was practically giving away food. Actually, they were doing precisely that -- many days during the week your lunch would be paid for. One could also go down at any time and pick up soda fountain drinks for free. This, like so many things (like the free massage parlor) were not to last...

    As Nortel's profits declined, so did the number of different food stalls in the cafeteria. Similarly, I couldn't even go down to pick up a glass of soda water -- the company stopped giving it away. In fact, the ice water cooler was likewise turned off. The breakrooms were stripped of their free coffee and tea (and hot chocolate, *sigh*). And their water coolers were removed. And then the styrofoam cups (and their subsequent paper brethern faced a similar fate). Then they got rid of the plates and plastic forks and spoons. Finally, when the free sugar sachets left, so did I.

    I guess I can finally say I am what I ate -- unemployed.

  2. What they forget to mention.... by mikael · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Many of these companies have more than 20+ building distributed across the Bay Area. It's only the main campus which has the large cafeteria and maybe other luxuries like a fitness centre (SGI's main building was across the road from the cinema multiplex).

    If you're not working at the main building, then you end up with at least a 20 minute freeway drive to the nearest restaurant. For anywhere upmarket, you need to book at least a day in advance, as there are usually queues outside by lunchtime (Palo Alto). If you're lucky there might be a Mexican restaurant with outside tables, or a Chinese takeaway, but all the tables are quickly taken. And the specials would be snapped up within quarter of an hour of cooking.

    --
    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  3. State of PA Government food by astrojetsonjr · · Score: 4, Interesting
    You don't need to go to the left coast to eat, you can just VisitPA (tm) in Harrisburg and eat in their cafeterias. Breakfast is the best with almost any dish you can think of. But the government is no slouch when it comes to lunch. Pork chops, pasta lots of different ways, giant salad bars.

    Of course since your government servants are underpaid, the cafeteria get financial support, your tax dollars in action!

  4. Re:Article text. by Rodness · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When I used to work at Sun Microsystems (about 5 years ago when the Santa Clara campus was very new) the food was excellent and there were routinely about 2 dozen different options for lunch each day. The cost was also so low I paid less than $5, even on an indulgent day.

    Personally I found it nice to not have to leave work for a good lunch, and the time that we didn't spend driving around in that traffic meant that I could leave earlier in the day.

    Despite what slave labor critics may claim, I never found it to be anything but a major perk of working there.