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Aug 1, 2018

Does free lunch at tech companies hurt local business?

Free food is a legendary perk of working at a tech company. The cafeterias at Apple, Google, and Facebook are almost like a tourist attraction. But cities in the San Francisco Bay Area are saying that the free lunches are killing local business, and they’re moving to ban company cafeterias. The city of Mountain View made a law in 2014 that said Facebook’s new campus couldn’t offer free food, and last week, San Francisco city supervisors proposed a rule that any new offices in the city couldn’t include cafeterias. Marketplace’s Molly Wood talks with Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner, about the proposal. (08/01/2018)

An employee sits in the cafeteria of Google's Washington headquarters, Jan. 8, 2015 in Washington, D.C. 
An employee sits in the cafeteria of Google's Washington headquarters, Jan. 8, 2015 in Washington, D.C. 
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

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Free food is a legendary perk of working at a tech company. The cafeterias at Apple, Google, and Facebook are almost like a tourist attraction. But cities in the San Francisco Bay Area are saying that the free lunches are killing local business, and they’re moving to ban company cafeterias. The city of Mountain View made a law in 2014 that said Facebook’s new campus couldn’t offer free food, and last week, San Francisco city supervisors proposed a rule that any new offices in the city couldn’t include cafeterias. Marketplace’s Molly Wood talks with Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner, about the proposal. (08/01/2018)