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Lunch Perks Level Up To Woo Employees
The new benefits package // Illustration by Kate Walker
Blue-chip tech firms and buzzy AI startups are competing not just over who has the most innovative systems or the largest stockpile of GPUs… but over who can claim the best free lunch menu.
Why It Hits: While the overall job market may be pretty bleak, it couldn’t be a better time to be a top AI researcher, machine-learning specialist, or finance wiz — they’re commanding record-high pay packages and unprecedented autonomy to experiment. Companies looking to sweeten the pot are even touting next-level lunch offerings. After all, the best way to someone’s heart really is through their stomach.
Behind The Plates: Firms across Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and Madison Avenue are upgrading their cafeterias.
Corporate catering has become the top revenue stream for major catering companies, especially as firms transition from offering only snacks to serving regular meals.
And these aren’t run-of-the-mill burgers and salads — there’s cuisine from nearly every culture, high-end ingredients, and Michelin-starred chefs. There are still plenty of snacks, too, including juice bars and craft coffee.
Workers are salivating over the goodies, with some telling Business Insider they’d rather work somewhere with top-notch food and beverages than earn higher pay.
That doesn’t mean every company is buying into the hype — Amazon, for example, only offers bananas for free. How rude.
Last Bite: Beyond winning over talent, companies have realized that offering good food is one of the easiest ways to lure people back to the office, get them talking with their teams, and keep them at work longer. It’s a lot easier to burn the midnight oil when dinner is provided.
And with perks like gym memberships and travel stipends disappearing, the in-office meal may be the last reminder that work is more than a simple exchange of labor for money. A study out of the University of South Florida found that workers prefer the food perks anyway. No wonder OpenAI and xAI recently sparred over who has the better pizza.
Next Meal: Prepare for companies to R&D a signature dish that becomes a deciding factor for some workers when choosing to join their ranks.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.