from Hacker News

Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at Facebook and other tech cos

by htmlfan on 7/26/18, 9:11 PM with 48 comments

  • by ihuman on 7/26/18, 9:18 PM

  • by davidw on 7/26/18, 9:25 PM

    From twitter:

    SAN FRANCISCANS: my studio costs $2700 and I stepped on human feces & 1 used syringe on my morning commute

    CITY: we hear you, action must and will be taken. Scooters are now illegal

    SF-ANS: what

    CITY: no more delivery robots

    SF-ANS: but

    CITY: workplace cafeterias are forbidden

    https://twitter.com/Altimor/status/1021973421046022145

  • by htmlfan on 7/26/18, 9:19 PM

    This can definitely help support local business. But seems unfair to lower-salary employees. As an employee who used to have free lunch and now doesn't, I have felt the financial effects.

    Dining out truly can make a big impact on the wallet- $10 dollars per meal (unlikely in Mountain View unless fast food) x 5 meals a week x 48 weeks a year (let's be generous and assume you get that much PTO) = $2,400 annually

    Company-provided meals also tend to provide healthy options which can be expensive to purchase outside of work- and tend to contain less sodium and sugar than restaurant foods.

    I can see this potentially benefitting the local business of 'Amazon WholeFoods' and Costco as people buy more groceries to bring lunch to work with them and eat at their desks. Eating out every day is expensive.

  • by justinzollars on 7/26/18, 9:24 PM

    I'm sorry but this is so f*cking stupid.

    As a Bay Area resident my priorities are the cost of housing, cleaning our dirty streets and alleviating traffic congestion.

    This is an example of progressivism gone awry. Solving the basics is incredibly important. Our quality of life is in decline (in the bay area) and this is the best our politicians can do?

    I'm enraged.

  • by thehnguy on 7/26/18, 9:22 PM

    This might be a great idea in theory, but terrible execution. By having this only apply prospectively, it makes every new business have to compete with businesses that can offer free meals on campus.

  • by nikki-9696 on 7/26/18, 9:35 PM

    This seems silly. My company doesn't pay for food (chicago), we're right next to tons of options, but food is expensive. Most of us bring lunch from home. We live in the burbs and commute in. I don't see why workers would pay to eat out every day instead of bringing lunch. Maybe it's a SF thing that folks would be willing to waste that much money every day?

  • by saagarjha on 7/26/18, 9:23 PM

    What's stopping companies from charging a cent per meal?

  • by nickthemagicman on 7/26/18, 9:21 PM

    Does this seem a little like bit of gov't overreach? They're saying a business can't provide food to their employees?

    Am I missing something?

  • by United857 on 7/26/18, 10:26 PM

    I live about 10 minutes from this location, and often frequent the restaurants there. It's smack dab in a high-traffic area (San Antonio+El Camino) and judging from the crowds, I can assure you that they get plenty of business already from the local community, even without Facebook.

    That said, I would still have no problem if it was the landlord (WeWork) making this restriction, instead of the MTV government. This is a private business-to-business matter, and shouldn't be the domain of government.

  • by geekingreen on 7/26/18, 9:29 PM

    They could offer meal tickets similar to Vivint: https://savvorysoles.wordpress.com/2016/04/02/vivint-food-ti...

    It's a free meal at the office, but if you want to go out they made deals with most of the local restaurants where it gives the employee $5 off

  • by praneshp on 7/26/18, 9:24 PM

    The editorialized title submitted by the OP is incorrect (and probably in bad faith). Free food is banned at one complex in MTV called the village ("That's because the city prohibits companies from fully subsidizing meals in the Village,"), not all over mountain view.

  • by mattnewton on 7/26/18, 9:26 PM

    What stops them from paying a “mtv location bonus” of $30~ish dollars a month and charging a dollar a meal?

    Edit: it sounds like this is actually a rider on some kind of zoning exception being made for a new development called the Village? Article isn’t terribly clear here

  • by throeuhway on 7/27/18, 2:01 AM

    As long as they have them I would hope they begin to pay a livable wage to the people they employ at them

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17612190

  • by zerr on 7/26/18, 9:23 PM

    Besides, it is also healthy to really get out of the office for an hour or two.