Among the perks of working in a tech company is in enjoying the food at the in-house cafeteria. In fact, some of the best tech offices provide their employees with dining spots that have the perfect ambience. The meals also taste better than the trendiest restaurants.
While most office workers are content with takeouts from food places near the office, or heating packed lunches using the microwave in the breakroom, the employees at many of these successful tech companies are having office meals prepared by chefs. This trend started with Google, but today there are many more tech companies giving their workers with the same perks.
Below are five tech office cafeterias that can rival the best restaurants:
1. Dropbox.
Chef Brian Mattingly first prepared meals for Google employees, but he's now at the Dropbox San Francisco location, serving the staff with choiced selections of Mediterranean, Indian, Asian, American and vegan dishes. The chef posts samples of the daily meals at the office cafeteria's Facebook Page, Dropbox Tuck Shop. The superior quality and appearance of the food cannot be ignored, and there have been rumors the Tuck Shop earned a Michelin star.
2. Apple.
At the Cupertino site, Apple employees take coffee breaks at Caffè Macs. The lunch menu is updated and changed regularly, but they have had ramen, paella, steak, oysters, pizza, sushi and several selections of breakfast and dessert fares. "The company pays its software engineers up to $12 for dinner, which is typically enough for a dinner entree and a small salad from the salad bar," said one employee who shared what it's like eating at their cafeteria. On some Fridays, the company hosts bashes or parties with musical artists as guests.
3. Pixar.
Like the rest of the Pixar campus, Cafè Luxo's has a warm open-space atmosphere, which makes lunching even better. While employees enjoy eating at the cafeteria everyday, some guests are also welcome to dine at the cafe. "This is the swanky cafeteria inside Pixar Animation Studios. You need to be an employee or registered guest in order to eat lunch here and I had the good fortune to be a registered guest today," said one reviewer on Yelp who said she loved that the food is tax-free and the drinks are free. "Pixar hits the 3Cs: clean, contemporary, comfortable."
4. SAS Institute, Inc.
The North Carolina company calls their cafeteria the Marketplace, which is divided into different sections like the salad bar, soup area, grill station and oven station. But there's also a Chef's table and the office has its own Starbucks shop.
5. Facebook.
Breanne Butler is the chef running the kitchen at Mark Zuckerberg's empire. The meals are themed and the theme must not be repeated, which the chef finds as a challenge. "It's always a little tricky in terms of ordering," said Butler. "It's not like there's a family meal [to use up excess ingredients]. You're not running a business lunch special all week that lets you stock up on things."
Jello eyeballs and intestines! #happyhalloween
A photo posted by By Breanne (@bybreanne) on Oct 31, 2015 at 6:04am PDT
