Saturday, July 28, 2018

S-F To Consider Banning Free Lunch for Techies

Free food, that classic tech company perk, may soon be off the menu in San Francisco.

According to USAToday, two city supervisors have introduced legislation that would nix the installation of non-retail cafeterias in office buildings, a measure aimed at encouraging legions of workers to patronize often struggling neighborhood eateries.

If the proposal gains traction this fall, it would not retroactively affect San Francisco-based companies such as Twitter and Uber that already offer employees free chef-prepared chow.

Nor would the measure prevent future startups from setting up in-house kitchens, although they would have to charge employees for meals, which in turn may encourage them to sometimes spend that money with local merchants.

The new proposal is part of a growing pushback against some of the less popular byproducts of the technology juggernaut that has invaded the San Francisco Bay Area over the past decade.

The unpopular side effects include skyrocketing housing prices, fleets of giant commuter buses clogging city streets, and, most recently, an electric-scooter invasion that caused city officials to temporarily yank them off the streets.

While cafeterias at tech companies in sprawling suburban areas might make sense, that approach is incongruous with operating in an urban environment, says city supervisor Ahsha Safai, who co-sponsored the legislation with supervisor Aaron Peskin.

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