Supervisors move to ban workplace cafeterias

SF Examiner ^ | 7/24/18 | Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez

[MissTed]

New city tech workers dreaming of dining in workplace cafeterias may soon face a harsh reality — going outside.

Two city legislators on Tuesday are expected to announce legislation banning on-site workplace cafeterias in an effort to promote and support local restaurants.

The measure, proposed by Supervisor Ahsha Safai and co-sponsored by Supervisor Aaron Peskin, would adjust zoning laws to ban workplace cafeterias moving forward, but would not be retroactive.

Peskin said the measure, was inspired by tech companies like Twitter and Airbnb, which are widely known to have access to dining in their own buildings, depriving nearby restaurants of the dollars usually spent by nearby workers. The measure has the support of Gwyneth Borden, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association and other local merchants.

Under the legislation which is expected to be introduced Tuesday, “you can’t have an industrial kitchen in your office building,” Peskin said.

Peskin said the legislation sought to avoid the “Amazon effect that impacts retail and restaurants across the county,” he said. “This is forward thinking legislation.”

[Political Junkie Too]

Just think about all that lost productivity as people who used to go to the company cafeteria and bring lunch back to their desks now have to travel off-site, park, dine in a busy restaurant, and then drive back to work.

And what about people who use mass-transit to go to work? Without a personal car, their options for lunch are severely reduced (perhaps on the peninsula rather than in SF proper).

A 30-minute internal take-out now becomes a 90-minute excursion into the wilds of San Francisco.

-PJ

[Oatka]

I bring mine, dine in my office, and tune out for a bit.

First day on my new job and I eat my brown-bagged lunch at the cafeteria with the guys. Half way through, a user (I was a programmer) comes over and starts discussing the project I am doing for him. I tell him I'll get back to him after lunch and later got some crappola from my boss for "not working with people".

I drove a camper then, so at lunch time I just repaired there and ate in peace and silence. The rest of 'em thought I was anti-social.

[Distantly related]: A young guy I worked with came by one time, all agog that he was invited to a "Power Lunch" where they would discuss some outstanding problems. I told him that the company was "letting" him work through his lunch hour. Deer in headlights.

[Chode]

only effects new companies = unequal protection under the law

[VastRWCon]

Funny thing is to this day I am still designing software on a system i (AS400) LOL life long career.