

Inside the Cafe at Facebook Headquarters - jakarta
http://www.foodgal.com/2009/08/inside-the-cafe-at-facebook-headquarters/

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codyrobbins
Am I the only one who thinks it's absolutely crazy that they have a kitchen
staff of 50 people for only 800 employees? That means 1 for every 16 other
employees. I actually completely agree with a lot of the other posters who are
saying how important good food is to productivity, and 50 employees to produce
the kind of food they're producing doesn't sound unreasonable. But given all
that, thinking of the overhead and expense involved, that number still just
strikes me as an incredibly massive proportion of their staff being devoted to
foodservice.

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byoung2
I'm with you there! If the hackers who work there are anything like me, a
fridge full of Mountain Dew and a cupboard full of Pop-Tarts would achieve the
same effect. If I wanted to provide something more nutritious, given my
penchant for outsourcing, I would lean toward hiring a catering company.

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brunoc
When you hit 30 you may discover that Pop Tarts are too sweet and Mountain Dew
gives you heartburn. :D

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byoung2
When I read this comment, I had just eaten a Pop tart (no Dew though). I'll
let you know in 6 months when I turn 30 how it feels then!

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johnrob
That's the difference between ramen profitable and gourmand profitable!

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lucifer
Facebook is "profitable"?

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johnrob
I thought it was common knowledge that they were expecting a profit this year,
on revenue in the hundreds of millions. I could be wrong though.

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mikeryan
They've got goals to get cash flow positive in 2010.

But they've been running on credit for a long time now. It will still take a
long while before they pay off that debt.

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jkincaid
"Friday afternoons feature a happy hour with _real_ wine and beer."

I hear MySpace only has the fake stuff.

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TriinT
Is there non-real wine? What do they call it? _Imaginary_ wine? As an
European, I really don't understand the joke...

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dimarco
Grape juice

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TriinT
Grape juice is to wine what wine is to vinegar...

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ivankirigin
Food isn't the most important part of a work environment, but it really is
quite good.

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planck
For all that food, I didn't see anything that I would be excited about eating.
Where's the pizza/pasta/sandwiches/food for real (hungry) people?

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cpach
»There is always one vegetarian entree, and a choice of two different pizzas.«

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jonknee
Imagine how nice the perks will be after Facebook makes their first $1 in
profit!

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erlanger
I hope that if I ever have a company this well-funded, my idea is exciting
enough that I won't have to lure high-profile talent like this. Because stuff
like this is probably not going to help a company get in the black. I know,
this is a very utilitarian way of looking at things...food is very important!
But regardless, I'd rather replace the two top chefs with a designer and
developer. This sort of luxury can wait for when times are good.

~~~
edw519
I disagree.

Personally, no matter how much work I have to do, the single most difficult
thing I ever have to do is to get fed. Whether it's shopping, packing,
cooking, traveling to a restaurant, waiting in line, etc., etc., etc.,
_nothing_ is a bigger pain in the ass. And that's just for mediocre food, not
good stuff like this. If I had something like this, my productivity would
probably double. Multiply that by x employees and suddenly, these chefs are
the bargain of the century.

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derwiki
I completely agree with your point about having food around at the office. We
don't have anything nearly as elaborate as the Facebook offices, just a snack
room with an Odwalla fridge, pretzels, chips, etc, and another fridge full of
lunch meat and other sandwich materials. And I agree that my productivity has
gone through the roof because of easy access to food -- when I'm hungry, I
just go and eat, and get back up to full potential.

That said, I agree with the original comment: this is not a good way to get
your company in the black. Maybe I have a terribly uneducated palette, but the
sandwiches I can make work for me. In fact, I've never heard anyone at work
complain "I wish we had a cafeteria with a sous chef." Maybe that's because
we're in downtown San Francisco, and there's a lot of stuff around. But seeing
as how we -all- go to Mehfil 3x a week, I don't think the variety is helping.

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edw519
The neighborhood I work in is just awful for lunch. About a dozen mediocre
restaurants (half are fast food) with thousands of "office park employees"
taking their lunch break at the same time. What used to be a pleasure is now
just a pain.

Also, once you learn to eat fresh and healthy, sometimes it's better to eat
nothing than Wendy's or shit like that. I shop 2 or 3 times per week and pack
breakfast and lunch everywhere I go. And I'm sick of it. Really sick of it.

AFAIC, a cafeteria or dining room with real food is more important than just
about anything else.

