TL;DR: If you don't build walkable spaces, don't be surprised if people sequester themselves.
I take issue with this characterization: "Silicon Valley wasn’t given a choice; tech businesses were born there". Silicon Valley cities embraced the office park model of development. Office buildings in Silicon Valley are spread out, surrounded by parking spaces and manicured lawns, because its what cities require. They required this because they thought it was better than what they saw in dense, grimy San Francisco.
I've worked at 5 or 6 different places in South Bay. Having to get into your car, drive a few miles to a lunch spot, and drive back takes a ridiculous amount of time if you do it every day. And that's just for a drive-thru. Actually sitting down some place? You only did that occasionally, when it was okay for everybody in your group to be out of the office for 2+ hours.
In the Financial District of SF there are more places to eat in a 1 block radius than in a 3 mile radius in most places in Silicon Valley. (And it's not a stretch to say that about most neighborhoods in SF, especially in the NE quadrant.) If workers prefer cafeteria food in neighborhoods like Tenderloin or Civic Center, the solution isn't to ban cafeterias, it's to clean up the neighborhood.
I take issue with this characterization: "Silicon Valley wasn’t given a choice; tech businesses were born there". Silicon Valley cities embraced the office park model of development. Office buildings in Silicon Valley are spread out, surrounded by parking spaces and manicured lawns, because its what cities require. They required this because they thought it was better than what they saw in dense, grimy San Francisco.
I've worked at 5 or 6 different places in South Bay. Having to get into your car, drive a few miles to a lunch spot, and drive back takes a ridiculous amount of time if you do it every day. And that's just for a drive-thru. Actually sitting down some place? You only did that occasionally, when it was okay for everybody in your group to be out of the office for 2+ hours.
In the Financial District of SF there are more places to eat in a 1 block radius than in a 3 mile radius in most places in Silicon Valley. (And it's not a stretch to say that about most neighborhoods in SF, especially in the NE quadrant.) If workers prefer cafeteria food in neighborhoods like Tenderloin or Civic Center, the solution isn't to ban cafeterias, it's to clean up the neighborhood.