We had the good fortune to meet Shannon Madison a member of the AIWF northern California board and a Google engineer. She invited our colleague Tony Garcia to bring a group of us to see the extraordinary Google dining system on their sprawling Mountain View campus in California. (Our ICC campus is in a neighboring town). Let me say Google sets the ultimate benchmark for cafeteria service. They are smart, eco-friendly, diverse and most importantly delicious. Really delicious. I had one of the best sauteed swiss chard dishes I’ve ever had along with an antipasto tossed salad that was perfectly seasoned.
Perhaps you’re thinking, “well, rich company, easy job”. Logistics however, make it less than easy. Google serves over 10,000 meals three times a day. They have 27 full-on cafeterias, each with a different food profile. Some are Latin American, some health food oriented, some good old American hamburger centric. The food is sourced impeccably: 60% of it is farm to table and 30% of that is bought directly from local farms. They buy their fish directly from boats at Half Moon Bay or in futures from Alaskan fisherman. They smoke their own salmon.
The chefs themselves -there are 7 executive chefs- come from pedigreed backgrounds (the kitchen of Gary Danko for example) and their enthusiasm for what they do is infectious.Talk about a diverse clientele? From Barack Obama to Lady GaGa. Whoa!
Touring the Google campus
And then the campus itself is dotted with bicycles and clean cars. It took hours to visit just a few of their cafeterias. There are also 165 minor kitchens stocking snacks. They take their coffee seriously too. They stock at least three or more different boutique brands, including Bare Foot, Blue Bottle Coffee and Four Barrel Coffee. It is mandatory that all coffees have a roast date of less than one week. I wonder if you can google the cumulative caffeine factor that goes into each search?
That sunny day, the fresh California air, the youthful exuberance all round the Google campus… no wonder they get 1,000 applicants per job opening.