Business Insider reported a notable shift inside major employers such as Microsoft, Meta, and Google. They are reducing and eliminating certain perks, while investing more heavily in their food program. This trend reflects a broader recalibration of workplace strategy in 2026.
Employers are under pressure to make in-person work meaningful, productive, and socially connective. Food has emerged as one of the most visible and controllable tools to accomplish that.
For Workplace Experience and People Ops leaders, this is a structural shift:
First, food has become infrastructure.
In many organizations, the lunch program is one of the most tangible expressions of culture. It reflects how much the company invests in daily experience. It influences how long employees stay in the building. It shapes informal collaboration. When thoughtfully designed, it reduces friction in the workday and reinforces a sense of care.
Second, expectations are rising.
As menus become more curated and environments more hospitality-driven, the program is judged on more than taste. Employees evaluate consistency, inclusivity, dietary flexibility, sustainability, and communication. Leaders evaluate cost predictability, participation, and operational reliability. A fragile program becomes more visible when food plays a central role in office life.
Third, measurement is becoming essential.
If food is positioned as a strategic lever for attendance, culture, and retention, it requires clear visibility. Participation trends, waste, satisfaction signals, and cross-office comparisons should inform decision making. As companies expand across headquarters and satellite offices, the need for standardized oversight increases.
This is what the investment trend says about work in 2026: Employers are concentrating spend on experiences that create shared presence rather than individual perks. They are prioritizing benefits that are collective and observable over those that are private and transactional. They are seeking structured moments of connection inside increasingly distributed organizations. And they recognize that culture is shaped in ordinary daily interactions, not only in offsites or all-hands meetings.
For Workplace Experience leaders, several questions follow.
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Is the food program clearly tied to an objective such as attendance, recruiting, or team cohesion?
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Is execution resilient enough to handle scale and variability without eroding trust?
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Is there sufficient visibility to defend the investment and refine it over time?
The current wave of upgraded lunch programs signals that food is being treated as a core component of the workplace system. The organizations increasing investment appear to understand that shared meals influence energy, collaboration, and identity in ways few other benefits can.
As the office continues to evolve, the quality and intentionality of the daily meal may increasingly reflect the quality and intentionality of the workplace itself.
If you would like to review how your current food program aligns with your broader workplace strategy, we welcome a conversation to assess performance, alignment, and opportunities for refinement.