[ChuckMcM]

I tend to agree with this perspective but I don't think anyone has managed to actually create an experiment to study it. (perhaps if two startups in the same space had diametrically opposed benefits you could use their market share or productivity as a comparison metric).

There is also something tribal/instinctual about sharing food. Buying lunch two or three times a week for the team will bond them better paying them cash. And a well bonded team is a higher performance team. That you can measure with your sprint planning. The downside is that it is disproportionately impactful when you take food away. When Crawford Beverage (HR VP at Sun) discontinued the company beer bash (and it was just popcorn, chips, maybe some vegetables with ranch dressing and beer, not even a lot of food) it permanently scarred morale.