[jppittma]

Seems to be what Larry and Sergey called penny wise and pound foolish. A few points in favor of the "lazy cafe."

1. Free food costs the company less to provide in bulk than it does for individual employees to acquire on the open market. The benefit to the employee is higher than the cost to the employer. The employee values this perk in their comp package against what it would cost him to acquire it if it weren't provided.

2. The marginal value of an employee's time is nonlinear and asymmetric. My weekly hours 0-40 are less valuable to me than hours 120-160, and the inverse is true for the company - my weekly hours 0-40 are more valuable to them than hours 120-160. The lazy cafe is again getting more value for its money than the sweat shop.

3. Hiring two people to work 40 hours/week instead of 1 person to work 80 reduces the labor supply for your competitors.

4. Hiring people so you can extract as much value as possible for them gets your a bad reputation and a company full for rubes.