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Apple Building New Cafeteria in Cupertino to Enhance Security for Satellite Campus Workers
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You can see the number of Apple employees at the company profile on finance sites like finance.yahoo.com.
If you calculate revenue per employee and compare it with that of their competitors, you will find that Apple employees are very productive vis-a-vis their competitors. Note that a large percentage of Apple employees are in retail sales. The engineering staff is actually quite small for a high-tech company of their size.
Note that Apple's food service outlets are partially subsidized by company and aren't 100% free like Google's. Apple employees still need to shell out some money. This is pretty typical for Silicon Valley companies, whether you're at Facebook, Yahoo, HP, Oracle, Cisco, Adobe, etc.
The main point here is that while Apple has similar food service facilities scattered throughout their various Cupertino campuses, they really need another secure cafeteria for the folks on the west side of De Anza Boulevard because of the large concentration of Apple office buildings in that area (I think the gym is somewhere around there).
Otherwise, people end up driving to SK Noodle, Bombay Oven, Panda Express, whatever and none of those places are suitable for company confidential discussions like a secure company cafeteria (like at 1 Infinite Loop). So people end up casually/socially chatting rather than discussing work.
The same with the article's comment about another facility being created at Results Way. Right now, a lot of Bubb Road Apple employees are walking along the old Southern Pacific railroad tracks to Gumba's, iSushi (yes, really), Vivi's, etc.
You don't want your creative people to be too productive. The more productive a person is, the less out of the box a person is. There are times you want your people putting in 12 hours per day and seven per week. Other times, you want them to be sitting around talking about the next big idea.
Well they can certainly afford to build the cafeteria with all those billions in earnings. It seems like an expensive solution to the security problem.
Couldn't they just put in in the employee agreement that you can't divulge Apple secrets? Works great as an employee perk though. If you have a friend working at Apple, can they invite you to lunch there? If so, Macrumors.com has a job offer for you.
They WANT their people talking about these projects. Sitting around a table, talking about current and future roadblocks is the best way to bang out new ideas. You just don't want them talking in public.
My best work has always been done at IHOP with a laptop, a notepad and several friends. Perhaps Apple should turn themselves into one giant IHOP.
Most replies show a lack of understanding about what a cafeteria can be for people working in a company in need to solve difficult problems in creative ways. A relaxed environment is excellent to discuss new ideas and stimulate creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. I'm sure at Apple this is of fundamental importance.
I'm a software developer. In my work if someone offers me a coffe, it actually means he has some tricky software development issue he wants to discuss. In our cafeteria there's coffe, there are cookies, and there is a nice whiteboard always choking full of notes and diagrams.
Of course, you can abuse a cafeteria just like you can abuse your office and slack off instead of being productive, but I doubt a company like Apple tolerates low quality employees for long.
I'm a software developer. In my work if someone offers me a coffe, it actually means he has some tricky software development issue he wants to discuss. In our cafeteria there's coffe, there are cookies, and there is a nice whiteboard always choking full of notes and diagrams.
Of course, you can abuse a cafeteria just like you can abuse your office and slack off instead of being productive, but I doubt a company like Apple tolerates low quality employees for long.
But Apple employees are severely restricted in what they can say even to other employees who aren't on the same project as them, so they still won't be able to talk about their projects openly over lunch. Unless the place is full of soundproofed booths.
noob. it'll be called iEat obviously.
They should just rename the city to Apple, CA. Give them the ability to create an entire Apple City as they see fit; complete with Siri enabled buses/shuttles and restaurants with Genius menus.
Apart from some solar panels, conventional commercial power from PG&E. There's no mention since there's nothing significant to mention.
It's not like they can build a wind power farm in the parking lot of Target.
And Stevens Canyon Reservoir does not have a hydroelectric dam.
Well they can certainly afford to build the cafeteria with all those billions in earnings. It seems like an expensive solution to the security problem.
Couldn't they just put in in the employee agreement that you can't divulge Apple secrets? Works great as an employee perk though. If you have a friend working at Apple, can they invite you to lunch there? If so, Macrumors.com has a job offer for you.
I'm not sure we should take that realestate director guy too seriously.
Companies build cafeterias for their employees all the time for and not primarily for sercurity reasons. That could be a cherry on top of the sundea, but is probably far from the only thing factoring in:
cafeterias help keep employees on task -- they are quick and easy to get to and can be made to run efficiently so that employees spend less time getting to and eating lunch. Also, company cafeterias tend to become extentions of the workplace, so that lunches become informal or even formal meetings.
companies in the US like Apple pay for their employees health insurance. They get better rates if employees are healthy. Also healty employees miss less work, can work longer hours and focus more when at work. A cefeteria gives a company a chance to infulence employee health.
Your criticism doesn't consider a lot of things.
1) They were and are growing, so from the initial building availability they are now probably de-centralized too much.
2) They are trying to bring it all under one roof with the space ship building (as many people as possible)
3) Their secrecy has served them well and they know why they do what they do. Why alert competitors what is next?
Who are you to even question why they do what?
Where is the company you built and I am sure you want everybody to hear everything you do?
Why knock the employees?
Geez!
Another Apple employee leaves the prototype at lunch, luckily it is still on campus.
I can see this happening, very smart. add healthy delicious meals and people enjoy work more.
When i was out in PaloAlto a few months back I overheard some guys discussing some client's job, development, etc. and not that i really knew what they were talking about i overhead stuff and suppose that type of thing can easily happen.
The next day I went to a company cafeteria near my company's location and they had really good food that was a nominal price.
I can see this happening, very smart. add healthy delicious meals and people enjoy work more.
When i was out in PaloAlto a few months back I overheard some guys discussing some client's job, development, etc. and not that i really knew what they were talking about i overhead stuff and suppose that type of thing can easily happen.
The next day I went to a company cafeteria near my company's location and they had really good food that was a nominal price.
The reaction from Greenpeace was swift. The group announced,
... mocking Apple, through a spokesperson, who suggested the employees can work in open pastures, sitting comfortably on grass without chairs to minimize the environmental impact. However, he was quick to add that the employees need to shift around frequently to avoid killing grass under their weight. He says "Apple offers so many mobile products. It should put more effort into using them, so that the employees are not chained to buildings that mar our environment."
... mocking Apple, through a spokesperson, who suggested the employees can work in open pastures, sitting comfortably on grass without chairs to minimize the environmental impact. However, he was quick to add that the employees need to shift around frequently to avoid killing grass under their weight. He says "Apple offers so many mobile products. It should put more effort into using them, so that the employees are not chained to buildings that mar our environment."
Apple started acquisitions for the spaceship campus in 2008 and if they are lucky it will be mostly done in 2015. One wonders if this cafeteria will be surrounded by spaceship overflow for decades to come?
Rocketman
Rocketman
Apple should have bought the Space Needle. With its rotating restaurant, it could have served the same functional plus it would have fitted in nicely with the overall spaceship campus theme.
