Google, like many other companies in Silicon Valley, is cutting jobs and expenses due to financial uncertainty. While some may see this as a negative, the company is also making changes to its luxurious corporate cafeterias in order to reduce costs and minimize food waste.
In addition to offering smaller milk containers and cooking eggs on demand, Google is aiming to cut waste per employee in half and eliminate all food waste by 2025. As of 2022, the company had already diverted 85% of waste, but their chief sustainability officer recognizes that this is a difficult goal to achieve in such a short timeline.
With over 240,000 meals served daily in their 386 cafes, Google operates at a scale similar to a restaurant company, offering potential solutions for other foodservice companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint and expenses.
While there have been thousands of changes made to their operations, some have already been adopted by other companies, such as the just-in-time egg cooking process. Google also sources ingredients like ugly produce and donates surplus food, but must balance these efforts with maintaining employee satisfaction.
Though the company does not disclose the exact savings from these initiatives, experts agree that reducing food waste can have both environmental and financial benefits. However, some critics argue that without concrete data to back up their claims, Google must strive to achieve more significant results in order to be a leader in sustainability efforts.