Apple plans new off-site employee cafeteria

Apple has received approval from the Cupertino Planning Commission to build a new 21,468 square foot cafeteria exclusively for company employees several blocks away from the its Infinite Loop headquarters. The San Jose Mercury News reports that the cafeteria is being built, in part, to give employees working at Apple’s various office buildings in the area a place to freely talk business without the threat of eavesdropping from competitors. “We like to provide a level of security so that people and employees can feel comfortable talking about their business, their research and whatever project they’re engineering without fear of competition sort of overhearing their conversations,” Dan Whisenhunt, Apple’s director of real estate facilities, said at a meeting of the Commission. “That is a real issue today in Cupertino because we’ve got other companies here in our same business.” According to the report, the two-story cafeteria will have a cafe, meeting rooms, lounge areas, and courtyard space, as well as an underground garage.