LinkedIn’s inCafe

inCafe Entrance

When I visited my grandson in Fremont this past August, the wife and I were fortunate enough to have lunch with my son, who works at LinkedIn in Mountain View, just across the San Francisco Bay.

I took pictures of their cafeteria, called “inCafe,” and had intended to run them in my restaurant blog, “A Place for My Taste.” However, after thinking hard about it, I decided not to run the pictures there, because inCafe isn’t a restaurant. It’s a private dining area for the employees of LinkedIn and it would not be appropriate to present it as a restaurant.

Start of the Lunch Crowd

LinkedIn is not a garage operation, not by a long shot. Situated across the street from Google, it occupies seven buildings and has more than 1,000 employees. They’re all fairly young. I saw hundreds of them in the cafeteria, and they all looked to be in the 30’s and 40’s. I mean, after all, the tech industry is fairly young and we old farts aren’t very adept at what they do.

inCafe is not a typical cafeteria. It’s like a buffet – specialty stations, healthful foodstuffs, a modern youthful dining area with colorful furnishings, a wide variety of foods, a game room. And the best part for its employees? It’s free of charge. Employees don’t have to pay for anything there.

Dining Room

Tempted as I was to do a multi-plate buffet experience, I decided not to. After all, this was a lunch as guest of a corporation. Instead, I had a salad plate and a few lunch items (gnocchi, pizza, spring rolls, pickles and roasted avocado).

Yum!

My pix:

Peppers and Veggies

Wok Station

Salads

Grille Station

Dessert Fig Bars

Tandoori Station

My Salad Plate

My Lunch Plate

So ... how can you eat there? Three ways: (1) Be invited by management, (2) Know a family member who works at LinkedIn, or (3) Get a job there.