A growing number of Google vendors are losing their free lunch privileges and are instead faced with a grim selection of pre-packaged foods that they must pay for (GOOG, GOOGL)

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Google food

  • Google’s free-meal program has been taken away from some of its vendor workers who recently moved from the tech giant’s Silicon Valley campus to nearby office buildings set aside for vendors, Business Insider has learned.
  • “It’s really like working at a completely different company,” said one person who recently moved from one of Google’s Silicon Valley campuses to the San Jose offices.
  • Read Business Insider’s full story on the growing divide between Google employees and its vendor workforce, available exclusively to BI Prime subscribers.

There’s no more free lunch at Google — at least if you’re among some of the unlucky engineers who belong to the company’s vast workforce of contractors and vendors.

Google recently relocated a group of these so-called vendor workers from the tech giant’s sprawling Silicon Valley headquarters to a nearby facility in San Jose, California. Along with the change in location, the group of roughly 100 workers discovered that they could no longer enjoy the various free company restaurants that have become emblematic of the Google work experience.

Instead of the bountiful free meals, the workers had access to an office refrigerator stocked with a grim selection of prepackaged sandwiches and other items. A hot pocket costs $2.59.

The free Google meals represent a meaningful perk — along with extended vacation policies and world-class health insurance — that the company is increasingly reserving for its full-time employees.

For Google’s temporary, vendor, and contract workers, known internally as TVCs, who by some accounts represent more than half the company’s workforce, the changes are the latest sign that working for Google is not necessarily the perk-filled dream job it’s often portrayed to be.

“It’s really like working at a completely different company,” said one person who recently moved from one of Google’s Silicon Valley campuses to the San Jose offices.

Click here to read Business Insider Prime’s full story on the growing divide between Google employees and its vendor workforce.

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