I suspect it’s appearing that way in order to be in compliance with IRS rules to allow the food to be purchased with pre-tax dollars. The tighter they can associate it with work and convenience of the employer/in support of a company policy, the more likely they can get it to pass scrutiny.
However, if the program is designed to encourage me to come to the office, it’s dead on arrival. Giving me a discount of my marginal tax rate on prepared food doesn’t make for a cheaper lunch than what I can make at home. Restricting it to a 10-minute walk doesn’t give me more variety than I can arrange at home. In all cases, I’m better off WFH; this just makes the loss smaller (at substantial implementation complexity).
However, if the program is designed to encourage me to come to the office, it’s dead on arrival. Giving me a discount of my marginal tax rate on prepared food doesn’t make for a cheaper lunch than what I can make at home. Restricting it to a 10-minute walk doesn’t give me more variety than I can arrange at home. In all cases, I’m better off WFH; this just makes the loss smaller (at substantial implementation complexity).