Whoever says Amazon doesn’t give away free food clearly hasn’t visited the company’s campus this week.
Amazon has opened a “Community Banana Stand,” which is exactly what you would imagine. The stand is open every day between 8 a.m. and about 3:30 p.m., with free bananas available to anyone who walks by — employee or not.
The stand is staffed by “banistas” and even offers fun banana facts. Today, I learned that a banana is technically a berry. Who knew?
An Amazon spokesperson tells GeekWire the stand opened for the first time yesterday. As long as it’s popular, it will be a fixture of the company’s campus in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood.
“Bananas are a great healthy snack with built-in compostable packaging,” an Amazon spokesman said in a statement. “We hope the community likes it, and if they do, we’ll keep doing it.”
The banana stand is a pretty clear attempt to spread some good vibes around Seattle after what has been a rough few months for the e-commerce giant’s public image. The New York Times recently criticized the company’s culture in a widely read expose, alleging — among other things — that Amazon is stingy when it comes to giving employees free food.
I may not know what the buffet line looks like at company meetings, but I can say my first trip to the banana stand was everything I could have hoped for.
