Google (UK)

Ooh. Neato. Got a token man invite to attend a London Girl Geek Dinner here.

http://londongirlgeekdinners.co.uk/

My first time at Google HQ, I was impressed to see (and taste) that the cafeteria lived up to the legends. I ate well and was just a wee bit jealous that employees here get to eat halfway decent food for free. Oh, I saw a rainbow just outside the massive windows in the dining area. Aside from that, it's just an albeit nice and well designed place to work without much more character to distinguish it from any other office space.

The LGGD was a lot of fun. It was their 5th anniversary. Everybody I chatted with was friendly with an interesting perspective - they were, of course, all a bit geeky too.

Yes we all know it's a search engine, but did we all know it seems to treat it's staff like kings and queens? No... well I did not!

So they have breakfast, all the breakfasts, lunch with too many options including a cupcake stand, roast joints, sushi bar, enough snacks to rival 3 corner stores combined...

This should be a company full of fatties, but it seems they employ the ones with smarts and self control here!

One other area worth mentioning is the deck chairs, stripy friendly chairs under a sunroof, I guess when you're tired of BBQing at lunch you can move down there.

Fairly decent search engine. Try it!

Excellent!!! ^ They have said it all!

I must begin with the open and honest approach by saying if you’re looking for a review of the entire company, you should probably not read on. Because as soon as I reached the cafeteria, I forgot all else and was like a little girl again, running through a field of flowers. Now you might think this sounds a little cheap of me - because I would not be gushing so if every SINGLE thing here wasn’t free - and you would be very right. But as Rob already mentioned, it’s not your bog standard two options kind of menu - you can eat a completely different type of meal each day for a week - sushi one day, quiche and salads another. They have a fridge stacked with different types of health drinks - and even an orange juice squeezer you can turn on and watch the oranges turn about while your little glass gets filled. They’ve got a freezer with icecreams and a counter with sweets and chocolates. The only way to control my jealousy is to ration that I would turn into a big ball with little legs if I worked here. But what a happy ball I would be :)

Best. Cafeteria. Ever.

For a start everything is free. I’ll say that again just in case some people didn’t get it: everything is free.

And don’t go thinking this is your bog standard 'chicken or fish’ kind of deal. When I visited I had a hard time choosing between the venison sausages and the peri peri chicken and the kangaroo burger (yes, really) and that was before I even got to the sushi selection.

Then there’s the cakes and the cheese and the snacks, and the drinks and the sweets…and the roof terrace. And did I mention the free wi-fi?

i might just take my sleeping bag along next time and start getting my post delivered there.

If you are a large business, or an agency with a large account, you’ll probably visit Google’s UK Sales Office. Hosted in a shared office building, opposite Victoria Station. Corridors stuffed with geeks tuning radio controlled helicopters (or whatever the latest fad is), shirtsleeved execs preparing and presenting in the numerous meeting spaces and catering staff replenishing the kitchens in each area with fresh fruit and tasty stuff.

Google itself? What can one say in a paragraph about one of the strangest businesses on the planet. It ran for years on VC funds until discovering the cashpot of internet advertising, using smarter auction systems and larger visitor volumes than any other SE around. Still the most interesting advertising system, allowing bizarre exercises in fast market research, as well as advertising.

Personally, I think the marketing feedback that you get in hours from Google is worth more than the actual advertising system to many businesses. Want to know which messages you should be considering for a mailshot? Forget the days of arguing and digging through demographics and other research. Put a selection of adverts together and test response and conversion rates. Now. Today. Not next week.