Meta is changing who serves its meals in the Seattle area, and hundreds of cafeteria workers are paying the price. Lavish Roots, a Seattle-area catering firm that runs corporate cafés on tech campuses, has filed paperwork to lay off 263 employees after its relationship with Meta ended. The cuts hit staff who worked in Meta-leased offices across Seattle and the Eastside, with layoffs scheduled to begin Aug. 9. For many workers, that means losing steady on-site schedules at a company that had become part of the daily backdrop at Meta campuses.
Vendor split and WARN filing
As reported by the Puget Sound Business Journal, Lavish Roots filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification that lists 263 affected positions and confirms its relationship with Meta has ended. Employees who worked in Meta-leased offices are included in the notice, and the company identified Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond and Burien as locations that will feel the impact.
Who is affected
Burien-based Lavish Roots operates corporate dining programs for tech clients and has provided meals for Meta and Dropbox, according to the Kent Reporter. With a footprint that stretches across multiple campus kitchens, the layoffs touch both front-of-house service workers and back-of-house kitchen crews. Industry watchers say that kind of vendor shakeup tends to ripple through the broader local hospitality workforce, where steady corporate cafeteria shifts are prized.
Workers' concerns and past organizing
Workers in Meta campus cafeterias served by Lavish Roots have previously aired complaints about working conditions, including immigration-related fears that surfaced during organizing efforts. Some staff reported that management structures and subcontracting arrangements can leave low-wage workers feeling especially exposed. Reporting from Wired detailed those tensions during a union drive, highlighting how vendor relationships and contractor models can shape the power dynamics in these workplace kitchens.
What comes next
The Puget Sound Business Journal also reports that employees who staffed Meta-leased offices will transition to Meta's new on-site food provider, according to the filing, while others are included on the layoff list. Workers named in WARN notices are eligible for reemployment services and can find more information through the Washington Employment Security Department.
Those who lose hours or jobs will be watching closely to see whether the vendor change leads to rehiring or longer spells of unemployment. Local labor advocates say they plan to monitor how these contracting decisions affect wages and protections. For now, the split between Lavish Roots and Meta stands as another example of how a single shift by a big tech client can quickly cascade through smaller service firms and their employees in the Seattle region.
