I agree with you - but there are two advantages to giving perks like food:

No transaction costs. Not just the actual monetary cost of the transaction, but no need to employ people to man registers, no need to wait in line to pay. And more subtly, no need to argue with yourself about whether it's worth it to buy the item you are consuming.

Secondly, these perks are bought in bulk and provided without having to pay income tax on them. So it's just cheaper than paying people more and having them buy the goods.

That being said, I do wish there were more healthy options by default.