If you work in a tech company, you'll quickly realize that the food is something everyone focuses on to a disproportionate degree. This guy knows what he is talking about.
Personally, I'd rather earn an extra $25k and buy a few cups of coffee with it than get "free coffee".
I don't think there are any companies that spend $25k per employee per year on coffee???
When you look at the cost of coffee or soda, providing it free may cost the company in the ballpark of $500 a year per employee (though often less) which is minuscule in the total annual cost of an employee. Taken in a vacuum however, the number looks big. We spent how much on Coffee last quarter! When companies get to the mostly investor owned squeezing for growth stage, it's almost always among the first thing that gets cut. This is then usually followed by other more important quality of life cuts like training, equipment, and bonuses. Many companies hit this stage and start increasing margins by letting inflation eat their employee's high salaries over time for instance.
https://steveblank.com/2009/12/21/the-elves-leave-middle-ear...
Paying for perks is a great way to avoid paying a higher salary.
That deal is not on the table, though. For practical purposes, there are few places that someone can work that pay better than Google for a given dev, and those places all probably have free coffee as well.