I think part of the issue in a lot of these circumstances is irresponsible spending to start out with. If the people in charge are spending exorbitant amounts o

I think part of the issue in a lot of these circumstances is irresponsible spending to start out with. If the people in charge are spending exorbitant amounts of money on snacks to begin with, that's partially a nice perk, but it's also short-sighted: Benefits are important, but setting expectations is, too. I've worked in startups that made this mistake, and once you've been down that road a few times, you can tell when people didn't think enough before they started placing those early food and drink orders. There's a line to walk between nice perks unmaintainable/excessive spending. Of course, if you do decide you've gone too far, the article's scenario can play out, whether it's coincidental or whether the cut actually is because of financial problems (in which case it's unlikely the snacks broke the company, but they certainly don't help in that regard, and they do make it that much harder to effectively manage budget cuts without incurring even more employee ire and attrition than absolutely necessary).