Well, thats the conventional wisdom, but there are some compelling reasons why certain employers can benefit from providing lunch for employees. Take a look at this post on the I Need a Job Blog. There is another idea in this vein, albeit more defensive. Employers with a large hourly workforce don't necessarily need to provide lunch, but by paying employees for their half hour lunch break, they can avoid wage hour claims for not providing the uninterrupted time off, and prevent the nit-picking overtime claims for employees working a bit beyond their scheduled 40 hours.