Apple Opened A Gorgeous - And Exclusive - New Cafeteria In Cupertino This Week

Apple's brand-new Caffè Macs finally opened this week, after more than two years in the making.

The new cafeteria is located at the corner of Bandley and Alves Drive in Cupertino, about half a mile from Apple's Infinite Loop complex. The new two-story building houses a cafe, meeting rooms, lounge areas, and a courtyard. There's also lots of underground parking, but employees could easily walk or take a company shuttle to get there for lunch.

The 21,468-square-foot project was approved by the city's Planning Commission in April 2012.

Though guests are allowed to visit the main cafeteria at the Infinite Loop campus, the new Caffè Macs at Alves is open to Apple employees exclusively. According to the Mercury News, most of the offices surrounding the new Caffè Macs are occupied by Apple.

"We like to provide a level of security so that people and employees can feel comfortable talking about their business, their research and whatever project they're engineering without fear of competition sort of overhearing their conversations," Dan Whisenhunt, Apple's director of real estate facilities, said at the 2012 approval meeting. "That is a real issue today in Cupertino because we've got other companies here in our same business."

Two years later, the completed building looks stunning.

The sleek look - with lots of glass, wood, and steel - is oddly reminiscent of an Apple store.

There's even a leafy garden for dining al fresco.

The food selection doesn't look too bad, either.

The new Caffe Macs also has a high-tech TopBrewer coffee system from Scanomat.