‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. So said Reed Hastings, who announced his retirement as Netflix chief executive last week. The much quoted idea has been used repeatedly by management gurus to encourage organizations to spend as much time thinking about how things get done as what things to get done. I wonder what Reed would have made of another announcement coming out of the UK last week. Professor Susan Jebb, head of the Food Standards Agency, said “ being around cake in the office is equivalent to passive smoking” as she bemoaned workers' growing waistlines. The two ideas are, of course, related. Cake at the office is often seen as proof of a happy working culture - proof that managers preside over a caring, contended workforce who think about people’s birthdays, anniversaries and other important personal events. Colin the Caterpillar cake sales must have skyrocketed in the early nineties when I was responsible for sorting out our communal moments where I was working. So can food and drink build culture? Yes, but you must think carefully about how you do it, and what kind of culture you are trying to build.