IBM had cafeterias, but they were not free, and they served standard "cafeteria food" that you might find at a hospital or school of the era. When I was at IBM in the early 2000's, the vast majority of people either brought lunch from home or went out (despite there being nothing within walking distance -- you had to drive 5 or 10 minutes to the nearest options).
As far as I know, Google was one of the first to offer food that was tasty enough, healthy enough, and cheap enough (free!) that nearly everyone ate at the company cafes on a daily basis.