But one of its most distinct offerings is much simpler: A stand for distributing free bananas. On Thursday, during the ribbon-cutting for Metropolitan Park, the first phase of the new Virginia headquarters, the bananas were free to Amazon employees and visitors, including Virginia Gov. The idea came from Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos, who wanted to offer a free snack that was healthy and didn't come heavily packaged, Amazon told Insider. Bananas have another advantage, Amazon told Insider: You don't need to wash them before taking a bite. A banana stand also popped up temporarily at Washington DC's Union Station in 2017 as the company was facing increasing criticism from Congress, according to the New York Times.

---

Persons: Amazon's, Jeff Bezos, —, Glenn Youngkin Organizations: Service, Metropolitan Park, Virginia Gov, Amazon, Amazon's HQ2, Metropolitan, Washington City Business, ., Washington DC's, New York Times, Business Locations: Arlington , Virginia, Virginia, Arlington, New York City, Seattle, Bellevue, Nashville, Tokyo, Washington, DC's NoMa