San Francisco tech companies will not see a ban on their beloved all-you-can-eat cafeterias anytime soon.

After more than a year of negotiations and amendments, Supervisor Ahsha Safaí decided to stand down on his legislation that would have made it harder for new offices to open food halls that serve their employees exclusively, free or at low cost. Instead, he sent the legislation back to committee — just as the Board of Supervisors was finally going to vote on it Tuesday.

His reason? Unite Here Local 2, the labor union that represents cafeteria workers at some tech companies, is negotiating an agreement with other tech firms that would unionize their workers. Safaí said he was willing to back off the rest of the legislation because he felt the negotiations were a “significant stride” in workers’ rights.

“This opens up representation for thousands of employees,” he said. “This is about getting, creating and sustaining good-paying jobs where people can live on one salary and can have stability and security for their families.”

The negotiations are still ongoing. Unite Here Local 2 confirmed that it is “in discussions with various tech companies and their food service distributors.”

“While we don’t discuss the details of ongoing negotiations, we’re confident that there’s a clear path to make one job enough for tech cafeteria workers,” Anand Singh, President of Unite Here Local 2, said in a statement.

In the meantime, Safaí said he will “wait and see how negotiations finalize” before making the ultimate decision on whether to kill the legislation.

While Safaí said he was proud of the ongoing negotiations, they do little to address the original intent of his legislation: to help local businesses and retailers by compelling well-paid employees to leave the office for food.

The proposal, co-sponsored by Supervisor Aaron Peskin, started as an outright ban on employee cafeterias last year. The idea was to add more foot traffic to the streets during lunchtime and encourage local entities to open up — and stay — in San Francisco.

But after intense backlash, the proposal was significantly watered down. The latest version of the legislation said the city could decide whether companies can open cafeterias on a case-by-case basis.

Now, unless the negotiations fall through, the companies may continue with the attractive work-place perk.

“I could not have predicted that this is where we would have ended when we introduced it,” Safaí said. “But I have to say we are happy about where it ended up.”

— Trisha Thadani

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani