When dining out for business, keep manners in mind
Friday, August 31, 2012
Business lunches and dinners can be a treat during the workday, but professionals should pay attention to both etiquette and social cues while dining out with business clientele and acquaintances.
According to Etiquette Scholar, the individual who makes the invitation should pay the tab. The invitor should schedule the meal as far in advance as is pertinent; usually, at least a week prior to the meal.
It's a good idea for business professionals to eat at a familiar restaurant. This will avoid any unnecessary discomfort or unwelcome surprises from the service or cuisine. The invitor, as the host, should be the one to travel the longest distance, so that the guest doesn't need to make a lengthy trip from his or her office, hotel or corporate lodging.
For international business travelers, greater care should be taken to ensure that dining guests are comfortable.
"While it may be acceptable in the more relaxed cultures of the United States and Australia to cut up food into bite sized pieces with the fork and knife, switch the fork back to the dominant hand and spear the food with it, this would spell social death at the more formal tables of Britain, France and Germany," e-Travel Blackboard reported.
International business travelers should exercise the utmost caution when dining for business, taking care never to hurry the meal, eat or drink in excess, or make the guest uncomfortable in any way.