Dinner Etiquette for Business Meals

July 14, 2008 5:18 pm Culture, Job Search, Networking

One natural development in our society from the increase in two-income families is that families are eating more meals on the go. This has contributed to strong decline in proper dining etiquette and table manners that used to be commonplace. Many colleges and universities have begun implementing dinner etiquette seminars and programs in order to better prepare their students to enter the demanding business world.

Many people might wonder why dinner etiquette skills are important in business and industry. Certainly, some industries have greater demand for these skills, but building better rapport with bosses, colleagues, and clients is always more possible if they appreciate the basic etiquette and manners you demonstrate.

The reality is that many business and organization meetings and decisions happen around a dinner table. Meetings with clients often include lunch or dinner. Bosses sometimes take their employees to lunch to discuss important issues. Coworkers sometimes use a meal outing as a way to build camaraderie. These job-based requirements have prompted many companies to use meal-centered interviews to see if they would be embarrassed to introduce the person to a client or partner.

There are too many detailed rules of dinner etiquette for us to explore them all here, so let us focus on a couple suggestions in sometimes overlooked areas that make a difference:

1) Don’t focus on the food – What does this mean? One thing to keep in mind in professional meal situations is that dinner etiquette is about making the other personal comfortable and you look professional. Be cautious about ordering your favorite food if it means getting spaghetti sauce on you or them, or having a thick sandwich that you can get your entire mouth around. Order something easy to eat and do not overdo it.

2) Your mom is not watching – When we are little kids, our parents often cut our meat into little tiny pieces before tending to their own meal. This is not the way of the proper etiquette eater. Meat, such as steak, chicken, or fish should be cut one piece at a time. In the US, we typically cut with our right hand and bring the bite to our mouth with the left. More formal European styles require switching the fork to the right hand after each cut.