United Kingdom: Prosperous Entertaining - Part 1
From ExecutivePlanet.com
Entertaining for business success
The guiding principle must always be St Ambrose’s dictum, ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do’, i.e. follow the lead of your hosts.
There was a time when managers would frequently go out for an often boozy lunch. Now he or she is more likely to eat more modestly in the staff canteen or to send out for a sandwich and mineral water to be consumed at his or her desk (quite possibly in the middle of the afternoon). If that is your British counterpart’s regular working practice, then you should follow suit.
However, although there is a greater likelihood that you will be invited to a dinner party at a private home in the UK than in any other European country and whilst it is inadvisable to discuss serious business in public, most business entertaining is still done in restaurants, pubs and smarter cafes.
These remarks, therefore, are a guide to going out.
The best time for a serious and productive business meal is lunch. Breakfast meetings are not popular (even in London). After-hours drinks or a light supper afford the opportunity for informal soundings and gossip but are not really appropriate for earnest discussion. Dinner tends to be reserved for more sociable or celebratory entertaining when spouses are quite likely to be invited and talking shop is mostly off the menu.
Lunch is generally taken between noon and 2:00 p.m. and dinner between 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. in most restaurants. Cafés, some pubs and cheaper restaurants may serve food all day. Obviously, you will find greater flexibility and greater variety in the more cosmopolitan areas but you should be warned that it can be difficult to eat at all much later than 9:00 p.m. in the provinces and/or that your choice will be very restricted.
(‘High tea’, by the way, is actually a substitute for dinner taken between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.; it consists of a savoury hot dish plus finger sandwiches, scones and cakes. Nowadays it is rarely served outside the grander hotels, country houses and Oxbridge common rooms.)
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