Business dining dos/don'ts
 

Please share your guidelines for dining with customers, clients or colleagues.

How to choose types of restaurants? How much drinking is OK? Do you match the client course for course, drink for drink?

In what cases would you split the bill? How many offers to pay or split before you agree?

With clients/prospects
Drinking- Do NOT get drunk.
Food- Do not order the most expensive item on the menu and in the converse, do not order the cheapest item on the menu.
As I am typically dining with prospects/clients, I pick up the tab. The client value would determine the cost of the restaurant. (i.e. clients or prospects with a potential value of a few hundred thousand in profit or more would end up in a high end restaurant. Conversely, a client/prospect who would be valued in the sub 10k profit range would find an appropriate casual restaurant (sub 100 meal for 2-4).


With colleagues:
Drinking- Don't drink excessively.
Food- Order what you want. However, do not order the most expensive item on the menu- especially when dining with the boss. However, this rule goes out the window when dining at a cheap joint (i.e. fast food)
Typically the most senior person picks up the tab.

Please keep in mind the occasion and reasoning for the meeting. That would ultimately provide the largest guideline on how much to spend. I've had a single dinner meeting expensed with a client (2 persons), my CEO, COO, and myself that cost just under $7,000 (meal, wine, and gratuity included). However, this client was responsible for almost 30% of the company profits (close to 2MM). The CFO didn't even bat an eye at my expense sheet.

Can you name the restaurant and what % the wine was ?

I would add to make sure you remember some of the eating basics. That includes:

Not chewing with your mouth open.
Using the right silverware (work from the outside in).
Proper use of fork and knife.

people notice thse things. Actually, they notice significant deviations from the basics.

People surely do. There's nothing worse seeing someone attacking a piece of steak with a fork held by fist & center like a dagger, sawing the meat with a knife and in between bites, draping the silverware off the sides of the plate like a pair of droopy wings. Ugh.

That must have been a wonderful dinner, Sweet Willie, particularly considering the outcome. Congratulations!

Portions of the post that previously appeared in this space has been deleted. I would provide you with a reason why, but doing so would likely be against the TOS.

Some things that pop into mind (not necessarily just for business, but good etiquette in general)

-Immediately put the cloth napkin on your lap when you sit down
-For business meals- food is never the most important thing. It's always secondary to the client
-Using the correct silverware for the situation (salad fork v. entree fork)
-Don't make stupid comments about the $5K bottle of wine on the wine list (happened at a dinner once). Comments like that make you sound uneducated and unrefined.

Your customer orders before you do. Women order before men.

If you are a fast eater, slow it down and finish at the same time as the customer. It may be awkward for them to sit and finish their meal feeling they are being watched.

Don't take leftovers, ever.

a few more tips:
Bread plate is on the left, your wine glass is on the right.
never split the bill with a prospect or client.

Why? I do it all the time. Seems wasteful to just throw the food away. I am not going to take food off someone else's plate to take home but so much of the time I am served huge portions and couldn't possibly eat it all. I won't do it on a sales call, but when taking out my client team members they never seem to mind. My clients just get excited that they are getting a free nice dinner. They know that I am expensing the dinner. Maybe it depends on the industry you work in.

I pretty much take cues from the client. If he drinks heavily, I do as well. If he orders water, I do as well.

Again, you control cost by selecting the type of restaurant...be prepared for some clients to order from the top of the menu even if many people consider this tacky.

If I am the one being invited, I do everything in moderation, and the host usually follows suit.

Usually it is pretty clear who is paying before the event.

Don't eat anything messy such as ribs or chicken. Anything that you might need to touch with your hands for aid. Very bad impression waiting to happen there.

I usually let the client pick out a bottle of wine. Ran into a situation where we ended up with a $600 bottle and he bought 3 $65 glasses of scotch as well. Certainly more than I was prepared to spend! This was however the exception, rather than the norm.

Don't play footsies with your client's wife unless (1) she initiates, and (2) the tablecloth is very long :D