The Dos and Don’ts of Dining Etiquette in Business
March 8, 2012If you have a business dinner coming up and you want to impress your boss or a potential client, you can avoid dining blunders–and ensure business success at the table–by following these dining etiquette tips.
The Dos
- Do eat something before you go to dine with a client or someone higher in rank in your organization so that you won’t appear too hungry.
- Do avoid talking with your mouth fill. Take small bites, and you’ll find it’s easier to answer questions or join in table talk.
- Do wait until you have swallowed the food in your mouth before you take a sip of your beverage.
- Do remember that with place settings, spoons and knives are on the right and forks are on the left. Solids (food) are always on your left and liquids (beverages) are on your right. An easy way to remember which plate or water glass is yours is to think B.M.W – From left to right it’s bread, meal, water (B.M.W.)
- Do leave your plate where it is when you have finished eating–with the knife and fork in the 10:20 I am finished position. Place the tips of the utensils at 10 o’clock and the handles at 4 o’clock.
- Do look into, not over, the cup or glass when drinking.
- Do butter bread on the plate, never in midair.
- Do remember your posture at the table. Sit up straight, and keep your arms (including elbows) off the table.
- Do leave dropped silver on the floor. Quietly signal the wait staff to bring another piece.
- Do remove an object such as a bone or gristle from your mouth with your thumb and index finger and place it on the rim of your plate.
The Don’ts
- Don’t, in serving, overload your plate.
- Don’t, in eating, overload the fork.
- Don’t mop your face with your napkin.
- Don’t saw the meat in a back and forth motion. Stroke it toward you.
- Don’t touch your face or head at the table.
- Don’t reach across the table or across another person to get something. If it’s out of reach, ask the closest person to pass it to you.
- Don’t pick your teeth at the table, either with a toothpick or with your fingers. If something gets caught in your teeth, excuse yourself and take care of the problem in the privacy of the restroom.
- Don’t push your plate away from you when you’ve finished eating.
- Don’t gesture with your knife, fork, or spoon in your hand. If you’re not using the utensil, put it down.
- Don’t eat your neighbor’s bread or salad. A right-handed person reaches to the left across the dinner plate to eat salad. The bread and butter plate is placed slightly above the salad plate. (Remember, solids [foods] on the left.)
Etiquette knowledge has always been a valuable business tool. Being able to handle yourself well at the dinner table is at least as important as your skills in a boardroom.
“They don’t teach etiquette anymore, but if you ever have to choose between Incredibly Advanced Accounting for Over Achievers and Re- medial Knife and Fork, head for the silverware.” Harvey MacKay
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15 Responses to The Dos and Don’ts of Dining Etiquette in Business
Thanks for these comprehensive tips. i’m having a diner with a public figure next tuesday and i was looking for any reference.
Thanks for dropping by the website and leaving your comments! Glad that these tips could help!
This shouldn;t even need to be said, but more and more I’m being faced with this disgusting dining habit from dining partners, other tabkles of diners and, yes, even some family members… Please go to the restroom to blow your nose! You can then wash up afterwards.
I never knew that it was bad manners to drink beverage if the person has not swallowed their food yet. My brother and I frequently do that, albeit in a subtle way because we do not want to distract anyone else. It was good that I saw this. We will be eating with a potential client next month, and I want to know our expected manners before we do. At least, now we can avoid this. Thanks!
Thanks for explaining that we should leave dropped silverware on the floor and quietly let someone know that we need a new one. I’ll be going out to a fine dining restaurant to have some cocktails with prospective business clients, so I want to be prepared to act with good manners. I’m glad I read your article because I can be clumsy sometimes, so the etiquette advice you shared will probably be relevant to me.
Thanks for explaining that we can place our knife and fork in the 10:20 position as a way to notify that we’re finished eating. I want to find a nice Italian restaurant that I can take some prospective clients to, and I want to make sure my behavior is professional throughout the dinner. I’m glad I read your article because reading your advice helped me feel more prepared and less anxious about going out to the restaurant!
I am glad the article was able to provide you with some dining tips for your client dinner. I hope your dinner was a success Daphne.
You made a great point about leaving dropped silver on the floor and calling for help with it. My husband and I are looking for a burger restaurant that we can eat at during our vacation, so we are also looking for etiquette tips. We will keep these tips in mind as we search for a professional that can help us best.
Business etiquette’s define the kind of business person you are to the stranger. So, you should be very particular about them. Here is a great list of dos and don’ts and I agree with all of the points. I must say keep sharing such to the point article Margaret.
Thank you Elana. I also like to say that etiquette doesn’t exist just to make the person practicing it look sophisticated; it’s a system of protocols designed to make other people comfortable.
Thank you Elena!
Thanks for the tip to make sure we don’t overload our fork or plate while eating. I’m looking for a local Thai restaurant where I could take a potential client for a business dinner when they’re in town this weekend. I’m glad I read your article so I can practice good etiquette and make sure I present myself well at the dinner!
Thanks for your comment, Rebecca. I hope your business meeting went well!
I never knew that it is only common etiquette that I should swallow my food first before drinking my beverage. I’ve always been a lousy and messy eater and I’m afraid that I should change my ways now that I’m getting older. It would probably be better to take note of your tips just in case I get invited to a fine dining restaurant.
Thanks for your comment Zoe. I am glad my dining etiquette tips are of value!