When you travel, it feels as if there are two worlds: your home and the rest of the world. When you step into a restaurant, this feeling is echoed, and it changes based on which restaurant you are in. Right around the corner from home, a restaurant may feel like you are in Thailand eating pad Thai, in America enjoying a cheese burger or in France eating snails. In other cases, you may be half way around the globe in a spot full of Aussies that makes you feel like you are back home. Hi, my name is Betina, and I love eating out and travelling. This blog looks at everything related to those concepts. It talks about the sense of home and away in restaurants. Whether you are a diner or a restaurateur, I hope you enjoy the diverse posts I include in this blog.
If you need to have a business dinner at a restaurant, you might find the tips below interesting.
Don't book a restaurant that is romantic or that has small tables
You should avoid going to any restaurant that has a romantic atmosphere or that has small tables. The reason for this is as follows: romantic restaurants tend to be quite dark. A lot of the time they are lit with a few dim wall sconces and some pretty tealights on the tables. This lighting situation not ideal if you're having a business dinner, as you may need to show the people you're dining with some paperwork or calculations, which could be hard for them to read if you're sitting in a poorly-lit restaurant.
Additionally, if the tables are small and have candles on them and you need to lay some contracts or other documents across this surface, there is a chance that these pieces of paper could catch on fire or that you might spill your drinks on them. If these contracts need to be signed or read through urgently, you might have to cut the business dinner short to go and reprint them. As such, it's best to pick a restaurant that has spacious tables or benches and that is kept brightly lit.
Pick a restaurant that has a bar if you have a lot to discuss
If you have a lot of important things to discuss with the people you're meeting, you should have this business dinner at a restaurant that has a bar. The reason for this is as follows: you can only drag out a meal for so long. If the restaurant is busy, you may need to leave your table after you've finished your dinner and dessert and have had a coffee.
However, the hour or two that you spend having this meal might not be enough in which to finish discussing the business matters you're interested in. For example, if you're trying to negotiate a deal or persuade these people to get on board with a business venture you've created, you may need more time than this. If after finishing the meal, you suggest going to a bar somewhere else, the people you're out with might not want to, due to the extra travel and effort involved in this. Conversely, if there is a bar just a few feet away from where you were previously dining, you should be able to convince them to stay and have a couple of drinks, and might then stand a better chance of landing the business deal or outcome you want.
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