Good Riddance to the Boozy Business Lunch

Do I Mourn the End of Boozy Business Lunches?

Posted on 12. Mar, 2009 by Craig Peters in Uncategorized

I like this article by Stuart Jeffries in the Guardian, UK last week “The death of the lunch” (I don’t like the title, however because Lunches aren’t really dead). Here’s the subtitle:

The days of the long boozy business lunch are over. With expense accounts cut to the bone and restaurants closing down, Stuart Jeffries mourns the end of a British institution.

It’s clear that the over-priced lunches of throwing money around are over (or at least for now). In case you’re not convinced by some of our earlier posts, here’s Stuart quoting Peter Backman, the managing director of Horizons, a company that monitors the restaurant business:

“That shift is particularly noticeable in London and the large metropolitan cities,” says Backman. “What is especially noticeable is that the era of the long, boozy lunch is over. Less wine is being ordered and customers are spending less long at table.”

Apparently, it was already heading that way in Britain before the recent recession.

Is the institution of lunch suffering just because of the credit crunch? “Not entirely,” says Backman. “In Britain, the expense-account lunch has been a declining phenomenon for a long while. The corporate belt-tightening is more intense now, but it predates the recession.”

So, the extravagant lunch is in a downfall. But do I “mourn” the downfall?

Not one bit. Good riddance.

A business lunch, the way we see it, should never have been about extravagance and one-upmanship in the first place. It should be an opportunity to connect with others and get business done while showing your guest that you can take care of things.

At its core, a business lunch is about making your guest feel cared for.
It’s that simple. It’s not about showing off.

Keep lunching. Keep showing people you know how to take care of things. Keep doing business.