BUSINESS MEALS

“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the things associated with traveling on business is the business lunch or business dinner or business cocktail party, where one attempts to work in a social setting. It is a very valuable experience in that people are more relaxed and quite likely to be more receptive to new ideas, discuss things in a rather more informal way, be able to interact in a more open and constructive manner. By the by, one can have rather lovely food along the way as this is a tax deductible expense and one may use this means to treat colleagues and prospective clients to some rather fine dining.

I always adhere to the maxim less is more principle. Order one bottle of good wine rather than ply the guests to limitless bottles of disgusting plonk. Organise a single well-rounded, well-cooked and well presented course than several middling to indifferent courses. A few gourmet canapés than an endless supply of cardboard cutout trashy nibblies. After all, this is meant to be about doing business and getting a job done, rather4 than a Lucullan exercise in excessive pleasures of the gastrointestinal kind.

My lat night in Sydney tonight was a case in point where a cocktail party marked the occasion of a professional gathering where I had to make a welcome address. The wine and spirits were good and generous, rather than limitless and indifferent. The hors d’oeuvres liberal and toothsome but not outré. As a result people interacted, talked, communicated, enjoyed.

It’s good to be flying home tonight!