20 � squaremeal.co.uk
RESTAURANTS + BAR S
ILLUSTRATION: GEO PARKIN
Recent research suggests that leisurely lunches do the business when
it comes to deal-making. So sling away that sarnie WORDS BEN MCCORMACK
W
hatever your
opinions
on Brexit,
few would
disagree that when
it comes to the art of
the long lunch, our
continental neighbours
beat us hands down.
My own happiest
memory of this was 10
years ago in Reims, when
Rémi Krug took me for
lunch at his favourite
restaurant. �ere, in the
art deco splendour of La
Brasserie du Boulingrin,
we feasted on pigs' trotters
and drank Krug Grande
Cuvée (one of his favourite
food and wine matches).
All around us, it
seemed as if the whole of
Reims was lunching - and
taking two hours away
from their desk for the
task. It was clear from all the
backslapping, handshaking
and air kissing that if you
wanted to do business in
Reims, a long lunch at La
Brasserie du Boulingrin was
the only way to do it.
So it was with tristesse that I recently
read a report that nearly half of British
workers are too busy to leave their desks
for lunch. �e study also found that 40
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
per cent of British workers believed lunch
with potential clients was a crucial factor
in closing a deal, with a third admitting
they would be more likely to sign a
contract if they were treated to a meal.
Perhaps even sadder
was the third of workers
who said that when dining
out for lunch, they bolt
down their meal in under
an hour. (Why bother
leaving your desk?) It's
a false economy. When
you eat with other people,
you're sharing more than
just food: you show that
you value their time and
what they have to say. It's
no surprise the flagship
interview of the Financial
Times is called Lunch
with the FT.
But it's not just soggy
sandwiches al desko that's
replacing the long lunch.
JP Morgan's Corporate
Challenge, a 3.5 mile
run-cum-networking
event, signed up more
than 31,000 people this
year. Deloitte has its
Ride Across Britain, a tour
de finance involving a bike
ride from Land's End to
John O'Groats; and property
company JLL runs the UK's
second-largest one-day
triathlon. Call me a prude, but nothing
would be less likely to get me to sign a
deal than seeing a Lycra-clad associate
dripping sweat over a contract.
Still, although the European-style
long lunch is in decline, one of Britain's
great gifts to global gastronomy, the full
English breakfast, is on the seemingly
unstoppable up as a way to do business.
Yet even if the old adage of breakfasting
like a king is true, don't forget to also
lunch like a prince. Or simply follow my
own adage: breakfast like a king, lunch
like a king, dine like a king. It's much
easier to remember and happier all round.
IT'S NOT JUST SOGGY
SANDWICHES AL DESKO THAT'S
REPLACING THE LONG LUNCH
LE 40 WINKS
The decline of the long lunch wasn't the only
report to catch my eye recently: a respected
Gallic think-tank has said that French
businesses should encourage sta� to make
time in their 35-hour working week to take
a 20-minute daily nap after lunch, claiming
it boosts productivity. All the more reason
to leave your desk for a boozy lunch if you're
going to get a power siesta at the end of it.
Perhaps this is one European directive we
should adopt while we still can.