Executive dining etiquette skills are pivotal to every business occasion where food and drink are served. Far more than table manners and dining etiquette, Executive Presence at business meals requires poise, a polished presence and an understanding of the role of both Host and Guest. So, these are some basic dining manners.

3. The rules of a game are valuable because
they help everyone to have fun and keep
people from feeling that they are being
treated unfairly.

4. Manners’ rules serve the same function:

5. Contents
Dining attire.
Pre dining etiquette.
Seating etiquette.
Table setting etiquette.
Eating style.
Utensil handling & resting etiquette.
Ordering & passing etiquette.
Paying bill etiquette.
Do’s & don’ts.
Conclusion.

6. Formal dining Attire.
Dress in clean & freshly pressed cloths.
Your clothing should fit well.
Inspect your clothing before wearing it for
loose threads, missing hardware, stains & lint.

7. Wear dark solid colors.
Wear a wool or wool blend
suit with a silk tie in a
coordinating color.
Choose a light colored shirt.
Polish your shoes & match
your socks to your suit color.
Your belt & shoes should match.

8. Pre dining etiquette
Be sure to arrive on time.
Call ahead if you know you will be late.

9. Reservations.
Call a day or two ahead; or a week or two
ahead if the restaurant and day are popular.
Reconfirm the reservation by calling on the
day of your visit

10. Approaching the Table in a Restaurant
When being seated, if the head of the
waiters of the restaurants leads the group to
the table, the guests should follow the waiter
and the host should follow the guests. If the
waiter does not lead the group, the host
should lead.

11. Nail the first impression
When you and your dinner companion
meet, start things off on the right foot by
looking them in the eye, smiling warmly, and
offering a firm handshake.
Then, stand behind your chair until the
other diners are seated.

12. Seating
Extend the best seat to
your client or to the most
important guest.
Seat yourself with your
back facing the door or the
Main part of the room.

13. Posture
When sitting at the table, sit up straight
and do not cross your legs, except at the
ankle.
You should not make yourself comfortable
and sit back in a chair, or slouch around.

14. Elbows do not belong on the table.
One hand, for the most part, should
remain in your lap, except when you are
cutting meat, breaking bread, or somehow
stabilizing a dish or serving platter.

15. Elbows.
The "no elbows on the table" rule applies
only when you are actually eating. When no
utensils are being used, putting your elbows
on the table is acceptable.

16. Maintain eye contact throughout the
meal
No, this doesn’t mean you should stare
down your dinner companion as they chew
every bite of food. But regular, warm eye
contact helps communicate to the other party
that you are interested in what they have to
say.

17. Make Good Use of Your Napkin
Place your napkin in your lap immediately
upon sitting down. Unfold it while it is in your
lap.

18. Place the
napkin folded in half
With the crease
toward you.

20. Utensil Etiquette
In most situations,
use the “outside-in”
rule to tell which knife,
fork, or spoon to use at the
dinner table. Use utensils on
the outside first and work
your way inward. So, if you
are served a salad first, use
the fork set to the far
left of your plate.

21. American style
Hold your fork like a pencil, with the
shank extended between your thumb and
index and middle fingers. Your fourth and fifth
fingers rest in your hand.

22. Continental Style

24. When taking a break
Continental style:
Put your fork and knife in the center of your
plate with the tips facing each other in an
inverted V (slightly angled).

25. When taking a break
American style:
Rest your knife on the top right of your plate
(diagonally) with the fork nearby (tines up).

26. These two resting positions, recognized
by trained wait staff, signal that you're not
ready to have your plate removed.
At most restaurants, used utensils are
replaced with clean ones for the next course.
If, however, a waiter asks you to keep
your dirty utensils for the next course, it's
okay to ask for clean ones.

27. Soup bowl
If soup or dessert is served in a deep
bowl, cup, or stemmed bowl set on another
plate, place your utensil(s) on this under plate
when you finish. If the under plate is too small
to balance the spoon, the spoon is laid in the
bowl.

28. Soup plate
If the bowl is what is called a soup plate
(shallow and wide), leave the spoon in the
bowl.

29. Finished eating a course
When each course is finished:
• Place the knife and fork parallel with
the handles in the four o'clock position on
the right rim of the plate;
• The tips rest in the well of the plate in the ten
o'clock position;
• The blade of your knife should face inward;
• The fork tines may be either up or down.

30. • This position signals to the server that you're
finished. It also decreases the chance that the
utensils could fall to the floor when the plates
are cleared.

31. Temporary Placement During a
Conversation.
Continental Style:
• The fork is laid on the side of the plate with the
tines downward and the handle in the eight
o'clock position.
• The knife handle is laid in the four o'clock
position.
• If space permits, the
tines are rested over
the blade of the knife.

32. American Style:
• The knife is rested on the right rim of the plate
with the handle in the four o'clock position.
• The fork is laid near the knife.
• Fork tines upward.

33. Placement when Passing a Plate.
To prevent flatware from falling off when
the plate is passed for a second helping,
• The fork and knife are centered vertically in
the six o'clock position toward the middle of
the plate.

34. Ready to Order.
To show you are ready to order, close your
menu and place it on the table.

35. Ordering
Wait for the host to order, unless he/she
directs you to go first.
Do not order the most expensive item on
the menu.
Stay away from messy, hard to eat foods.
If there are items on the menu that you
are uncertain about, politely ask your server
any questions you may have.

36. Passing & adding
Food is passed from left to right.
Pass the salt, pepper, butter and sauces to
the right.
If you need to stretch across the table or
rise to reach items, ask for them.

37. Do not serve yourself “community” food
(e.g. salt, pepper, dressing, etc.) until you have
offered it to someone else first.
Always pass the salt and pepper as a pair.

38. Salads
Salad forks are often smaller than a
traditional dinner fork and will be located to the
far left of the place setting.
You may use your knife to cut portions of the
salad. If you use your knife, do not return it to the
table top; instead
place it at the top edge
of the plate with the cutting
edge facing you.

39. Bread & butter
Bread and butter may be served with your meal.
Place one roll on the plate provided (the one just
above your forks).
Do not cut the roll open, slather butter on it, and
“dig in.”
Instead, break the roll apart,
tear off a small, bite-sized
portion, butter it, and eat it. Do
this for the entire roll.

40. The main course
When being served by the wait-staff, do not begin
eating until everyone at your table has been served.
For this course you use the dinner fork and the
dinner knife, or the steak knife if appropriate.
Try to “cut” your meat, not “saw” it. Hold the fork
as though you were
holding a pencil. Do not
raise your elbow to get a
good grip on any food item.

41. When someone approaches you, stand up
to greet them by shaking hands
Drink and eat quietly without slurping or
clinking utensils.
Your utensils are for eating, not waving in
the air while you’re talking

42. Cutting Food
Cut your food into only one or two bite-
sized pieces at a time.

43. When in doubt about whether to use
fingers or a utensil to eat a particular food,
watch those about you and proceed
accordingly. If you're still in doubt, use a
utensil, usually a fork.

45. Beverages
Beverages may be offered before the
meal.
Follow the lead of your host. It is
recommended that you NEVER order alcohol
of any kind.
You may order sparkling water, tea, soda,
juice, or other items from the menu.

46. Deserts
You may use whatever utensils are provided to eat
dessert.
When your are finished with your main course and
your dessert is already set, you may go ahead and eat
it, but do not push away your dinner plate.
Do not pick up your dessert plate and place it on
your dinner plate, simply reach across your dinner
plate and eat your dessert.
If your dinner plate is removed by the server, you
may move your dessert dish in front of you.
No swapping desserts with your neighbor.

47. Tasting Another Person's Food.
Either hand your fork to the person, who
can spear a bite-sized piece from her plate and
hand the fork back to you, or (if the person is
sitting close by) hold your plate toward her so
that she can put a morsel on the edge.

48. Something in your mouth?
Take something out of your mouth with
the utensil used to put it in.
Hide it on your plate, not in napkin or
under plate.

49. Reaching across the table
There are various degrees of reaching for
something across a table that are perfectly permissible,
but one should not make an enormous stretch or rise
from one’s seat to reach for something.
• If you have easy access to the salt and pepper
and your neighbor
on either side does not,
it is polite to offer it first
to both of them before using
it yourself.

50. Excusing Yourself
Simply say "excuse me, please; I'll be right
back" when leaving for the restroom or
washroom. Leaving without a word is rude.

51. Place your napkin on your chair
when excusing yourself for
a moment during the meal.

52. Speaking While Eating.
If you have more than a few words to say,
swallow your food, rest your fork on your
plate, and speak before you resume eating.

53. Don't Drink with a Full Mouth.
To avoid leaving food on
the rim of the vessel,
make sure the mouth is
free of food.

54. Blot the lips with a
napkin before &
after taking a sip of a
beverage.

55. Something Caught in your Teeth.
When food is caught between the teeth
that is annoying or uncomfortable, wait to
remove it privately.

56. Sneezing, Coughing, Blowing your
Nose.
When sneezing or coughing at the table is
unavoidable, cover your nose or mouth with a
napkin and proceed as quietly as possible.
Except in an emergency, don't use a napkin to
blow your nose. Leave the table and use a
handkerchief instead.

57. Dropped Utensils.
If you drop a utensil, pick it up yourself if
you can and let the waiter know you need a
new one. If you cannot reach it, inform the
waiter and ask for a replacement.

58. Meal over
When your meal is over, and your host
has signified this by placing his or her napkin
to the left of the place setting, you too may
follow suit.
Place your silverware at the four o’clock
position to signal to your server that you are
through.

59. Paying the bill
It is the responsibility of the host to reach
for the bill.
As a host, you might show up early and
give your credit card in advance to the head
waiter of the restaurant.
Another option is to tell your server
(when you are seated) that the bill should be
given to you at the end of the meal.

60. If when the bill arrives, you find that there
is a mistake on the charges, do not take out a
calculator, or try to argue about the bill with
the server.
Go to the head server’s station and
resolve the problem with the bill.

61. Accidents at the table
Even the most careful eater occasionally
has an accident at the table.
If you spill food, even a bit of jelly or
sauce, you may quietly retrieve it with any
convenient utensil—knife, fork, spoon—and
place it at the side of your plate.

62. If a little food or liquid is dripped onto
your clothing, you might dip a small corner of
the napkin into your water glass and lightly
rub the spot.
Try to be as inconspicuous as possible,
and do not fret. Everyone does this from time
to time

63. Swallowing the wrong way & choking
All of us swallow the wrong way at times
and suffer a minor choking fit.
When someone chokes, it is the time for
the other people at the table not to look at
the person but to talk among themselves, so
that he will be able to regain his composure in
peace.

64. Do’s & Don’ts of dining
General Etiquette:
• Turn off cell phones and beepers.
• Have proper posture.
• Keep elbows off the table.
• Do not apply makeup or comb your hair at the
table.

65. Utensils:
• Remember never to hold a utensil in a fist.
• Do not talk with your utensils.
• Set the utensils on your plate, not the table,
when you are not using them.
• Do not use both hands simultaneously to hold
utensils and cups

66. Napkins:
• Use your napkin frequently.
• Do not use your napkin as a tissue.
• If you have to sneeze, turn your head away
from the table.

67. While Eating:
Wait for everyone to get their meal
before starting yours.
Don’t talk with your mouth full.
Don’t chomp ice.

68. Take small bites.
Cut your salad into bite size pieces if
necessary.
Try to pace yourself to finish at the same
time as everyone else.

69. If you leave the table, excuse yourself and
place your napkin on your seat.
When you are finished eating, place your
napkin neatly to the left of your plate, but do
not push your place setting away from you.

70. Conclusion
• No matter in which culture, dining etiquette
are very important to everyone!!
• Dining etiquette give a good or bad
impression of an individual. The more the
etiquette one practices the more comfortable
one will be in professional dining settings.