How did business lunch historically come about?

A business lunch is a lunch for busy people served in restaurants during certain hours, most often between 12 and 15. It includes tasty, hearty but easy-to-prepare dishes so that you can have time to eat during your lunch break. And business lunch is also relatively inexpensive compared to the regular menu, which also makes it attractive to office workers.

Each of us has been to a restaurant for business lunch at least once in our lives, but not many people know its history. Let’s fix that!

How it all began

Business lunch appeared in England in 1706. In those days, businessmen did not have their own offices, and all important issues were solved in restaurants, over a shot of cognac or a cup of coffee and a cigar. Tea was not served in such places — the drink was considered rare and expensive, and it was more often preferred by women, who were not allowed in places where men drank alcohol and smoked tobacco.

Restaurateur Thomas Twining decided to kill several birds with one stone at once — he opened a tea room at his restaurant and introduced the drink into everyday life, excluding alcohol on principle. The news that there was a quiet place where you can quietly negotiate, soon spread throughout London, and gradually the restaurant acquired a reputation as a business center. And the snacks served with tea and sandwiches, which were invented in the same England a little later, began to be called business lunch — that is, a lunch at which all business matters could be resolved.

In our country, the convenience of business lunch was appreciated a little later — only in the 19th century, and it was served exclusively in inns. And in the days of the Soviet Union it changed its name altogether, becoming a «set lunch». In inexpensive establishments this phrase is still used today, while decent restaurants have returned the business lunch to its usual name, although the principle of the three-course menu has been preserved since the Soviet times.

Where to try

Today, business lunches are offered by most of the capital’s establishments. Usually they are a standard set of soup, salad and hot food, sometimes they can be supplemented with drinks and desserts. At the same time, the dishes themselves may vary, and it usually depends on the cuisine offered by the restaurant.

There are business lunches and in the menu of Belgian brasseries Lambic. And it bears little resemblance to the Soviet «complex lunch» — here we are rather talking about refined cuisine. For example, you can order cheese soup with shrimps, fish and chips with tartar sauce, bruschetta with chicken liver with caramelized onions for only 790 rubles. Salad+soup" or ‘salad/soup+hot food’ sets will cost you even cheaper. And since Lambic is a beer restaurant, you can ask for a glass of refreshing beer to pair with the dishes, breaking all Thomas Twining’s principles. We are waiting for you for lunch!

Date : 10 May

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