Business Entertaining in Greece

Business meals form a vital role in the all-important relationship-building cycle in Greece.

These occasions could just as easily take place over lunch or dinner. Lunch often starts as late as 2:00 pm and may continue until 4 or 4:30 pm whilst dinner rarely starts before 8:30 pm and can easily be a two or three-hour affair. Even an invitation for a coffee should be seen as a social occasion and can take one or two hours.

It is better to avoid discussing business over a meal unless your Greek counterpart raises the issue. Business meals should be used to further strengthen personal ties and for showing that you are the right type of people to do business with.

Although your guests may arrive fifteen to thirty minutes late (as would be customary in Greece) you should strive to be punctual – they may make a special effort to be on time in your honour.
Although a service charge is usually included in all restaurant bills, it is still advisable to leave an additional tip of around 10%.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture. 

Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Greece only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.