Taking clients out to lunch is a good way to express appreciation for their business, to get to know new clients and to strengthen relationships. A few simple rules of etiquette can help you make the most of your outings.

If you are inviting the client, you should be the one to make the reservation, but let the client choose the restaurant, says Anne Sowden, image consultant and managing director of Here’s Looking at You in Toronto. If the client insists on leaving the choice to you, find out what kind of food he or she likes or if the client has any particular dietary needs.

“These days you have to be careful,” Sowden says. “Some people have food allergies, so this way you avoid making mistakes.”

Here are some more lunch tips from Sowden:

> If it’s an older client, arrange to pick them up from their home; for a business person, arrange to meet them at the restaurant.

> Be on time. Better still, get there early to make sure you don’t keep the client waiting.

> Avoid ordering any difficult foods that you can spill on yourself, such as lobster or spaghetti. If in doubt, go for something simple, such as a short pasta like penne.

> “If it’s a ‘thank you for your business’ lunch, then don’t talk business until the very end. And you might just do it very generally,” Sowden says. Being too specific about a certain area of the client’s business might be misinterpreted as a sales pitch.

> If the purpose of the lunch is to get to know a new client, find some common ground, such as children, to get the conversation started. “It’s an opportunity to create a two-way street so that you form the rapport needed to develop the relationship,” Sowden says. In this situation, you can start talking business about halfway through the meal.

> If the person is a new client, you may want to take notes, but ask permission before getting out your notebook.

> Clarify how much time the client has for lunch. Most lunches take about an hour, but should never go longer than an hour and a half.

> You pick up the cheque. Make arrangements with the restaurant ahead of time to hold the cheque until your client leaves. Thus, if the advisor is a woman and the client a man, this strategy avoids the embarrassment some men feel about letting a woman pay.

> Don’t order an alcoholic drink unless your client does, and if you are not comfortable drinking alcohol at lunchtime, don’t feel that you have to. IE