Power lunches! Lunches that give you powwwwwer! Did you know that — as we speak — there are women out there who are lunching and becoming powerful and making business deals at fancy restaurants across the globe (but particularly in downtown Manhattan)? You do now thanks to this exposé by the New York Times, the one paper of record that we can count on to keep us informed on the meals that matter. (Quick catch-up: Dinner? Out. Breakfast? Mention it and you are socially DEAD. Power lunches? IN. IN. IN.)
Power lunching, as it turns out, is not a simple concept. It’s not enough that you eat food and do business simultaneously. You also have to think about BRAND — your brand, specifically — and how the food you eat and the restaurant you eat it at all plays into it.
From the New York Times:
“Where you go to have lunch has to be on brand with your brand,” said Carrie Rosten, a consultant for media companies and magazines — as much a signal of your sensibility as the shoes you wear. She added: “You’re not going to some Midtown spectacle of a place. Because that’s not cool. That’s a different thing.”
Some brands are cooler than other brands and everybody — everybody — has to have a brand.
So what does your own personal choice of power lunch tell us about yours?
WHERE YOU’RE EATING: The McDonald’s parking lot where you’ve been parked for hours, staring blankly out your windshield at the glass-encased McDonald’s Playplace.
WHAT YOU’RE EATING: You ordered a McFish, but it sits untouched in the passenger seat, growing colder with every passing minute.
WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT YOUR BRAND: Your brand is that you’re having an affair with your next door neighbor Rick. You’re married. He’s married. Both of you have families, but you’re planning on running away together. You wonder, as you watch strangers’ children play in the ball pit, whether your own children will ever forgive you Your car — it stinks of fish and weakness.
WHERE YOU’RE EATING: Out of your kitchen garbage.