Insiders know that doing business in Paris requires attention to more than just the venue. Beyond selecting the right location or enjoying a perfect café au lait, observing local customs is essential to making a positive impression. Avoid personal questions or references, and use formal forms of address — Monsieur, Madame or Mademoiselle — unless you are invited to use first names. Avoid an aggressive sales approach and a firm, overpowering handshake; a brief, light handshake is considered professional. During introductions it’s also common to give both your first and last names.
While working lunches and cocktail conversations are widely accepted, business breakfasts remain uncommon. Demonstrate your savoir-faire by inviting colleagues to one of the city’s distinguished addresses for lunch, dinner or drinks.
In the narrow, café-lined streets of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the Musée National Eugène Delacroix is well known to locals though less familiar to visitors. Once the artist’s private apartment, the small museum displays Delacroix’s sketches, paintings, lithographs and personal items and can host cocktail receptions or dinners. Receptions and meals may be arranged in the artist’s workshop among watercolors and pastels or outdoors in the adjoining garden. Local etiquette favors delaying business talk until after the final course.
Not far from the Delacroix museum, the Musée Zadkine also welcomes meetings and receptions. This preserved home and studio of painter and sculptor Ossip Zadkine (1890–1967) contains bronze, stone and terracotta figures; its light-filled rooms and sculptural backdrop suit small executive gatherings that call for a refined, artistic atmosphere.
For meals in the same neighborhood, the design-forward Hôtel Bel Ami offers a contrasting contemporary vibe. Housed in a former printing house where the first edition of Guy de Maupassant’s Bel Ami was printed in 1885, the hotel blends literary references with modern design. Its colorful bar area and rotating exhibitions by artists across disciplines make it an appealing choice for lunches, dinners or informal meetings.
Along Avenue George V, the terrace of Hôtel Fouquet’s Barrière provides a classic setting for coffee, pastries and conversation. Le Café Fouquet’s terrace overlooks the Champs-Élysées; in inclement weather, the indoor La Galerie Joy offers a private teahouse and terrace decorated in lilac, lime green and gold. When seated at a business table, resting your hands in your lap can be perceived as impolite — instead, keep hands and forearms on the table, without elbows.
The Hôtel Fouquet’s-Barrière has been a meeting place for industry and entertainment leaders since 1899. Its spaces include Le Fouquet’s brasserie, the Alexandre Boardroom overlooking private gardens, and the François-André terrace on the fifth floor with views of the Eiffel Tower and city rooftops, all available for private events and tête-à-têtes.
Hotel de Sers’ Baccarat Hall © Hotel de Sers
Just off Avenue George V, the Hotel de Sers blends Belle Époque architecture with modern sophistication. Once the Marquis de Sers’ private residence, the hotel retains grand features — a carriageway and wide staircase — and displays eclectic art, including portraits of the Marquis and his dog, Moustache.
For an elegant meeting, choose S’ Bar and settle into a sumptuous armchair facing the bar, topped with a thick slab of Carrara marble. The enormous mirror behind the bar cycles through a spectrum of colors, creating a dream-like ambiance. The bar is known for abundant fresh flowers and Champagne- and fruit-infused signature cocktails. In Paris, interrupting a conversation briefly can signal strong interest in the topic; similarly, being interrupted often means your point has engaged the other person.
The hotel’s marbled Baccarat Hall, a landing lit by a Baccarat chandelier, now serves as a private space for cocktail gatherings. Nearby Le Salon du Marquis, with high ceilings, Versailles parquet and an original fireplace, offers a distinctly Parisian alternative for intimate meetings. The Panoramic Suite provides sweeping city views, and from October through April a covered winter garden is available for coffee or drinks.
Facing Avenue de l’Opéra with balconied rooms overlooking the Palais Garnier, the Hôtel Édouard 7 is another historic residence-turned-hotel suited to charming clients and colleagues. Once the Paris home of Edward, Prince of Wales, the hotel’s lobby bar—featuring stained-glass windows—offers an elegant setting for drinks, while the modern Salon Marigny and Salon Mogador are well suited to more structured meetings.
West of the Louvre, the Musée de l’Orangerie sits on the southwest edge of the Jardin des Tuileries. Once a royal greenhouse, this compact museum houses Monet’s monumental Les Nymphéas (Water Lilies) in two long elliptical rooms, where the canvases fill the walls beneath high ceilings.
For an unpretentious, genuinely Parisian meet-up, stroll the exhibit at the Orangerie, descend the stone steps past the reclining Henry Moore sculpture and slip into the gardens. Small crêperies nearby offer freshly made crêpes and provide a relaxed setting for conversation. Once business relationships are established in Paris, it’s perfectly acceptable to skip a formal boardroom, grab a café au lait in a paper cup and continue discussions on a park bench.