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Business lunch From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the United States, the three-martini lunch or noontime three-martini is a leisurely, indulgent lunch enjoyed by businesspeople or lawyers.[1] It is named from the common belief that many people in the above-mentioned professions have enough leisure time and wherewithal to consume more than one martini during the work day. The three-martini lunch became particularly identified in popular culture with Madison Avenue advertising executives in the 1960s and 1970s, who supposedly became more creative after such lunchtime libations.[2]
The term is sometimes used in political debates on tax deductibility of business meals in the United States.[3]
The three-martini lunch is no longer common practice for several reasons; these include the implementation of "fitness for duty" programs by numerous companies, the decreased tolerance of alcohol use,[4] a general decrease in available leisure time for business executives[5] and an increase in the size of the martini.[6]
President John F. Kennedy called for a crackdown on such tax breaks in 1961, but nothing was done at the time.[7] Jimmy Carter condemned the practice during the 1976 presidential campaign.[6] Carter portrayed it as part of the unfairness in the nation's tax laws, claiming that the working class was subsidizing the "$50 martini lunch".[8] A "rich businessman" could write off this type of lunch as a business expense, thereby reducing the cost by his effective tax rate. His opponent, Gerald Ford, in a 1978 speech to the National Restaurant Association, responded with: "The three-martini lunch is the epitome of American efficiency. Where else can you get an earful, a bellyful and a snootful at the same time?"[6][9][10]
It was once popular in Washington, D.C., but has declined since the early 1990s.[11] The practice has also been affected by changing views on alcohol consumption, while others have chosen to go with new drinks like the vodka martini and cosmopolitan.[12] The cost of some drinks has increased three times faster than the inflation rate.[13]
The entertainment deduction, which includes meals, was reduced to 80 percent in 1987[14] and to 50 percent in 1994.[15]
Comedian George Carlin once commented that the crackdown on the three-martini lunch "shouldn't affect the working man's two-joint coffee break".[16]
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