If you're looking for a unique and innovative way to give a business gift you should consider giving food as a business gift. Do not limit yourself to only food products however, you can also use food paraphernalia and gift cards as a very effective and very clever business gifts. Moreover you do not actually have to be in the food industry to be using food as a business gift. There is rarely an occasion where food or food paraphernalia is not appreciated, so the only real concern you should have when picking out a food business gift is to make sure that your client is not allergic to it.
Making sure your client is not allergic to the food business gift is very important, as it would be pretty detrimental to the health of your business relationship if you land them in the hospital with a case of food allergies. It is not however always practical to ask a person beforehand if they are allergic to get before you go out and purchase it, so for that reason you should probably try to avoid foods that are commonly known to cause allergic reactions in people in less you know for certain otherwise. Also, upon presenting them with their business gift make sure that it either clearly states on the packaging or you inform them of any potential food allergens that could be in business gifts such as nuts.
A great way to avoid the possibility of food allergies altogether is to give gift certificates to local fine restaurants for a business gift. Do not act under the impression that giving a gift card or gift certificate is somehow an inappropriate business gift because it does not show personalized thought that an actual product would, rather understands that choosing even the right restaurant probably did take a lot of thought, and giving them a gift card for business gift shows that you want them to go out and have a good time.
If you are giving the gift card to an important client as a business gift try to package it in a fun way, do not just stick the gift card in an envelope but rather try to present it in some sort of novelty way. Do not get too creative however, remember this is still a business gift and not a personal gift. The most common way to give gift cards as a business gift is to package them in a small gift basket along with other small trinkets such as promotional key chains or pens from your company.
Lastly if you know that your business partner or client is a fan of cooking you may want to give them food paraphernalia as business gift. Perhaps a gift certificate to a local chef store, or a really good chef's knife would be in order. Food can be a fantastic basis for determining a business gift to give to your clients, just take some time and think about what would be an appropriate gift for every situation.