Survey highlights importance of boardroom biscuits

A survey of business professionals has found that the success of a meeting can be determined by the type of biscuit that is served up in the boardroom.

The survey by hotel chain, Holiday Inn, found that 80 per cent of people believe that biscuits “improved the quality and outcome of a meeting” with those in the legal profession most likely to be influenced by a quality biscuit.

And hotels and restaurants hiring meeting rooms to corporate customers should take note if they want to secure repeat trade, because biscuits were deemed the second most important aspect of the boardroom to tables and chairs, proving more important than lighting, technology and artwork.

In the survey of 1,000 professionals, chocolate digestives were the top choice, followed by shortbread, Hob Nobs and Jammy Dodgers. Crumbly biscuits are considered a no-no in the boardroom with more than a quarter claiming they’d refuse a biscuit if it looked like it might fall apart as they ate it.

Half of the respondents said two biscuits were enough while 18 per cent needed three before they were happy.

Chris Hale, Intercontinental Hotel Group’s Vice President Marketing & Communications EMEA said: “With Holiday Inn customers munching their way through a whopping total of 3.1 million biscuits annually, key players in the business world are clearly being influenced by the quality of boardroom biscuits. The results show a good quality biscuit can have a weighty impact on business proceedings, while biscuit etiquette is high on the agenda. It’s incredible to think that important decisions might be made based on a crumbly biscuit.”