Want to seal the deal? Just offer the right biscuits

A SURVEYhas revealed which biscuits you should offer clients to achieve boardroom success.

British biscuit baker Thomas J Fudge’s surveyed 2 000 business workers and found a quarter were more likely to close a deal in a meeting if the right kind of biscuits were offered.

Forty percent said they felt disappointed if biscuits were not made available during meetings, and a quarter said it affected their productivity. The study also found that having the right snacks in a meeting was more crucial to success than making small talk.

Shortbread biscuits were dubbed the biscuit most likely to lead to success.

Pink wafers were considered “far too outrageous for a work environment”.

More than half of the participants said dunking your biscuit in your drink was “totally unacceptable” in a meeting. Taking more than three and taking the very last biscuit were also considered taboo.

One in five admitted they had been involved in a biscuitrelated argument due to a colleague ignoring biscuit etiquette and acting “out of line” when it came to the snacks.

Professor Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist, said: “Sharing food, even just a biscuit, is one of the most important social things we do. It makes us feel good, and it makes us feel more positive towards those with whom we do it. The quality of the biscuits we share says something about how much we value each other.”

A spokesman for Thomas J Fudge’s said: “It’s clear that biscuits are a bit of an emotional topic when it comes to the boardroom. Who thought a pink wafer could be considered outrageous?” —