The Great DJS Biscuit Survey: to dunk or not to dunk?

25th September 2024 18:00

Biscuits: the humble hero of snack time. We often have a pack or two (or three…) knocking about in the office and, it may surprise you to hear, they’ve been the subject of many a heated debate here at DJS. I’ve extolled the virtues of a Hobnob (I’m a big fan – it’s a classic) on multiple occasions at work in response to the age-old question “so what’s your favourite biscuit?” and – shock horror - more often than not, the asker will disagree with my choice!

One such crumby chat led a teammate and I to ponder just what our fellow colleagues thought about our biscuity banter; how did they feel about biscuits, what were their favourites and – controversially – whether they were dunkers (personal stuff, I know). As researchers there was only one thing we could do: launch a survey to find out! We polled 86 DJS employee partners and the tasty results make for a delicious read...

Putting the biscuit fun and puns aside for a moment, this survey and its outputs also provided us with a great training opportunity to give less experienced team members the chance to get hands-on with TURF analysis. This statistical analysis technique is used frequently at DJS but, like any research technique or methodology, it is project specific; running this in-house survey enabled individuals who don't currently encounter TURF in their day-to-day work to get involved. And how did we use this important technique? To create the ultimate DJS Dream Biscuit Tin of course - more on that later!

Read on to discover what we found out about the biscuity behaviours of DJS Research — and how our preferences stacked up against the rest of the UK...

How often are we sneaking a biscuit?

As you would probably guess, we enjoy biscuits. A LOT. Only three people here at DJS Research said they hate them or don’t eat them, while more than half of those surveyed love eating biscuits. Interestingly, younger staff were more likely to just ‘like’ biscuits rather than ‘love’ them, compared to our older colleagues (about twice as much). Similar differences are evident when it comes to gender and geography, with women and people from the South being more likely to ‘love biscuits’ compared to their male counterparts and people from the North who mostly just “like” them.

And while we like and love biscuits, it turns out we are not a company of constant biscuit munchers after all. Actually, 45% of our team only nibble on a biscuit "very rarely" — less than once a week — while 30% indulge in biscuits once or twice a week. A dedicated 10% of DJS partners confessed to enjoying a biscuit every single day. If that sounds like a lot, compare that to the national biscuit-eating habits, where 71% of Brits eat biscuits two or three times a week, and 26% of consumers tuck into biscuits daily**.

What time's Biscuit-Time?

It's no secret that biscuits and tea go hand in hand, and 55% of colleagues surveyed said that the afternoon is their top biscuit time (same as the UK-average). Whether it's a pick-me-up to get you over the finish line or because we feel we've simply earned it, the mid-afternoon snack is where biscuits really come into their own. Over a third of us (36%) have one in the evening too, which is slightly less than the national average of 50%​. In other cases, 49% of us see biscuits as an occasional treat, while 12% sneak them in as part of breakfast. So, even if we eat fewer biscuits than an average Brit, we still eat them at the same time of day.

Introducing the DJS Biscuit Tin!

Is there anything better than opening a biscuit tin to find your favourites are in there? We wanted to generate this same effect through our survey results, using the data to create our own virtual DJS Biscuit Tin - the contents of which would appeal to as many of our colleagues as possible.

In order to do this we turned to a trusted research technique which is used by Nestle each year to decide which flavours (and the proportion of each flavour) they include in their Christmas tin of Quality Street: TURF analysis.

Using TURF analysis, we were able to determine the optimum biscuit selection for DJS Research; these six biscuits really float the boat of our employee partners and 90% will find at least one of their favourites in there. So drum roll please, our final selection for the DJS biscuit tin are the chocolate digestive, the chocolate hobnob, the shortbread finger, the custard cream, the crunch cream and - last but by no means least - the Jaffa Cake. 

As 78% of Brits consider chocolate biscuits their favourite, perhaps it’s no surprise they took the lead here at DJS along with a chocolate hobnob (both mighty biscuits but secretly I’m still mourning for my plain Hobnob!).

Are we a company of dunkers?

The heated dunking debate definitely divides DJS partners! Indeed, 57% say that they sometimes dunk their biscuits; 36% of us completely avoid it, clearly not wishing to risk any soggy biscuits (or the horror of a ‘biscuit-collapse’; a serious condition where one’s biscuit falls in one’s brew…) and just 7% of us are brave enough to go for it every single time. Seriously, those people live on the edge.

Our favourite biscuits for dunking tell a very classic story. Chocolate Hobnobs and Plain Digestives lead the charge with 30% of the vote each, followed by Rich Tea and Ginger Nut (23% each) — absolute dunking staples. Thankfully, nobody in our survey claimed to dunk Jaffa Cakes. Perish the thought (and the Jaffa in a hot cuppa).

Does the Brand Matter?

Apparently, we're not overly fussed about brands here at DJS Research. Just under 1 in 5 said they only buy brands they know and love, while 31% of us said they don't care about brands at all. This is in contrast with the UK average, where 34% say brand is the most important factor when buying biscuits. It seems we're a laid-back bunch when it comes to buying our biccies — maybe it's all about the taste rather than the label.

How About Some Biscuit Banter?

Finally, we asked our colleagues to weigh in on this topic - and they didn’t disappoint. Of course, some couldn’t resist bringing up the controversial 'Jaffa cake court case' that decided that it is in fact a cake, not a biscuit, for tax purposes. Yet, not everyone agreed:

 “I personally believe Jaffa Cakes are biscuits, screw the science behind it!”

Others noted how inflation had affected biscuits prices too, leading one concerned biscuit eater to share this piece of frugal advice:

“In Iceland you can buy their ‘broken biscuit’ box for about £4 which is just a big box of supposedly broken biscuits (that are completely fine). It is a purchase you won’t regret; the selection of biscuits is completely random but always top tier.”

There was also a concerning fact about biscuits:

“A study in the UK found that approximately 500 people per year need hospital treatment due to biscuit based injuries" (from National Geographic Kids Weird but True 2024).

What a relief that we’re a temperate bunch - no biscuit based injuries here at DJS (yet...).

And finally, we’ll bring our tour of the intricacies of DJS biscuit behaviours to a close, putting a lid on our tin so to speak, with this (iced) gem…“Why are biscuits no good at keeping secrets? Because they always crumble under pressure!”

if you'd like to chat about any aspect of this research (or biscuits!) or how TURF analysis could be interesting for your organisation, please contact Michael Astakhov at MAstakhov@djsresearch.com. 

** Source: www.https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/analysis-and-features/trading-up-treating-and-preparing-for-hfss-regulations-10-charts-that-explain-uk-attitudes-to-biscuits/664392.article 

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