Almost half of the people behind small catering businesses don’t see the point in networking, according to research by British Gas Business.

However, the majority of caterers (93%) that did take time to network believed they won new business as a result.

A quarter of those that didn’t network (24%) said they simply didn’t have time.

The most popular places to smooze people were the Institute of Directors and the Confederation of British Industry.

British Gas Business commercial director Adrian Harvey said: “We were amazed that almost half of caterers don’t see any reason to network. This is deeply worrying and might explain why some companies fail during the early vital stages.”

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