Amazing Quality Street Facts
In 1890 John Mackintosh and his wife Violet opened a shop in Halifax, Yorkshire, where they created a new kind of inexpensive sweet by mixing hard toffee with runny caramel. It was a great success and in 1898 the operation expanded into becoming the worlds’ first toffee factory. After the death of John Mackintosh his son Harold inherited the business and in 1936 created Quality Street.
Did you know that Quality Street call the individual sweets in their tubs and tins ‘the jewels’?
Check out more facts about this Christmas confectionery tradition.
14 Quality Street Facts
- The name Quality Street comes from the title of a play! Quality Street was a play by J. M. Barrie, written before he more famously wrote Peter Pan. Mackintosh originally used characters from the play in their packaging and advertising. The comedy play was originally a Broadway production which opened in 1901 but ran for only 64 performances. The show was then produced in London, where it was a major success.
- Mackintosh realised that people craved nostalgia during periods of economic hardship in the late 1930s. Quality Street chocolates were packaged in vibrantly coloured tins with two characters dressed in Regency era attire, affectionately known as Miss Sweetly and Major Quality. Up until the year 2000, both were still on every Quality Street box and tin.
- The first tin of Quality Street went on sale in 1936, selling for two shillings. The tin contained 18 individually wrapped different sweets, including 7 toffees and 11 chocolates.
- In 1969, Mackintosh merged with Rowntree's to become Rowntree Mackintosh Confectionery.
- A 3lb jar of Quality Street cost £4.99 in Woolworths in 1983. In modern money (2022), that would make today's (2022) standard 600g tub cost between £6 to £7.
- Over the years the sizes of the standard Quality Street tin and tub have decreased and as of 2022 the standard tub weighs 600 grams.
| Year | Weight of Sweets | Approx. Number of Wrapped Sweats |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 1,100g | 110 |
| 2010 | 1,000g | 100 |
| 2011 | 1,000g | 100 |
| 2012 | 820g | 82 |
| 2013 | 780g | 78 |
| 2014 | 780g | 78 |
| 2015 | 780g | 78 |
| 2016 | 750g | 75 |
| 2017 | 750g | 75 |
| 2018 | 720g | 72 |
| 2019 | 650g | 65 |
| 2020 | 650g | 65 |
| 2021 | 650g | 65 |
| 2022 | 600g | 62 |
- The brand was acquired by Nestle in 1988 when they bought Rowntree Mackintosh.
- When British politician George Galloway visited Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2002, the dictator offered him Quality Street chocolates. Nestle had to quash stories that they were pleased to be associated with the Iraqi dictator.
- Due to World War II shortages, the Purple One's Brazil nut was replaced by a hazelnut. Despite this, the sweet remained and still does remain the shape of a Brazil nut.
- Every year the UK consumes around 1.7 billion Quality Street sweets.
- Frequently brought home by fishermen who visited Shetland, Quality Street is known in Western Norway as "Shetlandsgodt" or "Shetland Snoop". Snoop is Norwegian slang for sweets.
- In 2022, Nestle ended a 86-year tradition by replacing the foil and see-through wrappers with waxed paper in order to make their packaging recyclable.
- As of 2022, there are eleven different Quality Street sweets. Quality Street calls them jewels:
The Purple One:
A whole roasted hazelnut in caramel and a chocolate shell.
The Green Triangle:
A milk chocolate triangle containing chocolate made with hazelnuts.
Strawberry Delight:
Red wrapper. A strawberry flavoured fondant in dark chocolate.
Orange Creme:
Orange flavoured fondant in dark chocolate.
Caramel Swirl:
Runny caramel in a milk chocolate cup.
Toffee Finger:
The chewy one. A toffee dipped in milk chocolate.
Fudge:
Pink wrapper. A fudge wrapped in milk chocolate.
Milk Chocolate Block:
A solid block of milk chocolate.
Orange Crunch:
Orange truffle with crunchy orange pieces.
Toffee Penny:
Penny shaped, chewy, toffee.
Coconut Eclair:
Coconut covered in milk chocolate.
- Discontinued Quality Street sweets: Almond Octagon, Vanilla Octagon, Gooseberry Cream, Apricot Delight, Coffee Cream, Toffee Square, Chocolate Truffle, Montelimar Nougat, Hazelnut Cracknell, Hazelnut Eclair, Chocolate Nut Toffee Cream, Malt Toffee, Milk Chocolate Round, Fig Fancy, Peanut Cracknell, Fruits Of The Forest Creme, Mint Fondant, Chocolate Strawberry Cream (replaced with Strawberry Delight), and Chocolate Toffee Cup (replaced with Caramel Swirl).