In the run up to Christmas, Quality Street are weighing heavy on the supermarket shelves, in their iconic coloured tins, hoping to entice the chocolate lovers amongst us. After all, Christmas isn’t Christmas without the distinctive tin or tub adorning the dining table, ready to treat excited children and grown-ups alike.

 

All this magic began in 1890, when John and Violet Mackintosh set up a sweet shop in Halifax. John was known as “The Toffee King”, and set up the world’s first toffee factory in 1909, also in his hometown. The first tin of Quality Street rolled off the production line in 1936 and sold for 2 shillings, which is 10p in today’s money! The tin contained a mix of 18 individually wrapped sweets – 11 chocolates and 7 toffees. 

 

During this time, Mackintosh introduced the world’s first twist-wrapping machine, to wrap each singular chocolate in a distinctive wrapper. By using a tin instead of using a cardboard box to contain the delights, Mackintosh ensured the chocolate aroma burst out as soon as the tin was opened. 

 

Since the first TV adverts aired in 1958, there have been over 100 of the adverts produced. Many may remember a quintessential jingle in some of their adverts, one of which being the “Quality, Quality, Quality Street, all the fun of the share!” with the dancing trumpet majors in the 1980s.

 

In 1969, Mackintosh merged with Rowntree, to form Rowntree Mackintosh. Nestle then took over the company in 1988, when it was the fourth-largest confectionary manufacturer in the world. In 2018, around 12 million Quality Street sweets were made everyday at the peak of the season in Christmas at its Halifax factory. 

 

After 86 years of multicoloured wrappers, Nestle has recently announced they will be swapping them for recyclable paper, in an effort to reduce waste. They hope this will prevent 2 million wrappers per year ending up in landfill. This Christmas, you may find a mix of old and new wrappers in tins. Some people will miss the bright cellophane wrappers, although some will be glad that Nestle is taking a more sustainable approach.

 

Either way, the chocolates will still be as delightful as ever, and Nestle will still produce an enormous amount of the tins, tubs and cartons!