With festive treats gradually making their way onto supermarket shelves nationwide already, the yearly ‘shrinkflation’ moans about particular confectionery items have already commenced.
Quality Street tubs – a beloved festive treat – seem to be bearing the brunt of one such complaint, with customers alleging their containers are more compact than previously. Food policy specialist and content creator Gavin Wren spotlighted the Nestlé product’s weight reduction compared to what was available in 2024.
“The size of Quality Street has shrunk yet again,” Gavin declared, disclosing that the “coconut one” is his preferred chocolate. He went on, noting that the “big news this year” is that containers of Quality Street have dropped in weight from 600g to 550g.
“If we go back 20 years to 2005, it was 1.5 kilos,” Gavin maintained. “Now I know we are supposed to be eating less high-sugar food, but it’s Christmas. And really, how far is this going to go?”.
Gavin also claimed that alongside the 8% decrease in size, in Tesco he had noticed they had risen in price by 16.7% – from £6 to £7.
“There are reasons why this has happened and Nestle has passed the buck when it comes to Quality Street,” Gavin suggested, sharing a screenshot from the brand as evidence for his argument. “They say they change the price and format every year, based on availability and ingredients and shipping costs – that kind of stuff.”
Acknowledging that there is “some truth” in that, Gavin also highlighted that retailers must turn a profit.
Gavin also confessed: “One of the reasons chocolate prices have gone mental in the last few years is the instability in cocoa prices.” Indeed, costs quadrupled in just a few years, but are now declining.
Gavin concluded: “The shortfall in supply, brought on by unpredictable weather in West Africa where we get a lot of our cocoa from has been passed on to us and it is estimated the price of the chocolatey stuff we get in the shops will have gone up by 18%.”
Writing in response, one TikTok user hit out: “Stopped buying them last year. It’s a joke!” A second person fumed: “The few major chocolate brands are fully taking the p***, worse ingredients, smaller quantity of product, as well as inflation prices well above what they actually are, that’s three insane methods of getting more money out of us all at once.”
A third suggested an alternative: “Not even worth buying anymore. MandS are doing a giant tin of chocs for around £12. We are going to give those a try this year.” Whilst a fourth TikTok user conceded: “At this point the tubs might as well be share bags.”
However, one individual proposed an alternative: “You know you can just buy the bigger tin? 2kg tins were available last Christmas.”A second shopper pointerd out: “You have to remember those bigger tins from years ago were a lot more expensive than the ones we have now. At least £10 a tin, IIRC [if I recall].”
And a third concurred with Gavin, exclaiming: “Coconut is absolutely the best one, you are right!”
A spokesperson for Nestle commented in response: “Each year we introduce a new Quality Street range with formats, sizes, weights and RRPs based on a range of factors including the cost of manufacturing, ingredients and transport and the preferences of our customers and consumers.
“We believe our 2025 range and pricing is competitive with a good variety of choice for Quality Street fans. Final prices are at the discretion of individual retailers.”
