Quality Street fans left outraged by ‘rip off’ change as Nestle shrink tubs ahead of Christmas

People have been left fuming after discovering that a beloved festive sharing tub of chocolate has yet again fallen victim to shrinkflation.

Christmas may still be three months away, but several supermarkets across the UK have already started stocking shelves with festive chocolate – including family favourite sharing tubs such as Cadbury‘s Heroes and Quality Street.

However, eagle-eyed shoppers have been quick to spot that the latter has recently been subject to price hikes. 

Last year, Quality Street tubs were available in 600g tubs – but this year they have been reduced to 550g.

The sugary sharing boxes have become household staples, beloved for their selection of different flavoured treats – including The Purple One, the Green Triangle, and the Strawberry Delight.

Since each sweet varies in weight, it is unclear by how many treats each tub will lose. Manufacturers have blamed the reduction on the rising cost of production and ingredients.

A spokesperson for Nestlé told Metro it is common for the brand to switch up the size of its containers from year to year.

They said: ‘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,’ they detailed.

People have been left fuming after discovering that a beloved festive sharing tub of chocolate has yet again fallen victim to shrinkflation. Pictured: Quality Street 

‘We think 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.’

The new-sized chocolate boxes are currently on sale at Sainsbury’s and Morrisons for £7. Meanwhile, Tesco Clubcard holders can pick up a tub for £4.50.  

Since the changes were made, shoppers have taken to social media to lament their frustrations at the cut in contents.

Writing on Facebook, one joked that there would ‘soon just be [a] box with 12 in,’ while others insisted they would no longer be buying them.

One wrote: ‘Well I won’t be buying any of these rip off tubs,’ while another remarked, ‘shrunk but still charge more’.

A fourth said: ‘I stopped buying when the first ‘downsizing’ began. Just boycott these greedy companies. Better for our health too!’ 

The same thing happened last year, with shoppers left furious by the discovery that Nestle had cut the size of the legendary purple hazelnut chocolate by more than a tenth.

After weighing the chocolate, they discovered the chocolate was 9.6g have previously weighed 8.4g – representing a staggering 12 per cent reduction. 

Writing on Facebook, one joked that there would ‘soon just be [a] box with 12 in,’ while others insisted they would no longer be buying them

And research conducted by Daily Mail in 2023 discovered that the size of the entire Quality Street selection box has gone down from 1,200g in 2009, 720g in 2018 and 600g in 2023.

In years gone by, a container of Quality Street was as weighty at 1kg, nearly double of those now being sold.

It’s not the first time chocolate manufacturers have sparked fury among their customers.

Earlier this year, Cadbury’s lovers were left outraged after discovering that it’s popular cereal Brunch bar multipacks were being slashed.

Multipacks of five oat, raisin and chocolate treats now only have four in each box – but are still being flogged for the same average price of £1.50.

The controversial move comes 11 months after the weight of a bar was reduced from 32g to 28g.

Consumers took to social media to rage about the new adjustment.

A fourth fumed: ‘These companies like to be sneaky and reduce package sizes and change ingredients behind our backs.’

Cadbury owner Mondelez said: ‘We are continuing to experience significantly higher input costs across our supply chain, with ingredients such as cocoa and dairy, which are widely used in our products, costing far more than they have done previously.

‘Meanwhile, other costs like energy and transport, also remain high. This means that our products continue to be much more expensive to make and while we have absorbed these costs where possible, we still face considerable challenges.’

One said: ‘Cadbury chocolates are shrinking in size & quality is dropping — paying more for less is not sweet at all.’

A second said: ‘So you redesign the box of your Cadbury Brunch Bournville Dark Chocolate Cereal Bars and make it all bright and snazzy, but you then shrink the number of bars per box from 5 to 4 and think it’s ok to charge the same price for it? Highway robbery!!!’

Another said: ‘Almost like companies intentionally do that so people have to buy two boxes at a time for their child to get one every day in their lunchbox.’