Customer’s Quality Street tin audit sends Twitter into meltdown

For those chocolate-lovers looking to banish the winter blues with the seasonal comfort of Quality Street, an important announcement: the “Purple Ones” really are rarer.

Stephen Hull, head of digital at ITV News, decided to “audit” an unopened Quality Street tin after finding himself at a loose end on Sunday.

Mr Hull posted his findings on Twitter saying:“Bit of spare time on my hands today so I audited the unopened Quality Street tin. Just 4 purples (4.7%) and yet a massive 11 (12.9%) orange ones. Another blow for 2020. Who do I complain to? #inequalitystreet”

Chris Tate-Davies, posted his own  research, adding: “Just done the same, to check consumer variance. I have 7.5% purple and 11.9%. Interesting, but seeing as I don’t like nuts, I’m happy with the ratios myself.”

The findings triggered a debate amongst social media users about which Quality Street was the best Christmas choccy.

One user said: “When my girlfriend first came to stay at my parents house for Christmas, she found an open tin of quality street. My family apologized that it had been picked clean of all the good ones – but it turns out that she loved all the ones we all hated.

“We were married the next year.”

A Nestlé spokesperson said: “We have procedures in place to help ensure that each of the 12 varieties is well represented within the mix – however these ratios can vary, which is why we don’t give set percentages for each sweet.”

Last month fans of Quality Streets were devastated by the absence of popular chocolate from their boxes after the coronavirus crisis hit factory production.

Customers have been rummaging in vain for the hugely popular Chocolate Caramel Brownie, which replaced the Toffee Deluxe in the 12-piece collection last year.

Nestlé, who make the chocolates, said that “some changes” had been made to their production operations during the pandemic, meaning packs may not have all 12 sweets in their mix.