A chocolate sleuth family claim Quality Street has fallen victim to “shrinkflation” after tracking the decrease in size over two decades.
Penny Melson, 26, says her family has been monitoring the changes to the £6 box of treats annually at Christmas. They believe that the tin has halved in quantity but doubled in price and say the difference is “abysmal.”
During the festive period, the family sits down and counts the number of sweets. Following their detailed breakdowns, Penny claims there were 137 sweet treats inside their Quality Street tin in 2006. The TikToker compared this to 119 chocolates in 2009, 84 in 2016 and ending with 2024’s count of a mere 67.
Penny shared their results on social media as she held sweet brand, Nestle, to account. Despite witnessing the apparent changes, Penny and her family still purchase a new tub at Christmas as it has become part of their tradition. Penny’s TikTok has 700,000 views with users thanking her family for carrying out the “public service”.
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Penny said: “Every year we have noticed a decline [in sweets] but it hasn’t stopped us from buying them every year! I hope other families start to count the Quality Street. Perhaps it will encourage Nestle to increase the tin sizes. I think four orange chocolate crunches in this year’s selection was abysmal.
“We would have been counting a few years before 2006 but I know from the first count we truly enjoyed it. As my name is Penny, I was in charge of the Toffee Penny, which ironically is probably my least favourite chocolate today. The reaction [to my post] has blown our minds. I have seen small things here and there about Quality Street ‘shrinkflation’ but never did I expect it.”
The family count the box of chocolates every year
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Penny shared the changes on TikTok
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Penny admits her family almost stopped their annual count when her auntie Emma Melson, 45, passed away in September as she was the “heart of the tradition”. However, she’s pleased to keep it going into 2025 and beyond to keep her memory alive and please her TikTok followers.
Penny said: “My auntie Emma made it all the more fun by being the official note-taker, with each family member assigned a particular chocolate to keep track of. Sadly, she passed away in September and this year we weren’t sure if we wanted to continue the tradition because she was the heart of it.
“If you look through the notes, you can still see her beautiful handwriting and humorous comments scattered throughout, reminding us of the joy she brought to our Christmases. We will be counting them every year no doubt about it, for my auntie and for the nation, since there was such a huge response.”
One TikTok user commented: “Those sneaky buggers. And they wonder why sales are so low.” A second said: “At this point, I feel what you’ve done is a public service.” A third person added: “Your family is literally saving our sanity out here.”
Nestle has been contacted for comment but have previously claimed that their pricing is ‘competitive’ and that their size, weight and RRPs are based upon various factors including the costs of manufacturing and customer preferences.
The Mirror has contacted Nestle for comment.