MACKINTOSH’S QUALITY STREET
Quality Street: Britain's Favorite Assorted Chocolates
Quality Street was introduced in 1936 by the British confectionery company Mackintosh and developed in Halifax, England, by Harold Mackintosh. The company got its start when Harold and his wife, Violet Mackintosh, opened their first pastry shop, where they combined traditional English toffee and imported American caramel to create a chewy sweet known as Mackintosh’s Celebrated Toffee. The family opened the world’s first toffee factory in 1898, leading them to create a box of 11 different chocolates and 7 different toffee candies, individually wrapped and sold in a colorful metal tin featuring the “Major” and “Miss” characters and a company name inspired by the Victorian-era play Quality Street by J. M. Barrie. A once-luxury product was made affordable and accessible to ordinary families, making it extremely popular and desired.
QUALITY STREET THROUGH THE YEARS
Quality Street products became especially popular following the end of WWII in the 1950s, expanding globally to the United States. The company heavily advertised its products through hand-drawn and painted illustrations used in magazines, as well as TV commercials and movie theater ads. The brand was later acquired by Nestlé in 1988. Under Nestlé’s management, Quality Street was made into a major global brand, with production statistics reaching up to 12.5 million individual sweets per day at its peak; the tins were exported to more than 50 countries worldwide. Quality Street is still produced by Nestlé today and has become a widely recognized Christmas confectionery classic.
