Fury as Quality Street ditch old favourite Toffee Deluxe to make way for new chocolate
The Toffee Deluxe was created in 1919 as a sweet in its own right and was included in the first ever box of Quality Street when it was invented in 1936
QUALITY Street lovers have slammed the confectioner's decision to replace a much-loved sweet with a new chocolate.
The Toffee Deluxe, which has been included in Quality Street boxes for decades, has been replaced by the new Honeycomb Crunch.
The decision comes off the back of customers saying there are too many toffee sweets in the box - but the public is not happy with the big change.
Twitter users expressed their fury at Quality Street's decision, with many claiming "Christmas is ruined".
User DIYWoman added: "First Brangelina, then GBBO, now Toffee Deluxe has gone from Quality Street.
"#Crazy times #Christmaswontbethesame."
Lee Blackwell fumed: "How very dare you! Nestle has ruined Christmas! Sob."
Joanne Warner even shared a link to a for Nestle to bring back the toffee treat.
Sharing a link to the petition on Twitter, she added: "Nestle, don't leave us in flux please give us back our toffee deluxe."
The chewy sweet was introduced in the 1930s and has been a mainstay in tubs and tins of the assorted chocolates scoffed by millions at Christmas time.
The brown-wrappered treat has now bitten the dust and been ditched in favour of the new 'Honeycomb Crunch' sweet.
It comes after customer feedback carried out by Nestle found there were too many toffees within the selection box.
Toffee Deluxe was one of three toffee sweets; the round penny variety and chocolate covered finger remain.
Quality Street will also remove the paper menu for sweets, with names and pictures of the sweets appearing on the side of the octagonal tub instead.
The boxes will also be 30g lighter in weight this year because the five honeycomb sweets are lighter than the hefty Toffee Deluxe - but the number of sweets will remain the same.
A distinctive golden wrapper makes the new honeycomb addition stand out in the tub.
Its barrel-shaped design with three horizontal ridges is meant to imitate the shape and pattern of a real bee.
Inside, the solid chocolate coating is a truffle infused with crunchy honeycomb pieces.
Because Toffee Deluxe is such an important part of the confectioner's history, Nestle will continue to sell the sweet as part of toffee-specific Quality Street packs.
A Nestle spokesman said: "We have introduced the Honeycomb Crunch to celebrate Quality Street's 80th birthday and also as a reaction to public opinion.
"We went out and conducted surveys about what people wanted, their response was that there was too much toffee so the decision to make a change was made.
"The honeycomb crunch tested really well with consumers, they loved the idea and the flavour, which we have not used before.
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"We have not introduced a new sweet since the Milk Chocolate Block in 2007 so we thought the time was right.
"We wanted Toffee Deluxe to still be available as it is synonymous with the Quality Street brand so created a special toffee product."
The discarded Toffee Deluxe consisted of a thin layer of chocolate with a block of toffee underneath.
It was created by chocolatiers John and Violet MacIntosh in 1919 by mixing hard toffee with runny caramel and it was the first sweet of its kind.
The idea was born in 1890 when John and Violet opened a confectionery shop in Halifax, West Yorks, and began experimenting with ingredients.
Their operation was so successful that in 1898 they built the world's first toffee factory.
When John died his son, Harold, inherited the business, named Mackintosh's, and in 1936 he invented Quality Street, a name inspired by J. M. Barrie play 'Quality Sweet'.
At that time boxes of chocolate were the preserve of the gentry but Harold's plan was to create a comparable product available to the working classes.
In terms of manufacturing and marketing, the businessman was revolutionary as it was the first time sweets were individually wrapped in coloured paper and put into a decorative tin.
Harold also introduced new technology in the world's first twist-wrapping machine and by using a tin instead of a cardboard box he ensured the chocolate aroma met the customer.
In 1969 the company merged with Rowntree's to form Rowntree Mackintosh, which was itself taken over by Nestle in 1988.
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