Meet Our Quality Street Family
What makes Quality Street so special?
Whether its rummaging for your favourite in the tin, or grabbing the last Purple One, Quality Street holds a special place in the nation’s heart.
Maybe it’s our heritage – from Violet Mackintosh’s signature toffee, which helped bring chocolate to the masses; or our iconic twist wraps – now in recyclable paper, much as they were when the brand launched in 1936. Whole generations have worked at our Quality Street factory in Halifax, while our brand, packaging and logistics experts work continuously to improve the sustainability of our operations and keep the brand feeling fresh and relevant for today.
Creating the Quality Street sparkle requires teamwork – and you can meet some of our stars in the videos below.
Violet Mackintosh, Founder
Her game-changing toffee became the foundation of the Quality Street sweets we love today
Violet’s pastry shop, opened in 1890, was busiest on Saturday afternoons, when workers in Halifax clocked off. Wanting to create a treat that people could buy and enjoy all week, Violet invented a game-changing toffee – hooking up brittle English butterscotch with soft American caramel.
Her new toffees came in various flavours and were wrapped in bright packaging - pink for coconut, blue for malt and green for mint. The sweets may have changed a bit over the years, but as any Quality Street fan will guess, this is where it all began.
Toni Biggin, Halifax Factory Manager
Making Quality Street with pride in Halifax, as it’s always been.
In 1936, our factory in Halifax produced the very first tins of Quality Street. Back then, these tins were hand packed by our factory workers. The fruit cremes were hand piped, and vats of toffee were hand poured onto marble slabs to cool.
Almost a century later, we’re still making Quality Street on the very same site. Now, over 260 sweets per minute whizz through our machines.
For Factory Manager Toni, leading the workforce is the best part of her job. And now Toni and the team are re-writing a whole new chapter for Quality Street with the switch from cellophane wrappers to recyclable paper
Robert Murdoch, Dairy Farmer
Providing sustainably sourced milk for Quality Street since 2012.
Robert is one of 80 farmers from British dairy co-operative First Milk providing fresh milk to Nestlé.
The Murdoch family have been farming in Scotland for generations, producing sustainably sourced milk for Quality Street since 2012. With all the Coconut Eclairs, Milk Chocolate Blocks and Caramel Swirls Nestlé produces each day, that adds up to a lot of milk. In fact, Nestlé buys millions of pints every year.
Producing milk can have an impact on the natural environment, which is why our farmers follow earth regenerating practices. From a pioneering project that measures how much carbon is in the soil, to protecting wildlife and increasing biodiversity.
Nestlé and First Milk are working together to leave the earth a better place, so that the milk in the delicious chocolates your family love, comes from the families who love the land they farm.
Bruce Funnell, Packaging Lead
Making our paper packaging easy to recycle without forgetting the sparkle.
Bruce has 37 years of experience working in the packaging industry, so of course he knows a thing or two about boxing clever. As one of the research and development experts behind the new paper wrappers for Quality Street, he had to ensure the paper would protect the chocolates and toffees without making our packaging tricky to recycle.
After much trialing and testing, our packaging whizzes called it a wrap, having designed a special vegetable-based coating that won’t get in the way of recycling.
We didn’t forget the sparkle either. We’re using metallised pigments to give our new wrappers that all-important sheen.
And that’s not all, instead of replacing the old machines, we designed the process, working with engineering experts to adapt 51 machines to paper wrapping. It’s now as easy to recycle your Quality Street wrappers as it is to enjoy the delicious treats inside.
Sally Wright, Head of Delivery
Transporting Quality Street from A to B while emitting minimum carbon
At peak times, our Halifax factory makes 50,000 tins of Quality Street per day. It’s Sally’s job to get all this Quality Street from A to B, whilst emitting minimal carbon emissions.
This is helped by switching our Nestlé trucks from diesel to Bio-LNG, which emit 95% less carbon. Thanks to Sally and the team, we’re also packing our lorries smarter too, so we need less trips and fewer vehicles on the road.
When it comes to creating a sustainable future, we’re determined to go the extra mile.
Jemma Handley, Senior Brand Manager
Ensuring Quality Street remains a classic while remaining fresh and relevant for today
With great brands, comes great responsibility. No one knows that better than our own Quality Street superhero, Jemma.
That’s why you’ll always find Jemma getting hands on. Whether it’s helping to mastermind scrumptious new flavours, quality checking products or ensuring our new recyclable paper wrappers look as inviting in the tin as they always have done, it’s Jemma’s job to ensure Quality Street remains a classic while feeling fresh and relevant for today.
From picking the new tin designs, to seeing them in mass production, Jemma and her team will overlook no detail in ensuring a delicious mix of favourites every Christmas.
