Following a successful couple of years in selected John Lewis & Partners stores around the country, Nestlé has now moved its Quality Street personalisation service online. It's a move to counter the expected drop in high street footfall this winter due to ongoing localised and national Coronavirus (COVID-19) mitigation measures.
The service is available here and is very easy to use. You can either choose a standard selection tin filled with an assortment of 12 types of sweet or you can pick up to six favourites and have a tub filled with just those.
Choose from The Purple One, Fudge, Strawberry Delight; Orange Creme; Orange Crunch; Toffee Penny, Toffee Finger, Caramel Swirl, Milk Choc Block, Coconut Eclair, Chocolate Caramel Brownie (last year's newbie), or my favourite, The Green Triangle.
Each tin comes with a personalised gift card and lid. The gift card can contain up to 200 characters but the tin lid is restricted to just nine characters. Not a problem for 'David Street' or 'Triangle Street' (to symbolise my tin full of green triangles), but it is a problem for people with longer names, such as Christopher, Montgomery, or Bernadette. In this instance, Nestlé suggests using a shorter variant (such as Chris, Monty, or Berny) or using a nickname or surname.
Personalised 1kg tins cost £15.99 each, plus a £2.99 delivery fee per order. For reference, 650g plastic tubs of Quality Street are £4 in Tesco right now, equivalent to £6.15 per kilogram. Last year, these tubs were frequently on promotion in supermarkets on '2 for £7' or '£3.50 each' deals. This equates to £5.38 per kilogram.
If the £3.50-per-tin promotion returns for 2020, you could get three standard 650g Quality Street tubs for around the same price as one personalised 1kg tin. This raises an interesting dilemma on which option to choose, especially if you are only ordering a personalised tin to get a specific selection of confectionery. You might want to read my almost-scientific analysis of my Quality Street tub last year for a rough idea of how many tubs you'll need to make your dream selection.
The Quality Street personalisation service will be available year-round so you'll now be able to order tins for birthdays and other events online, with delivery to addresses across the UK.
Originally developed by Mackintosh's of Yorkshire, Quality Street - named after a J.M. Barrie play - is still made in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Around 12 million sweets are made every day during the peak season.
Will you be ordering a personalised assortment tin of Quality Street this year, or will you be sticking to the standard tubs in the supermarkets? Let me know in the comments below.
