Source: Alamy

Nestlé said the change in size was influenced by “a range of factors” including manufacturing costs

Nestlé has shrunk the size of its Quality Street tubs for the first time in three years in a bid to mitigate soaring costs, The Grocer can reveal.

The 650g tubs that were on sale last Christmas have been replaced by 600g ones.

At the time of writing, they were listed in Tesco for £4 – the same price carried by its larger 650g tubs in the retailer last year [Assosia 52 w/e 23 August 2022].

The brand’s cartons have also been downsized, shrinking from 240g to 220g.

At the time of writing, the new 220g packs were listed at £3 in Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, and were priced at £2 in Asda –  the price the old 240g packs were sold at in those retailers.

A Nestlé spokesman told The Grocer a 1.936kg tin, 1.162kg tin, and 382g pouch would also launch ahead of Christmas.

Every year Nestlé introduced “a new Quality Street range with formats, sizes, weights and rsps based on a range of factors, including the cost of manufacturing, ingredients and transport, and the preferences of our customers and consumers.”

Final prices were at the discretion of individual retailers, he added.

This is the first time Nestle has shrunk the size of its Quality Street tubs since 2019, prior to which, they shrunk every year for three years.

As reported by The Daily Mail, they were downsized from 780g to 750g in 2017 – and again to 720g in 2018. Nestle shrunk them again in 2019 to the 650g tub size.

At 600g, the current tubs are 23.1% smaller than those sold in 2016 – equating to around 20 fewer sweets per tub. However Nestle’s RSP has dropped by just over £1 over the six-year period, from £7.74 to £6.72.