Bittersweet rivalry in war of the Roses

QUESTIONmanufactured Which were first: Roses or Quality Street? And which are more popular in Ireland? QUALITY Street chocolates were first made in 1936, two years before Roses. The two brands are neck-and-neck in the popularity stakes in Ireland.

John Mackintosh set up his sweet shop in Halifax in Yorkshire in 1890 and it developed into a large confectionery manufacturing firm. A descendent of his, Harold Mackintosh, created Quality Street in 1936 in a bid to give chocolates mass-market appeal. Up until then, the sweet treats had largely been the preserve of better-off consumers.

The Mackintosh firm merged with Rowntree in 1969, then 19 years later, in 1988, Rowntree Mackintosh was taken over by Nestlé, which still owns it. Two years after Quality Street appeared in shops, the Cadbury firm at Bournville launched its rival brand, Roses. Ever since, the two brands have been slugging it out, especially for the allimportant Christmas sales.

Like Rowntree Mackintosh, Cadbury is no longer a UKowned firm. It is now owned by the US company Mondelez.

Here in Ireland, the two brands are still immensely popular, with consumers dividing into two camps, one fervent supporters of Roses, the other, equally zealous consumers of Quality Street.

Each brand contains about 750g of chocolates. Both brands sell for about €6 each. Quality Street contains slightly more chocolates; the most coveted sweet in its collection is The Purple One, a chocolate with a hazelnut and caramel centre. Fudges are the most common sweet in Quality Street. As for Roses, the most popular sweets are Strawberry Dream and Golden Barrel.

In 2016, Cadbury spent close to €4million revamping the Roses brand, giving it new packaging and easy-to-tear flow wrappers.

Over the past few years, the sizes of the collections have shrunk as the manufacturers struggle to contain costs.

The choc market here is worth €650million a year. About 60% of chocolates are bought in supermarkets and the key sales season is the run-up to Christmas. In 2014, Tesco Ireland revealed its sales of the two brands were virtually neck and neck.

Alan Murray, Waterford.